Living In America: Yuri Terao’s Year In Iowa

To pursue his hockey career, Japanese star Yuri Terao traded in the Far East for the Midwest.

Terao, who was at Islanders mini camp in the first week of July, had outgrown hockey in his native Japan, so the move to Waterloo, Iowa – to play for the USHL’s Blackhawks – was a necessary one. But this was no easy move. He came over with no English, no family and no translator, completely immersing himself into cornfield culture.

“It was his first time playing abroad in the United States and also first time living abroad, too,” Terao’s translator Take Shirai said. “In the beginning it was tough, but he learned a lot.”

Everything had changed for Terao: different country, different culture, new family and on top of that, he had to adjust to the North American style of hockey. He’d gone to two New York Islanders mini camps in the past, which helped, but drills can only prepare a player for so much. Even the ice is different here.

“In Japan we have international size, but here it’s NHL size,” Terao said through Shirai. “Physically, everyone is bigger here. It’s not really tough, but he needed to adjust.”

READ: YURI TERAO IMPRESSES AT ISLANDERS MINI CAMP

Blackhawks coach PK O’Handley had to teach Terao his team’s systems by drawing them out on whiteboards and looping in his translator on a video chat to convey the details. Keep in mind, this was a first for O’Handley – who has coached in the USHL for 20 years – as Japanese players are still a rarity. So far only one Japanese player – goalie Yutaka Fukufuji – has laced up his skates in the NHL.

“The language was a challenge for him, but I thought Yuri and his teammates really worked together,” O’Handley said. “When it comes to the boards and video he did understand that. …

continue reading in source islanders.nhl.com