Jung Ahn

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This is a Korean name; the family name is Ahn.
Jung Ahn
Born Ahn Jung-Hyun
(1993-08-20) 20 August 1993[1]
Haeundae, Busan, KOR
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight 86 kg (190 lb; 13 st 8 lb)
Position Centre / Left Wing
Shoots Left
ALH team Anyang Halla
National team  South Korea
Playing career 2012–present

Ahn Jung-Hyun (Korean: 안정현; born 20 August 1993), better known as Jung Ahn, is a South Korean professional ice hockey player.[1] He currently plays centre for Anyang Halla of the ALH and the South Korea men's national ice hockey team.

He is a blue chip prospect of the South Korean Olympic Men's National Ice Hockey team set to make its Olympic debut as the host country of the 2018 Winter Olympics.[2]

Early life

Ahn was born to a student family in Haeundae, Busan, South Korea. He moved to Vancouver, British Columbia along with his parents who had made the decision to study abroad when he was one and a half years old.[3] After his family had become the victim of a serial scammer who targeted newly landed immigrants, they moved to Edmonton, Alberta in an attempt to stabilize financially. Until his latter adolescence, Ahn lived in a university funded housing unit. While residing in a neighborhood with a large African-Canadian community, he became close friends with a Ghanaian immigrant who gave him the nickname "Henny" after not being able to pronounce the second part of Ahn’s Korean given name: "Hyun”. Upon entering middle school, Ahn chose to simplify his name to “Jung Ahn” from “Jung-Hyun Ahn” in an attempt to ease the difficulty that his teachers and coaches had in pronouncing his name. However, Ahn did not opt for an English name because he felt that it would mask his Korean heritage.

Ahn discovered ice hockey on a frozen patch of ice behind his community’s Laundromat at the age of three. He found his first pair of skates in a donation bin and his first set of equipment was handed down to him by a Japanese immigrant family whose son had recently quit organized hockey. He was registered in organized hockey on his fifth birthday. Ahn’s father worked part-time as a janitor and his mother as a hotel cashier, both while enrolled at the University of Alberta, in order to support their son’s participation in competitive sports.[3]

Junior career

Ahn spent three seasons playing junior hockey in Canada. He chose to pursue the junior "A" route in order to maintain his NCAA eligibility despite the interest he received from major junior hockey clubs as a youth, since his inclusion in the Team Alberta development program. After moving back to Vancouver just before the 2010-2011 season following his parents' work, Ahn was recruited by the Sicamous Eagles of the KIJHL where he spent his first junior season and was selected to the league's top prospects game. Following that year, Ahn was arranged to play for the Quesnel Millionaires of the BCHL; however, due to the franchise folding right before the 2011-2012 season because of financial problems, Ahn was forced to find junior "A" hockey outside of British Columbia as an import player. The remainder of Ahn's junior career was disappointing, as he was sidelined by a recurring third grade ankle injury and struggled to rehabilitate properly. This resulted in his rights being traded frequently within the Canadian Junior Hockey League having short stints in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and the Maritimes. Ahn eventually decided to ask his team for a leave and returned home to Vancouver in order receive long term treatment from a specialist as conditions worsened.[4]

Professional career

Upon returning to health, Ahn had the choice of either returning to play junior "A" in Canada or signing with Anyang Halla of the ALH who had scouted him in the previous summer and had given him a standing offer based solely on the fact that he carried a great deal of untapped potential, despite the club coming under heavy criticism for taking a large risk on a relatively unproven player. Ahn, who was not pleased with the opportunities he was receiving at his current junior club despite strong performances with the previous team that had traded him there, decided to sign with Halla in December 2012, giving up his college eligibility. At barely 19 years of age, Ahn became Halla's youngest signing in franchise history.[4]

Ahn made his professional debut with Halla in a 13-0 drubbing of China Dragon where he recorded an assist playing on a line alongside fellow rookies and Canadian junior "A" alumni.[4]

International play

Ahn made his international debut for South Korea in a 3-2 loss against Vyacheslav Bykov's Poland men's national ice hockey team at the IIHF sanctioned 2013 Euro Ice Hockey Challenge in Tychy, Poland.[5]

He became the youngest goal scorer in South Korean national team history when he capitalized on a rebound during a 4-3 victory over Romania at the same competition.[5][6]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "AHN, JUNG-HYUN profile (in Korean)". AnyangHalla.com. Retrieved 1 November 2013. 
  2. ↑ http://news.hankooki.com/lpage/sports/201212/h20121201023120111960.htm
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/12/19/2012121900430.html
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=57151
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 http://eihcsite.stats.pointstreak.com/teamplayerstats.html?teamid=424108&seasonid=10274
  6. ↑ http://news.tv.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2013/02/11/2013021100410.html


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