Mathias Gundersen: From Korea to Norway





여기 또 한명의 한국인(?)이 세계아이스하키연맹 월드 챔피언스리그전에서
노르웨이 대표팀의 수문장으로서 게임을 하고 있네요.
1985년생으로 노르웨이 가정으로 입양된 군데르센군의 이번대회 인터뷰 기사입니다.





Gundersen earned a .915 save percentage and 2.86 GAA in his first 147 minutes



Twenty-year-old Mathias Gundersen came to this year's World Championship as the third goalie for Norway. His only top-level international experience before the tournament was a game against France last August (a 2-1 win) and another against Italy leading up to this tournament in Riga (a 2-1 loss). Pal Grotnes was the incumbent number one man, and his backup was Jonas Norgren.

Gundersen's performance in those two exhibition games, however, put a smile on the face of national coach Roy Johansen, so the goalie found himself dressing as the backup to Grotnes for the Norway-Canada game a few days ago.

"I think my game against Italy went really well and the coaches wanted to give me confidence," said Gundersen. "That was really cool."

By the midway point of that game, Canada had built a 6-0 lead and was clearly on its way to an easy win. Johansen pulled Grotnes and inserted his rookie Gundersen. The youngster let in a goal on his first shot, then settled in to make every save the rest of the game.

"With Canada, I watch all the players on TV, so I was nervous," he admitted. "But after a couple or three minutes I cooled down a little and focused on myself and my own play, and I think it went well. It gave me a lot of confidence."

Johansen was impressed and decided to start Gundersen for the team's next game, a key meeting with Denmark. The winner of that game would advance to the Qualifying Round, which would be a significant achievement for either nation, while the loser would have to fight for its life in the Relegation Round. Gundersen played well in a 6-3 win, and earned the start the next game against the mighty Czech Republic as his reward. Although the Czechs won, it was a narrow 3-1 decision and Gundersen was the best Norwegian on the ice.

The goalie had just one small regret after the game: "My parents aren't here. They're back home in Norway, but hopefully they watched the game on TV."

Gundersen's story is a compelling one. "I was born in Korea [Seoul], but I was adopted when I was seven months old and came to Norway," he related. He was taken to Frederikstad, about an hour outside of Oslo, with another Korean boy from a different mother. They both fell in love with hockey, but Mathias's brother stopped playing in his early teens. However, for Gundersen, it became an increasingly central part of his life.

"My older brother started to play hockey, and I started when I was five years old. I always wanted to be the goaltender. I was fascinated with the position. When I was three or four years old, I made my own equipment and went out on the street to play." He made goalie pads and a blocker using cardboard boxes, and for a catching glove he used a baseball cap.

"Growing up, I always followed the NHL, of course, but there was no one player I really admired," Gundersen said. "I tried to learn from every player, pick up something, try it, see if it works, and if it does, continue to use it. I also try to learn from all goaltenders, not only NHL goaltenders, but players from the regional leagues as well."

He has played all his hockey in Norway, starting in the junior leagues in Stjernen, where he played until he was 15. At that point, he moved to Lillehammer to attend high school for four years: "I played the first two years there in the junior league and the last two in the senior league there. After that, I returned home to Frederikstad and have been playing there for one year now."

Gundersen played for Norway at the Division I World Junior Championship in 2005. He played every minute of the tournament, won all five games, and took his team to first place to earn promotion to the top pool for 2006. He couldn't play in Vancouver this past year because of his commitments to his club team and his school. Gundersen is studying economics at university not far from home.

His mask is also part of his story, albeit a light-hearted sidebar. Painted on either side of it are two cheerleaders from his home club in Frederikstad, and along the chin is written his name.

Norway has two games left here at the IIHF World Championship against Finland and Latvia. The team will almost certainly not advance to the quarter-finals, but coach Johansen may have found a goalie around which to build a future team that can go farther. Two more games against top-flight competition will certainly give the coach a better idea, and Gundersen himself will have a much better idea of what it takes to play against the big boys.

So far, he's doing just fine.