NHL Playoffs

[ism]

The playoffs are in full swing and powerhouse #2 seed in the West Detroit was swept by the Mighty Ducks. #3 Colorado is having problems with the Minnesota Wild, who just tied the series 3-3 tonight. Korean Richard Park scored the first and the game-winning goal in overtime. Things are in order in the East, with top three seeds Ottawa, NJ, and Tampa Bay continuing on. Middle seeds St. Louis and Vancouver, as well as Philadelphia and Toronto, will have their elimination games tomorrow.

So, who's going to win? Who do you want to win? Do you care?

[lethal]

Flyers! Woohoo! They lost to Toronto tonight though...game 7 tomorrow.

I was about to post an article about Park. He used to play for the Flyers a few years back.

Height: 5-11
Weight: 190 lbs.
Pos: RW
Shoots: Right

Age: 26
Born: May 27, 1976, Seoul , South Korea

http://espn.go.com/i/nhl/profiles/players/1121.jpg

[lethal]

http://www.bayharborhockey.org/RichPark.htm

Richard Park certainly didn’t take the usual route to the NHL, going thousands of miles and across two continents before skating in his first NHL game in 1995 with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Born in Seoul, South Korea, Park grew up in Southern California, and the road to the NHL began one day at a public skating session.

“I grew up in Southern California, and I had two sisters that were figure skaters,” Park recalls. “I went public skating ( at Skating Edge) one time, then I started out figure skating, and then I joined the hockey team. That’s how I got started playing hockey.”

While the Southland isn’t known for producing NHL players, Park felt he was able to get the ice time he needed to develop his game.

“Being in Southern California, there’s not much hockey in the summer, but contrary to what a lot of people think, there’s a lot of hockey in the winter. It doesn’t get cold, but there’s a lot of hockey and a lot of ice available.”

Park then accelerated his development by going north for hockey camps, and then worked his way onto the Ontario Hockey League’s Belleville Bulls.

“In the summer time, I went to hockey schools, and stayed in Toronto for four straight summers,” Park said, “When I was 13, I moved there and played peewee, bantam and midget, was drafted into Belleville.”

While with Belleville, Park also was recognized as one of the top U.S. players in his age bracket, as he represented the United States twice at the World Junior Championships in 1994 and 1995, and finished second on the 1995 team with one goal and seven assists.

This past May at the World Championships, Park got a chance to again pull on a USA sweater, which was an experience he won’t soon forget.

“That was an experience of a lifetime,” Park said. “It had been a while since I had represented my country at an international level, dating back to the 1995 World Juniors. It was a big honor just to get an invitation to get over there. I had a great time, the guys were great, the coaching staff was really good, and it was a great experience. I can’t say enough about that.”

“Richard is a skilled, smart hardworking player who plays very well in traffic and is not afraid to get into position to score even though he knows there is a price to pay,” U.S. head coach Lou Vairo said of Park’s play. “His character was great on our team and we all appreciated his coming to the world championships and playing so hard and so well. He typifies the kind of player that the Wild are striving to develop. He is a credit to his family too.”

This season, Park’s NHL team, the Minnesota Wild, have taken a lot of experts by surprise with their 9-2-2 start, which currently is the best record in the NHL. Park, who joined the Wild as a free agent in June of 2000, has one goal and two assists in thirteen games with Minnesota this season.

“Anytime you can be part of a winning hockey club, it’s a nice feeling,” Park said. “It’s a great thing we’ve got going here, and everyone’s working hard and within in our system and trying to play to the best of our abilities. So far, for us, it’s working. We’re trying to work hard, and we’re not playing over our heads by any means.

“We know that hard work and discipline are the key to this hockey club. Things are going well right now.”

[d-boy]

10 years ago, the only big professional Asian athelete was Michael Chang.

and steretypes abounded (and still do) about Asians' lack of athleticism.

a mere 10 years later, there are Asians competing and succeeding in the:

NBA (3 Chinese now, more Chinese and 1 Korean to come)
MLB (at least 30 players in both the majors and minors, more to come)
NFL (Dat Nguyen, 6'5" Korean Eugene Chung possibly to be drafted this year)
NHL (Richard Park, Kariya)
ATP (Tennis) (Thai in the top 20, Korean in the top 100)
PGA (3 or so Koreans, 4 or so Japanese, Tiger Woods is dominantly Asian)
LPGA (MANY)
Soccer (quite a few Korean and Japanese players in the European leagues)

As asian nations continue to enjoy relative affluency, the kids eat better (get a lot bigger) and have more leisure time to play sports.

we're gonna see a huge wave of Asians in sports, perhaps not in the next 2 or 3 years, but 10 years down the road. (one of the benefits of a large Asian population in Asia.)

it's gonna be awesome.

[yoMAMA]

GO Wild!!!!!!!!!!!

I live in Minnesota-state with the best weather in the 50 states....if you like sub-zero temperatures and snow every freaking day.

:lol:

[ism]

Gotta love the Wild, especially since Minn. is such a hockey state, and I'd like to see them continue. Their coach, Jack Lemaire, worked his magic with the NJ Devils in the mid-90's. The team's roleplaying composition and defensive style parallels them as well, and is one of the aspects of the game I really like.

Aside from Park and Kariya, Jim Paek played for Cup champs Pittsburgh in the early 90's. Excellent overview, dzoo, and thanks for the article on Park, lw. =)

[BeTheReds]

Hoackey?

Pfff who cares?

Not Canadian... Don't care.

[yoMAMA]

Hockey is really boring to watch on tv, you can't even see that freaking puck.

On the other hand, have you ever been to an ice arena?

The speed of the game is something else


And I've only been to high school games :P :D



and on the other hand, NBA continues its decline into irrevelence.........except my main man Ming, of course :lol:

Rookie of the year!

[Deadpool]

HOCKEY IS THE BEST SPORT IN THE WORLD!!!! YOU GUYS THAT SAY OTHERWISE ARE DAFT!!!
GO CANUCKS GO!

[ism]

HOLY SHIT

Minnesota eliminates Colorado 3-2 in Game 7 overtime!

[specialK]

Go Dallas! What's to say Texas isn't a hockey state?

[ism]

HOLY SHIT PART II: THE REVENGE

Minnesota eliminates Vancouver 4-2 in Game 7!
The ONLY team to come back in a 3-1 series twice in the same playoffs!

Cinderella story meets Cinderella story when Minnesota meets Anaheim in the Western Conference Finals. This is exactly what I was wishing for and I can't believe it actually happened. I like both teams and I can't decide who to root for. Given that Anaheim has a better playoff goalie, that makes Minnesota the underdog. Part of me also wants to see Minnesota vs NJ so we can see a lot of neutral zone trapping and 0-0 in the 6th overtime. =)

[ism]

Ducks vs Devils!

[Faithless]

Originally posted by lethalweapon@Apr 21 2003, 06:56 PM
Flyers! Woohoo! They lost to Toronto tonight though...game 7 tomorrow.

I was about to post an article about Park. He used to play for the Flyers a few years back.

Height: 5-11
Weight: 190 lbs.
Pos: RW
Shoots: Right

Age: 26
Born: May 27, 1976, Seoul , South Korea

http://espn.go.com/i/nhl/profiles/players/1121.jpg
One lone Asian in all of hockey? :confused:

And he looks like AB on roids. :D

[sOKaLiBoY]

Originally posted by ChottoMatte@Jun 10 2003, 11:19 AM
Originally posted by lethalweapon@Apr 21 2003, 06:56 PM
Flyers!  Woohoo!  They lost to Toronto tonight though...game 7 tomorrow.

I was about to post an article about Park.  He used to play for the Flyers a few years back.

Height: 5-11
Weight:  190 lbs.
Pos:  RW
Shoots: Right

Age: 26
Born: May 27, 1976, Seoul , South Korea

http://espn.go.com/i/nhl/profiles/players/1121.jpg
One lone Asian in all of hockey? :confused:

And he looks like AB on roids. :D
well there is Paul Kariya who is hapa

<img src='http://espn.go.com/i/nhl/profiles/players/1000.jpg[/img]


Height: 5-10
Weight: 182 lbs.
Pos: LW
Shoots: Left

Age: 28
Born: October 16, 1974, Vancouver , British Columbia

[ism]

http://www.geocities.com/s_sypien/paek1.jpg

Jim Paek played for Pittsburgh in the early 90's before heading to various pro leagues after stopping by LA and Ottawa. He's Korean.