“Hockey isn’t that big in Japan yet,” Icebucks’ coach Kinugasa said. “But over here, the hockey environment is so different. You have so many arenas and so many different teams that you can really battle at a high level.”
Kinugasa only learned about hockey in Japan because his father was into skating and took him many times to a nearby arena. Once he learned to skate, he was literally a leg up on other athletes trying hockey as a sport.
That’s why he feels the early exposure to hockey in North America for his young players is important.
“They’re seeing things here they’ve never seen before,” he said, pointing around the Kraken Community Iceplex. “For instance, we don’t have arenas with three different sheets of ice in Japan.”
Some of the players immediately noticed differences even before taking the ice.
“A lot of people, when they come up to you at the hotel or in other places, they always want to shake your hand,” Icebucks captain Toichiro Sakamoto, 12, said through an interpreter. “They don’t do that in Japan. They don’t come up to strangers and shake your hand.”
Seiya Mori, 12, an alternate captain with the Icebucks, also said through an interpreter he noticed the food portions here “are much bigger” than he’s used to back home.
“It’s the same with a room or big spaces (in public),” he added. “Everything here is a big size compared to what we’re used to in Japanese culture.”
Both enjoyed the experience of watching a Kraken practice last Saturday ahead of their semifinal game, getting to see NHL players up close. At one point, Jaden Schwartz skated by and playfully banged his stick against the glass where they were standing rinkside – causing the players to erupt with laughter.
In fact, they were so glued to watching practice that many were reluctant to head to the adjacent ice rink to play their semi-final game.
Sakamoto came away awed by seeing the players’ skill levels up close.
“They never missed a single pass,” he said.
Mori couldn’t believe the size and speed of Kraken players.
“You could see a big difference between them and us,” he said. “They had great control of the puck and always did what they were trying to do with it.”
Both enjoyed the tutelage of Kraken development coach Min, who took them into a video room to show footage of how NHL players take their shots. They’d never been tutored using video before and were impressed by how quickly Min. brought them out to the ice for practical instruction that implemented techniques they’d just seen on the big screen.
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