A pair of Peterborough minor hockey alumni will soon be gearing up to get the chance to realize their Olympic dreams next month in South Korea — but they won’t be sporting the Maple Leaf on their chest; instead, they’ll be playing for the host country.
Forward Michael Swift and defenceman Bryan Young will be lacing up their skates for the Korean men’s hockey team after making the roster on Jan. 18 after a two-week training camp.
“It was a surreal moment (to be named to the team),” Swift told CHEX News from Seoul, Korea, on Tuesday.
“The last couple of weeks, there’s been a huge amount of media attention and everyone has been talking about it so it’s getting exciting now.”
For the past seven years, Swift has been playing in the Asian professional hockey league. Young, who is Swift’s second cousin, made the trip to Korea a year earlier and convinced Swift to do the same. Both were awarded South Korean citizenship in 2014.
Swift has played seven seasons for the High 1 team based in Seoul and has led the Asian league in scoring for five of those years.
He has also represented Korea in four international tournaments but says nothing compares to the Olympics — even though the NHL players won’t be there.
“It would have been nice to have the NHL guys there,” said Swift. “But I think it improves our chances to push for gold.”
Athletic trainer and former European hockey pro Spike McCormick has trained and skated with both Swift and young during their off-season and knows the sacrifices they’ve made to get to this point.
“What a way to cap off your career,” said McCormick from his gym in Peterborough’s south end. “I know it’s hard for them every year to go over to Korea but they were doing it for a bigger goal at the end. They saw the Olympics coming and hence why they got the citizenship in the first place.
“I think the Korean Ice Hockey Federation knew they had to beef up its team and they got two good players to add to its roster.”
The Olympic opening ceremonies kick off Feb. 9, and the Korean men’s hockey team have found themselves in the same pool as Canada and will faceoff against one another on Feb. 18.
Swift says don’t be surprised if you see some Korean flags being waved in some Peterborough and area sports pubs for that game.
“There might be,” said Swift. “Because I did bring home some Korean swag home for Christmas, so there might be something flying around.”
Swift says it will be a little surreal once he’s lined up on the blue line and staring across at Team Canada for the national anthems before the game but at the same time, he’d never trade the chance to be an Olympian.