Korea on Ice (Part One)
© Susan Johnson-Roehr
The Korean Ice Hockey Association was founded in 1928. In January of that year, the Yongsan Railway Office Team and the Tokyo Imperial University Team played an exhibition game, marking an important date for the introduction of hockey to Korea. The Railway Team and the Kyungsun Imperial University (Seoul National University) Team are credited with playing the first competitive gave in that same year. However, it wasn't until January 1930 that Korea crowned its first national championship team (Yonsei University). Hockey was considered "official" at that point since it was sponsored by the Athletic Association of Chosun (Korea). November of that same year saw the founding of the Chosun (Korea) Ice hockey Federation.
Although the sport continued to grow in popularity throughout the 1930s, the division of the peninsula had an obvious impact on how developed in Korea. In the south, the sport was hampered by the weather conditions, but even so, by 1946, teams were competing for the national championship. In the north, the sport was helped by North Korea's association with the Soviet Union, a traditional hockey powerhouse.
South Korea
After the division of Korea, government and university teams like Transportation Ministry Team, Seoul National University Team and Yonsei University team were the first to be organized in South Korea. It was only a short time later that schools on all levels (like Kyunghee and Yonsan schools) had hockey teams.
South Korea formed its own Ice Hockey Association in 1947. Some ten years later, it was ready to explore the sport on the international level, and the nation submitted its application to the International Ice Hockey Federation in 1959. By the next year, South Korea was an approved member of the IHF and ready to play the rest of world.
All of this development took place in South Korean hockey in spite of the fact that it was difficult to maintain ice conditions in the country. It wasn't until November 1964 that the first indoor ice rink was built in the country. The indoor rink was built in Dongdaemun and--amazingly enough--it was on this rink alone that the sport of indoor hockey was built in South Korea. It wasn't until 1984 that a rink was built at Taenung. Before that, the country continued to rely on outdoor rinks, with Dongdaemun supplying the only indoor ice.
Despite tensions continuing tensions between South Korea and Japan, the first international match played by South Korea featured a team from Japan. In 1965, a Japanese college team was invited to play in South Korea, and the next year, the offer was reciprocated. The Seoul Selected Players Team traveled to Japan to earn a 4-1 record in international competition.
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