South Korea men’s hockey coach Jim Paek is ignoring the Olympic host nation’s long odds at the PyeongChang Winter Games.
“My expectation is gold, absolutely,” Paek, a two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Pittsburgh Penguins, said Wednesday, according to Yonhap News Agency. “Why do we even play if we don’t prepare to win the gold? In order for us to be successful, we have to think and act like an elite team. Win or lose, I don’t have the crystal ball. But I know we’ve prepared extremely hard for the last three years.”
Paek, the first South Korean-born NHL player, was hired almost exactly three years ago to develop the men’s program into a respectable Olympic team.