Even after his South Korean team enjoyed a thrilling overtime victory over Italy to begin a women's hockey world championship on home ice Monday night, head coach Kim Do-yun wasn't entirely satisfied with what he saw.
Kim felt his players had much more to give.
Kim Hee-won of South Korea (R) tries to make a move on Italian players during the teams' opening game at the International Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championship Division I Group B at Suwon Ice Rink in Suwon, 35 kilometers south of Seoul, on April 17, 2023. (Yonhap)
Kim Hee-won of South Korea (R) tries to make a move on Italian players during the teams' opening game at the International Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championship Division I Group B at Suwon Ice Rink in Suwon, 35 kilometers south of Seoul, on April 17, 2023. (Yonhap)
"I think our players were too tight and nervous early on, and we could have scored more goals if we'd stuck to our system," Kim said after South Korea's 2-1 victory to open the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Women's World Championship Division I Group B at Suwon Ice Rink in Suwon, 35 kilometers south of Seoul. It's the third-highest level IIHF women's championships, and the winner will be promoted to Division I Group A for next year.
"We tried to apply stronger forecheck and create scoring chances that way, but things didn't go our way," Kim added. "We'll have to work on our offense and make sure we score more goals than we did tonight."
Italy outshot South Korea 40-25, and goalkeeper Huh Eun-bee stood on her head in the third period in particular, as the Italians peppered her with 20 shots.
South Korea committed three penalties in that frame alone and was called for eight minor infractions overall. South Korea did not give up a power play goal.
"We put a lot of work on our penalty killing, but we'll have to cut down on penalties," Kim said. "Huh Eun-bee made a lot of saves for us, and our defense did a fine job overall."
Lee Eun-ji of South Korea (R) scores against Italy during the second period of the teams' opening game at the International Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championship Division I Group B at Suwon Ice Rink in Suwon, 35 kilometers south of Seoul, on April 17, 2023. (Yonhap)
Lee Eun-ji of South Korea (R) scores against Italy during the second period of the teams' opening game at the International Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championship Division I Group B at Suwon Ice Rink in Suwon, 35 kilometers south of Seoul, on April 17, 2023. (Yonhap)
Huh, making her senior world championships debut on home ice at age 20, said she barely had time to think in the crease as she was stopping shot after shot.
"I was just trying to throw my body around to stop those shots," Huh said. "I knew we'd play a tough game like this at some point. I figured the Italy game was going to be the most difficult one for us here. I obviously felt some pressure, but I was going to take it one game at a time."
With Huh keeping the game tied for South Korea and ending it to overtime, forward Kim Hee-won scored the winner on a power play.
She atoned for the three minor penalties she took in the game.
"I couldn't have scored the goal without my teammates," Kim said. "I am a physical player, and I just happened to get called for a few penalties today. I am glad I got to make up for those with the goal."
Kim agreed with her coach's assessment that there is more offense in South Korea than what the team showed Monday.
"We play an aggressive brand of hockey, and I also think we should have had more goals than this," she said. "We'll try to play even better in the upcoming games."
South Korea will next take on Poland at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, followed by Slovenia at 7:15 p.m. Thursday, Britain at 3:45 p.m. Saturday and Kazakhstan at 3:45 p.m. Sunday.
Italy is the highest-ranked team in this tournament at No. 17. South Korea checks in at No. 19, followed by Poland at No. 20, Kazakhstan at No. 21, Slovenia at No. 22 and Britain at No. 23.
Source: Yonhap News Agency