South Korea shut out Japan 2-0 for its first win at a men’s hockey tournament on home ice Friday.
Defenseman Eric Regan scored midway through the second period, and forward Park Sang-jin netted a short-handed goal in the third for insurance in a well-deserved victory at the Legacy Cup.
The four-nation tournament, which also featured Kazakhstan and Latvia, was held at Gangneung Hockey Centre in Gangneung, 230 kilometers east of Seoul, in commemoration of the first anniversary of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
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(Yonhap) |
This was South Korea‘s first victory at Gangneung Hockey Centre, which was built for the Olympics, on its ninth try. The team lost both of its friendly matches against Russia in February
2017 and dropped all four games at PyeongChang 2018. Then it lost its first two games at the Legacy Cup, first to Latvia on Wednesday and then to Kazakhstan the following day, before ending the skid Friday.
South Korea has now won its past four meetings against Japan with a combined score of 12-1. Matt Dalton, a Canadian-born goalie with South Korean citizenship, was in net for all four victories.
Kazakhstan won the Legacy Cup by defeating Latvia 3-2 in overtime earlier Friday for its third straight win. Latvia beat South Korea and Japan before dropping its final game. (Yonhap)
