She says it was a decision that was out of
her hands,... but the head coach of Korea's
now-unified women's ice hockey team says she'll
do what she can to make it work.
The first test for Sarah Murray and her new-look
squad will be a pre-Olympics friendly match
against Sweden in a couple of week's time.
Lee Seung-jae has more.
Twenty-three has become 35.
Korea's women's ice hockey team head coach
Sarah Murray's first task at leading the first
ever joint-Korean team at the 2018 PyeongChang
Winter Olympics will come on February 4th,
when the joint-team hosts Sweden at the Incheon
Asian Games Seon Hak International Ice Rink.
What started out as a strategy to leave out
just one South Korean player per game,...
Murray finds herself in a situation of incorporating
unfamiliar North Korean players into her system,
and having to cut four of her players for
each game.
Despite the difficult task, the 29-year-old
head coach has vowed to integrate the new
faces into the squad, and play the North Korean
players in the upcoming friendly.
(English)
"I hope they come as soon as possible, so
we can start practicing right away.
We're planning to have them play.
They need to have experience playing with
our team, and that will be the only game that
they'll be with us before we play in the Olympics."
With the International Olympic Committee announcing
the joint-Korea team must play at least three
North Korean players in each game,.. Murray
emphasized that playing all twelve North Koreans
equally will be impossible, and it's up to
her to create the best lineup at the Winter
Olympics.
(English)
"It's my choice what the lineup is.
It's my choice who plays.
As far as I know, I have complete control
and I am going to play the players I want."
With time ticking,... a lot of work is left
for the American,... as the joint-Korean team
will make their Olympic debut on February
10th against the 6th-ranked Switzerland,...
before their match up against 5th-ranked Sweden
on the 12th... and 9th-ranked Japan on the
14th,... to close off the group stage.
Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News
