Jung Ahn

Ahn Jung-Hyun (Korean: 안정현) (born 20 August 1993), better known as Jung Ahn, is a South Korean professional Ice Hockey player who currently plays centre for Anyang Halla of the ALIH and 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.

At barely 19 years of age, Ahn became the youngest signing in Halla's franchise history.

Early life

Ahn was born to a student family in Haeundae, Busan, South Korea. He went to Vancouver, British Columbia along with his parents to study abroad when he was one and a half years old. 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 temporary housing development. 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.

Playing style

Ahn is a atypical power forward that boasts speed, offensive drive, on-ice intelligence, and considerable puck handling ability.

Personal life

During the off season, Ahn resides in Vancouver, Canada. He is sponsored by MiE-Hi; a Vancouver based luxury underground clothing company.

While playing junior hockey in North America, Ahn recorded an SAT score that would have allowed him to attend an Ivy League institution, had he chosen not to pursue professional hockey at an early age.

References