Seungyup Lee, getting a late fresh start

Seungyup Lee has played with Halla for six years. He hasn't always been a starter, and he hasn't always been a defenceman. He hasn't always been a goal scorer. A lot of things are changing for him this year. He is a soft-spoken man with a budding goatee. He first joined Halla in 2006, but it wasn't until 2009-2010 that he got to play a full season. He put up 9 points and was +3 on the season. He took 42 minutes in penalties. Halla won their first championship that year. The next season he didn't play as much, but last year he got another opportunity. He had 8 points on the season but was -2. He did however only take 10 minutes in penalties across 35 games.

Eurohockey recently got an opportunity to talk with him with the help of Ben Song the team interpreter.
*Seungyup's responses are not verbatim as they were translated and then tidied up a bit


Eurhockey: Tell us a little bit about yourself
Seungyup Lee: I started when I was grade 5 in elementary school. During Junior high I could play for 2 years. I was in the countryside and then moved to Seoul so I couldn't play for 2 years. After I came back to Seoul I played in junior high, high school and then went to Korea university to play. I guess am an all around player but before the first year of university, I was a forward and a defenceman. So the coach would use me as a defenceman if they needed me and as a forward because I had a good stick. For Anyang Halla I was a defenceman but Halla has the Finland project, they offered me a position at forward because of my speed and vision and I played in that position at university before. So for the last two games I was playing forward during which I scored 2 goals. There were a couple of injuries on the defence so I will return to support the D. I've been with Anyang Halla six years and in the first year I didn't get that much ice time but right now I'm getting full ice team going back and forth between second and third line and I appreciate what the coach is giving me. I had a lot of injuries before as well. There were a lot of up and downs. I've done a lot of rehab, and I'm looking for more experience on the ice. Everything was downhill for me, but starting 2 years back, now it's going well and my confidence is up and I'm playing better.

EH: This is your seventh season with Halla, and already you've scored two goals which is a career high for you. How do you feel this year?
SYL: This is a good opportunity for me because as I said I had a lot of up and down and a lot of injuries but now everything is fine. I did a lot of rehab and worked out a lot, so I have more confidence this year than ever. I used to be a forward and now a defenceman so I have a lot of confidence in the defensive zone. I believe this could be the best year for me.

EH: Do you have any personal goals you'd like to achieve this season?
SYL: Before the season I was prepared for the D, I was thinking about allowing less goals, taking less penalties, but now that I started as a forward, so I wanted to focus on confidence and offence. Now I'm going back to D so my goal is to win as many games as I can, work on my plus/minus. Scoring goals is good for every forward, but for me just being on every game, working hard, and back checking well. I want to be a role-model on my line and step it up

EH: You also played in the world championships last year. Korea won all its games and was promoted. Tell us a little bit about that.
SYL: I was honoured to be part of winning the championship. With Halla I won 2 championships already, but it felt like a bigger honor to win the world championship as it was a national victory. I'm proud of myself and the whole team. I was happy to be part of it.

EH: Which Asia League team have you found to be the toughest to play against in the last 7 seasons?
SYL: Definitely Oji. They are fast skaters, they have a good system. They have a good forecheck. They are about the hardest team every team is playing these days.

EH: What do you think would help increase the popularity of Ice Hockey in Korea?
SYL: If big companies were more into it sponsor wise. The market is not sure right, it seems to be small. So we need to get out and show people what hockey and this league is all about. Which is what coverage like that from Eurohockey is helping us do. Watching it on TV is not the same as watching it live. It's way better to come see it at the rink.

EH: Do you think the Olympics will help increase interest in hockey in Korea?
SYL: I guess it depends on..we still have a couple years until the olympics, on how we build up before. We have more world championship games. I guess this will show people what hockey is all about. It's going to be hard, we're not going to win anything, but to be part of that, the legacy. It will be a dream, it will help Korea hockey more than now. If a lot of people and companies support it, it will help, but we need a lot of support and fans to make it. Right now our owner sent 10 guys to Finland for the Finland project to give them more ice time and confidence, but the Ice hockey association needs to step up and send a lot of people for experience but it's not happening now, but we need more people involved. I'm happy the Army team is getting involved. It's a little step up.

EH: Thank you for your time!

 

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