Article content

It was loud and it was raucous.

The patter of thunder sticks mixed with cheers and some screams, echoed through the year-old arena. In the stands, co-ordinated dancing was led by an eight-person team of conductors.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or The little hockey country that could: South Korea has big plans for the Winter Games Back to video

This was the eager anticipation of 5,800 spectators brimming over for a rare event.

This was hockey night in Gangneung, South Korea.

But it was no simple game of shinny. On this night, the crowd was cheering both for the home team and the visitors: a team from North Korea.

To one side of the crowd, a group of about 100 wore identical white T-shirts with a blue Korean peninsula, absent a dividing line at the 38th parallel.

“Korea is One” was the message.

South Korean women’s team coach Sarah Murray and her players sat huddled in the locker room.

The biggest hockey stage most of her 22-member roster had ever played on numbered in the low hundreds. Now, thousands had gathered, roaring and chanting. A crush of local and international media had flocked to cover the game, which was both a separate major tournament and test event for the next year’s Winter Olympics – which will be hosted by South Korea in February.