A Flash on Ice : Hockey Player Has All the Right Moves at Age 12; He’s So Good, in Fact, That He May Have to Move to Colder Clime

They call him “Flash,” this 12-year-old from Rancho Palos Verdes touted in international hockey circles as the next Wayne Gretzky.

Richard Park’s stick-handling and passing are so crisp that comparisons with the Los Angeles Kings’ superstar are inevitable. He is no match for boys his age, and has dominated teen-agers four years older. Born in Korea and raised in Southern California, Richard is excelling in a sport long-dominated by Eastern and Canadian interests.

“At his age he does things on the ice that I guarantee not all the pros can do,” UCLA hockey Coach Jack White said.

A center/defenseman, Richard recently led the Los Angeles Junior Kings to the California Pee Wee Division title in his first season. In one game he scored 10 goals. In tournaments in the United States and Canada last winter he was so brilliant his picture appeared in International Hockey Weekly. His story has been told in French, Korean and English newspapers.

“He’s the best 12-year-old I’ve seen in a long time,” Junior Kings Manager Nick Racanelli said.

An amateur hockey club in Chicago is trying to persuade Richard’s parents to move him there.

“The kid’s a gem,” said Al Thomas, manager of the Chicago Young Americans, a Triple-A amateur team composed of some of the best teen-age prospects from America.

Richard is unique to hockey because of his heritage, size and the area in which he lives. There has never been a Korean-born pro hockey player. Only two or three Asians have ever played pro hockey, according to the National Hockey League.

At 5-foot-8, Richard is large for his age. “People think Koreans are always small, but that is just not true,” said his sister, Christina, 20.

And in Southern California where the Park family lives, hockey ranks up there in importance for most young people with homework and a new pair of snowshoes.

‘Pure Hockey Sense’

“He has the pure hockey sense that you don’t see very often in players from Southern California,” said Dave Kizanis, his local coach.

All the attention has been a little overwhelming for Richard. “Richard doesn’t like the attention, he’s really shy,” Christina said.

Richard’s reputation precedes him. He was mobbed in Minnesota. In Quebec, young girls asked for autographs. In Washington state, he was credited with boosting attendance at a national tournament.

Consequently, “he’s not a regular 12-year-old,” Christina said. “He has had to mature real fast.”

Richard’s mother, Jean Park, is not so sure.

“Yes,” she said when asked if she thought the pressure was too intense sometimes. “I think it does bother him.”

Most of the time Richard just wants to hang out with friends at a shopping mall. “I get kind of tired of (the attention) sometimes,” he said.

When a reporter and photographer showed up one recent Saturday afternoon at Bay Harbor Olympic Ice Arena in Harbor City to watch Richard practice with his team, the young player was less than thrilled. He fussed about posing for a photo with his mother and sister. When practice ended he hid in the locker room.

Kizanis coaxed him. Richard tugged at his dark hair which protruded from under a Kings hockey cap. His shoulders rested against a cold concrete wall. He stared at the ceiling. An icy silence stifled the room.

But when the talk turned to surfing, Richard’s eyes suddenly lit up and with a youthful grin he spoke of his day, which had begun at 5 a.m. at the Manhattan Beach Pier with a borrowed surfboard.

“Man, I hurt my butt,” he said.

The Park family--two boys, two girls, Jean and her husband Paul--moved to the United States and settled in Brea almost eight years ago. Paul Park is in the import business. Christina took skating lessons soon after the family arrived.

“I wanted to do something I couldn’t have done in Korea,” she said.

One day she took her little brother to the rink. “We gave him a lesson and the teacher told us that he was just too good, that he already had an ability to skate,” she said.

Lived Here Since Age 4

When Richard was 5, the family moved to the Palos Verdes Peninsula. He wanted to skate every day.

Richard said he sometimes feels the eyes of two nations staring at him. He has lived in the United States since he was 4 and considers himself a regular American kid. Christina said he wants to become a naturalized citizen when he turns 18, but he would still be eligible to play Olympic hockey for his homeland if he chooses.

“I don’t speak Korean that well,” Richard said. Yet the Korean work ethic that puts family and education ahead of all else is why he is so good on the ice.

Richard attends hockey camps around the country. There are weekly clinics in Burbank, Pasadena and Van Nuys. His mother said the money the family spends on hockey each year is substantial.

“I don’t really like hockey,” she said. “I just love to watch my son.”

She believes her son should treat hockey as a hobby. Education to Koreans is more important, and because Richard gets “only Bs” he is sometimes scolded by his family.

“Without an education you are only a dumb hockey player,” said Christina, a premed student at Loma Linda University.

Typical Teen-Age Reaction

Richard describes himself as “kind of a smart ass” in his parents’ eyes, but Christina says he is really a momma’s boy.

“Mom is too strict sometimes,” Richard said. “When I ask her if I can go out with friends to the mall, she says no. My friends’ parents let them go.”

Jean Park said she would do anything for her son. “I try to copy the American people,” she said. “But school first, hockey second.”

If Richard wants to stay on top of his game, experts agree he will have to leave Southern California to play against better competition. The problem here, they say, is that there just aren’t enough ice rinks.

“In another year they’ll have to be doing some serious thinking about getting him into an area where he can develop, an area where everyone is good,” said White, the UCLA hockey club coach.

Family Considers Moving

Richard has been an exception to the rule among players here, said Racanelli, Junior Kings manager and a former Canadian. “The problem in Southern California is that you just don’t get the good coaching,” he said. “He’ll have to leave here and go somewhere where everybody is good.”

Canada, the Midwest or Northeast are good bets for the Parks. They recently began discussing a move.

“Maybe in a year,” said Jean Park, who said she will follow her son wherever he goes.

Richard knows he must go, too. “Maybe one more year,” he said. “But I would miss my friends.”

Jean Park left the rink to go to the coffee shop where Thomas, the coach in Chicago, wanted to discuss the possibility of having the young player move now. He promised more ice time and a $52,000 budget that would pay for most travel expenses.

But Richard was not interested at that moment. Nighttime was approaching, the hockey playoffs were on TV.

Maybe he would go to the mall later with some friends.