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Korean hockey in Pyeongchang 2018


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The 2012 IIHF World Championship Division 1 ended a couple of weeks ago, with Korea winning the Division 1 B group (winning all their games against Poland, Netherlands, Lithuania, Romania and Australia). This means that next year, they will play in the Division 1 A group, which is pretty much the second tier division in hockey, consisting of the 17th-22nd placed teams in the world. Next year, Korea will be in a group which could consist of Italy, Kazakhstan, Japan, Hungary and Britain. The top two teams in each year's Division 1 A group ends up being promoted to the Elite Division in hockey (top 16 teams), where they get to play the likes of Canada, USA, Sweden and Russia. But for now, just staying in the second tier of hockey nations and being competitive against countries like Italy, Kazakhstan and Japan would be an achievement for Korea.

There's an interesting debate discussing the pros and cons of having Korea compete in the Olympic hockey tournament in 2018. The discussion on Korea begins around post #13: http://hfboards.hock...d.php?t=1167105

For what it's worth, I would be very, VERY disappointed if Korea isn't given automatic entry to the Olympic hockey tournament in 2018. It would completely sour my enthusiasm for the hockey tournament, and I wouldn't be able to forgive Fasel and the IIHF.

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I thought it was a forgone conclusion that Korea would get the same treatment as any other host. I am sure the Korean NOC is looking at every possible Korean immigrant in North America that plays hockey.

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I think the men's team should be given a spot automatically. They are slightly below Italy and Japan, but in 6 years should be able to catch up. The Women's team I'd say no even with the new competition formula. South Korea is ranked below Bulgaria in the Women's hockey rankings. Bulgaria lost to Slovakia 82-0, which in turn Slovakia qualified for Vancouver and was demolished 18-0 by Canada. To avoid ugly defeats like that South Korean women should not be allowed, like Greece's field hockey teams were not allowed at the 2004 Games. Maybe if there is vast improvement.

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I thought it was a forgone conclusion that Korea would get the same treatment as any other host. I am sure the Korean NOC is looking at every possible Korean immigrant in North America that plays hockey.

I didn't know there was any decision as of yet.

It'll be harder for Korea than it was for Italy to find NA hockey players. Italy had Italian-Canadians and Italian-Americans who were fringe NHLers, and others who were at least good enough to be drafted into the NHL. Korea won't have that luxury. But still, as long as Korea can somehow manage to stay in the Division 1 A for the next few years, they can get used to playing against some decent competition. Korea looked shaky even in their game against Poland that sent them to the 1 A group, but they're improving and should get even better by 2018.

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I think the men's team should be given a spot automatically. They are slightly below Italy and Japan, but in 6 years should be able to catch up. The Women's team I'd say no even with the new competition formula. South Korea is ranked below Bulgaria in the Women's hockey rankings. Bulgaria lost to Slovakia 82-0, which in turn Slovakia qualified for Vancouver and was demolished 18-0 by Canada. To avoid ugly defeats like that South Korean women should not be allowed, like Greece's field hockey teams were not allowed at the 2004 Games. Maybe if there is vast improvement.

Oh, the Korean men are definitely below Italy and even Japan, but Korea is at least improving at their own pace.

The Korean women will get better... they HAVE to get better. And they already are, they're making the games tighter between their Asian rivals Kazakhstan, Japan and China, all who have really good womens' teams, and could compete with any womens' team except Canada and the US. Whereas the Korean women used to lose to their Asian rivals 20-0 just 5 years ago, now it's more like 10-0, and games should only become tighter over the next 5 years.

And I wouldn't use Bulgaria as an example. I saw that game against Slovakia, they looked like they didn't even know how to skate. And I also believe that was the first time the Bulgarian women had ever played in a tournament. I have no idea how Bulgaria is ranked that high, but the Korean women can easily beat Bulgaria 10-0 no problem, without exaggeration. Of course, that's not saying much.

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What do you mean?

Well Korea won't be in the top 4 ranked nations in 2018 in Women's hockey, meaning they will play in group B.

There is a new format in hockey at the Olympics. Top 4 teams in Group A and bottom 4 in group B with top 2 in group A receiving byes to the semifinals and the 3rd 4th place teams from group A crossing over to play top 2 in group B.

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Yes, I'm interested in this. I want to find out about the schedule for the woman side.

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I found this in Korean:

http://www.asiatoday....asp?seq=628839

더불어 이번 대회 우승으로 2018평창동계올림픽 자력 진출에도 청신호가 켜질 예정이다. 지난 3월 세계여자아이스하키선수권 참관차 한국을 방문한 르네 파젤 국제아이스하키연맹 회장은 "한국이 세계랭킹 18위 이내에 진입할 경우, 올림픽 개최국으로서의 자동 출전권을 주겠다"고 약속했다.

한국은 현재 31위에 올라 있지만 이는 4년간의 전적을 합산하는 현 시스템으로 인해 랭킹이 현 실력보다 하향 조정돼 있다. 이번 대회 우승으로 경기력만큼은 18위 이내의 수준임을 입증하며 국제 아이스하키 관계자들에게 큰 인상을 남겼다.

What that means is IIHF President Fasel would grant Korea automatic qualification to the Olympic tournament if they reach a ranking of 18th or better. Mind you, he said this in March, before Korea won the Division 1B group, so he may have just been trying to give the team an incentive to keep improving.

Being ranked 18th will be tough, though 20th would be more reachable. They were ranked 31st in 2011, but for 2012 are currently ranked 28th (but only because they did not participate in the 2010 Olympic qualification tournament, otherwise they would be ranked at least 25th). They placed 23rd in the standings for the 2012 World Hockey Championships tournaments, and next year can be no less than 22nd in the standings. If they can stay in the Division 1A group for the next few years, they'd pretty much be assured at least a ranking of 22.

The top 14 countries are pretty much perennial contenders in the Elite Division, and Korea has no hope of catching them by 2018. The next 4 top countries at 15-18 (Italy, Kazakhstan, Austria and Slovenia) seem to be comfortably ahead of the next level of countries at 19-24 (Japan, Hungary, Britain, Korea, Poland, Ukraine). I think if Korea can consistently be ranked around 20th, and can beat those at 19-24 and stay competitive against those in 15-18, then their hockey efforts leading to 2018 will be a success.

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