South Korea the comeback kings in Budapest

It was another bouncing atmosphere in the Budapest Sportarena at the start of the final game on the second day of the IIHF Division 1A World Championships. The hosts had a scare early on as Minho Cho had a great opportunity on the doorstep which Miklos Rajna, in goal instead of game one’s Levente Szuper stopped. However, it was Hungary who would take control for the rest of the period. In the third minute, Ladislav Sikorcin received the pass from Arpad Mihaly, and Sikorcin made no mistake with a rocket of a one timer that found the top corner of the net. A little over ninety seconds later and Hungary were two goals to the good, as Istvan Bartalis beat Hyunseung Eum low with a backhand effort from close in. South Korea could only muster five shots to Hungary’s twelve, but they did get chances, including a breakaway effort which Rajna parried away. However, thirteen minutes in and the home crowd were cheering another Hungary goal, with young forward Janos Hari lighting the lamp after bursting through neutral ice at speed and wiring a laser beam top shelf..

The second period was a more even encounter, as both teams had 10 shots on net and South Korea grew in confidence. This would eventually pay off as five minutes into the middle frame, last years Division 1B champions bagged their first goal of the tournament, Jiman Yoon finding An Tae Kwon with a precise pass, and Kwon one timed the puck in off the quick rush. It looked like Hungary had taken back control as Janos Vas bagged a powerplay marker. Sungje Park’s replaced Eum in the Korea net and he made a smart glove save on a Marton Vas one timer with less than five minutes left in the period.

South Korea continued their resurgence at the start of the third period. On a 4 on 3 powerplay, Brock Radunske fired from the right wing circle, and Kisung Kim was the first to the rebound, and he found the net. After a lengthy stoppage five minutes into the period to fix a broken advertising boarding, the Asian side quickly made things even more interesting as they caught Hungary cold, using their speed to launch a 2 on 1 attack whereby Sangwoo Sin fed Wonjung Kim, who lifted the puck over the diving Rajna. The comeback was complete with ten minutes left on the clock. Yet again on the powerplay, it was good work in tight by Woosang Park who managed to work the puck in close to Sanghoon Shin who quickly shifted the puck onto his forehand to find the twine. The crowd at the Budapest Sportarena had their hearts in their mouths with three and a half minutes to go, as Tamas Pozsgai’s blunder at the blueline gave South Korea a 2 on 1 chance, but this time Rajna made a fine pad stop, getting across his crease quickly.

Overtime began and it was the South Koreans who got the opening chance, their speed once again causing the Hungarians a world of trouble. A 2 on 1 chance developed and Sangwoo Sin had the game on his stick after receiving the pass from Minho Cho but Rajna was patient and managed get his blocker to the puck. For his troubles, Minho Cho went crashing into the boards at high speed, and after a large period of time on the ice, he managed to get to his feet and return gingerly to the bench. In the final ten seconds of overtime, Sungje Park would pull off the save of the game with a little help from his defencemen, as Sikorcin’s unmarked wristshot was parried by the South Korean netminder, and the rebound was blocked by a combination of Wooyoung Kim and Yoonhwan Kim.

The game would go to penalty shots, and the opening shooters for both teams found the back of the net, with Brock Radunske scoring for South Korea, and Marton Vas scoring for Hungary. In the third round of shooters, Kisung Kim seemed to lose the handle, but managed to somehow get back control of the puck and then slip a backhand past Rajna. At the other end Sungje Park snared Isvant Sofron’s effort, sending the South Korean off the bench in raptures, as they caused the first shock of the tournament, defeating their higher seeded opponents after a remarkable comeback.

South Korea forward Brock Radunske said of his team’s comeback, ‘It’s huge, it shows that we can play with everyone, obviously we’re going to play a simple game and put pucks to the net. I think we got a goal from all four lines, so it wasn’t any one guy being anything special, we just came together as a group and these guys really believe that we can win so we’ve got to give everyone credit’.

Speaking of his experiences of his first World Championships, Radunske added, ‘It’s been five years since I’ve been back in Europe and I’ve been looking forward this for a long time. It was part of the reason I wanted to pursue the two passports and so far it’s working out’. 

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