By Yoo Jee-ho
GANGNEUNG, South Korea, Feb. 5 (Yonhap) -- The joint Korean women's hockey team practiced for the first time at its Olympic arena on Monday, with its opening game fast approaching.
The 23 South Koreans and the 12 North Koreans have been put together for an unprecedented unified team for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. They began training together in the last week of January at Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon, 90 kilometers south of Seoul, and played their first game together against Sweden on Sunday, losing 3-1 in Incheon, just west of Seoul.
Members of the joint Korean women's hockey team get ready for their first practice session at Kwandong Hockey Centre in Gangneung, the venue for their group stage games at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, on Feb. 5, 2018. (Yonhap)
The team left Incheon immediately after the game and arrived in Gangneung, home of all ice sports during the Olympics, in the wee hours of Monday morning. The players from the two Koreas will stay in separate apartment buildings at Gangneung Olympic Village.
Of the 22 players who dressed for Sunday's game, only backup goalie Han Do-hee, forward Danelle Im, and defensewoman Hwang Chung-gum took part in Monday's practice, which began at about 12:45 p.m. at Kwandong Hockey Centre.
Korea will play all of its group stage games at Kwandong -- against Switzerland on Saturday, Sweden next Monday and Japan on Feb. 14.
Of the 15 participants in Monday's training session, two injured South Korean players, Randi Heesoo Griffin and Caroline Park, only did some light skating. There were three goalies -- Han and Genevieve Kim Knowles for the South and Ri Pom for the North. Of the 10 healthy skaters who practiced, seven were North Koreans.
Head coach Sarah Murray put the skaters through some one-on-one drills, and they also worked on their offensive zone entry during a session that lasted a little over an hour.
The unified team -- first of its kind for Koreas at any Olympic Games -- was only assembled on Jan. 25. The Koreas reached an agreement on the joint squad on Jan. 17, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved it on Jan. 20. Then five days later, 12 North Koreans, along with their own coach, Pak Chol-ho, crossed the border.
Murray, who has been coaching South Korea since 2014, has been put in charge of the unified team. Under the IOC's terms, she must put at least three North Koreans into every game.
She elected to use four North Koreans in Sunday's game, with forwards Jong Su-hyon, Kim Un-hyang and Ryo Song-hui and defensewoman Hwang Chung-gum taking the ice.
After Monday's practice, the North Korean players left the arena without speaking to reporters, but the South Korean players and coaches said they liked how the team was shaping up.
"Right now, we're just coming together as a team," said Im, a Canadian-born South Korean forward. "Whoever our linemates are, (we're not) really worrying too much about it, and just trying to find chemistry."
Han Do-hee, a backup goalie, said players experienced some difficulties early on with different hockey terminology. While South Korean players are accustomed to English terms, such as shooting, passing and checking, North Koreans use more traditional terms.
"I think we understand each other better now," Han said. "We just try to talk to each other as much as we can, on and off the ice. We also talk about things other than hockey. Nothing else about our training routines has changed."
Former South Korean captain Lee Kyou-sun, who retired last year to become a coach, said the players are getting along just fine.
"I think the atmosphere in the locker room is great overall," said Lee, who joined some North Korean players for individual drills and even helped translate Murray's directions from English into Korean. "Everyone is helping each other, and we aren't having any issues."
Members of the joint Korean women's hockey team take part in their first practice session at Kwandong Hockey Centre in Gangneung, the venue for their group stage games at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, on Feb. 5, 2018. (Yonhap)
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