A canadian player will play for s.korea national team.

[canucks2sabres]

the department of ice hockey of s.korea decided to bring a canadian into the national team. the paper works are underway, and there won't be any problem.

his name is Brock Radunsk, drafted by Oilers in 2002, 3rd round #79 overall. he has played in AIHL for 4 years which means he can play for s.korea national team (ruled by IIHF.) And he will get dual nationalities - canada and s.korea

you can check his stats here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brock_Radunske

he is the best player in AIHL.



the reason they decided to do this is because of 2018 winter olympic in Pyeong-Chang, korea. The president of IIHF said if S.korea is over 18th on the international ranking, he will give free pass to the olympic qualification.(He didn't mean that Korea has to be over 18th but around the ranking.)

S.korea is in Division-1A and ranked 28th. Actually Korea was in Division-1B, but they made a miracle in Division 1B championship last year with 5 straight wins beating Poland.

they expect Radunsk to play in the next Division A championship on this April in Hungary. (pretty sure he won't play in 2018 winter olympic.) they also considered bringing another canadian player who has been playing AIHL, but they are reconsidering because of some problem. so don't be suprised if more canadians play for the S.korea national team later.

Moreover, An-yang Halla, one of ice hockey clubs in korea, sent 10 players to Finland league to get some experiences. and they also will open a club in Finland to boost their plans. (with cooperation with the department of Finland hockey league)

To sum up, lots of things and plans are going on in Asia hockey - esp s.korea for the 2018 winter olympic. Yes, this is a little cheating, but hope to understand the situation of Ice hockey in korea.

I really expect something in 2018 winter olympic just like 2002 Worldcup Korea/Japan. it was the time that korea expanded its soccer market.

Click to read more...

 

[boris4c]

What do you expect at the 2018 Winter Olympics? I'm sure it will help sell the sport and expand its market in South Korea, but unfortunately I wouldn't be expecting any kind of results for the South Korea national team. The difference between top and bottom teams in hockey is huge, which isn't really the case for football (soccer).

 

[canucks2sabres]

im just informing the news. yes it is hard, and i dont expect them to get a gold medal or bronze but if korea make the qualification at least, that will be the biggest improvement in hockey of asia. and that will be also a good news for international ice hockey market. in addition, dont think only top teams will make a good record in olympics. (soccer? in every sport, there is a huge gap between tops and bottoms)

 

[Siamese Dream]

It's not cheating at all, back in the 90's nearly the entire Great Britain team was made up of Canadians.

It's within the rules, so it's fine.

He's not that much of a "ringer" either by the looks of it, only played a few games in the AHL.

 

[vorky]

It's not cheating at all, back in the 90's nearly the entire Great Britain team was made up of Canadians.

It's within the rules, so it's fine.

He's not that much of a "ringer" either by the looks of it, only played a few games in the AHL.

and Czech native, Nedved, played for Canada at OG in Lillehamer.

 

[vorky]

Moreover, An-yang Halla, one of ice hockey clubs in korea, sent 10 players to Finland league to get some experiences. and they also will open a club in Finland to boost their plans. (with cooperation with the department of Finland hockey league)

any link?

To sum up, lots of things and plans are going on in Asia hockey - esp s.korea for the 2018 winter olympic. Yes, this is a little cheating, but hope to understand the situation of Ice hockey in korea.

and MHL, junior league of KHL, wants to invite south korean/japan teams to MHL B (2nd tier) in future to play with club located in russian Far East. I dont think it will happen before OG 2018. We will see. MHL Selects (as russian NT) played against asian coutries at U20 tourney last year, this may will play again. KHL wants to create Asian division in future, we will see, plan is plan, not reality.

 

[boris4c]

im just informing the news. yes it is hard, and i dont expect them to get a gold medal or bronze but if korea make the qualification at least, that will be the biggest improvement in hockey of asia. and that will be also a good news for international ice hockey market. in addition, dont think only top teams will make a good record in olympics. (soccer? in every sport, there is a huge gap between tops and bottoms)

Why would South Korea need to go through qualification? It's the host country, and therefore should be automatically qualified.

Of course, there are gaps between top and bottom teams everywhere, but the point is that there is much more parity in soccer than there is in hockey. There are more than 50 teams in the world who can qualify to the FIFA World Cup, whereas in hockey that's far from being the case. If South Korea was to play against Canada tomorrow, they would lose 25-0.

 

[Jesus Vitale]

i think this is definitely a good move for Korean hockey. If a foreigner is willing to play in your country for 4+ years and then represent it in WC/whatever it means they're giving him a good amount of money and/or their organizations are run pretty well. It shows that they're trying to improve and be taken seriously.

ps: Dong-Hwan Song aka the Korean Rocket will lead them to victory!

 

[canucks2sabres]

Why would South Korea need to go through qualification? It's the host country, and therefore should be automatically qualified.

Of course, there are gaps between top and bottom teams everywhere, but the point is that there is much more parity in soccer than there is in hockey. There are more than 50 teams in the world who can qualify to the FIFA World Cup, whereas in hockey that's far from being the case. If South Korea was to play against Canada tomorrow, they would lose 25-0.

you totally don't understand the system of each sport. first, there is no auto-qualification in ice hockey of winter olympics, it was banished after Torino, Italy olympic (i guess?) that's why s.korea try to make those moves even though they are the host country. second, Ice hockey in winter olympic doesn't have the continental distribution which FIFA Worldcup has. so, even though a country make the worldcup, that dosen't mean they are of the 50 teams in the world. we have seen some teams in worldcups which are ranked over 100th fifa rankings. and, of course it would be 25-0, but if Canada soccer team was to play against Spain tomorrow, they would loss 5-0.

 

[boris4c]

you totally don't understand the system of each sport. first, there is no auto-qualification in ice hockey of winter olympics, it was banished after Torino, Italy olympic (i guess?) that's why s.korea try to make those moves even though they are the host country.

If the host country doesn't qualify automatically, then we won't be seeing South Korea in 2018. They simply lack the quality, and inviting 35 year old Canadian ECHLers won't change that.

second, Ice hockey in winter olympic doesn't have the continental distribution which FIFA Worldcup has. so, even though a country make the worldcup, that dosen't mean they are of the 50 teams in the world. we have seen some teams in worldcups which are ranked over 100th fifa rankings.

There is an obvious reason why there are no continental allocations for hockey. It's because the sport lacks parity, which is my argument from the beginning. Unless you would like to see a team from Asia, South America and Africa at the IIHF World Championships. When it comes to soccer, there are 30 teams in Europe only who are good enough to qualify to the FIFA World Cup but not even half of them do, because of their limited spots.

and, of course it would be 25-0, but if Canada soccer team was to play against Spain tomorrow, they would loss 5-0.

Perhaps, but Canada isn't ranked 28th in the FIFA Rankings. There is no team in the top 30 that would lose 5-0 to Spain.

 

[Holden Caulfield]

There is an obvious reason why there are no continental allocations for hockey. It's because the sport lacks parity, which is my argument from the beginning. Unless you would like to see a team from Asia, South America and Africa at the IIHF World Championships. When it comes to soccer, there are 30 teams in Europe only who are good enough to qualify to the FIFA World Cup but not even half of them do, because of their limited spots.

They had that for 7 years. From 1998 until 2004 the IIHF World Championships had a special Far East qualification that was a guaranteed a spot at the WC. Japan won it every single year to qualify for WC, finishing 16th (last) 5 times, 15th once and 14th once.

Altogether they put together a 0-21-0, with 38 goals for, 136 against in group play, and 0-11-4 with 30 goals for, 67 against in relegation round play (relegation round did not start until 2000). Tied Norway in 2001, Slovenia in 2003, and Ukraine and France in 04. Ukraine was only team they tied that managed to stay up the following year.

South Korea and China were the other teams they competed with in the Far East qualifier and they never lost a game there so far as I can see (in fact regularly beat down both opponants it appears).

 

[boris4c]

That's interesting, I had no idea that's how the system used to be set up, but I'm not surprised to hear that Japan was the dominant force.

But looking at those numbers, it's a good thing they abolished it.

 

[canucks2sabres]

If the host country doesn't qualify automatically, then we won't be seeing South Korea in 2018. They simply lack the quality, and inviting 35 year old Canadian ECHLers won't change that.

There is an obvious reason why there are no continental allocations for hockey. It's because the sport lacks parity, which is my argument from the beginning. Unless you would like to see a team from Asia, South America and Africa at the IIHF World Championships. When it comes to soccer, there are 30 teams in Europe only who are good enough to qualify to the FIFA World Cup but not even half of them do, because of their limited spots.

Perhaps, but Canada isn't ranked 28th in the FIFA Rankings. There is no team in the top 30 that would lose 5-0 to Spain.

and again, you dont understand the system. soccer (fifa) has about 200 countries in the rankings. and IIHF has only 60? (less than 100 for sure). 28th in the fifa rankings is really high number. realize the difference before you argue.

i never said bringing a old canadian would help team korea make a good record at winter olympic. (and he wont or cant play at 2018 olymlpic because he will be too old that time) im just saying they are trying to make a good team because there is no auto-qualification, and it would be a good thing if korea qualifies at least. and i also think it is really hard to see korea at 2018 olympic icehockey just like hard to see canada soccer team at Worldcup. please don't argue on whether korea will qualify or not.

the reason i mentioned soccer is because 2002 worldcup was a big time for korea and japan to boost their soccer market. they tried to improve themselves before 2002 and they both made good records hosting the worldcup. that helped both countries and also fifa to expand the soccer market in asia.

i just hope Korea make a good look at 2018 olympic because it's their hosting olympic and they are trying to be a good hockey team, and that eventually will be a good and fresh news not for canada, russia, usa or sweden but for asia and international icehockey.


i didn't post this thread to argue with you if canada soccer is horrible or korea hockey is terrible.

 

[Franck]

any link?

Here.

Can't help but think it's too little, too late. Can't build a team that wouldn't get embarrassed by nations like Canada or Russia in just 5 years. I wish them the best of luck in their efforts though.

 

[legionista]

Sorry to say but S. Korea playing hockey in the Olympics is equivalent to a team like Faroe Islands playing in the FIFA World Cup. Like it was said before the gap between upper tier hockey, and lower tier is huge.

If you had the world top 8 in hockey (USA, Canada, Russia, Sweden, etc.) play against S. Korea, those teams would put in 20+ goals each game. It would only be an embarrassment and these brutal blowouts would not be in the spirit of the Olympics. Maybe against those fringe teams like Slovenia, Latvia, Belarus could S. Korea score more than one goal, but they would still decidedly lose.

 

[Pajicz]

The olympics in Korea are still almost five years away. If they want to improve their national team, they have time for it, and if they can get a team to Mestis (Finnish 2nd tier league) it would certainly be a step to the right direction.

Previously, there has been more talk about Team Korea in 2018 olympics here:
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=945245

 

[Siamese Dream]

Sorry to say but S. Korea playing hockey in the Olympics is equivalent to a team like Faroe Islands playing in the FIFA World Cup. Like it was said before the gap between upper tier hockey, and lower tier is huge.

If you had the world top 8 in hockey (USA, Canada, Russia, Sweden, etc.) play against S. Korea, those teams would put in 20+ goals each game. It would only be an embarrassment and these brutal blowouts would not be in the spirit of the Olympics. Maybe against those fringe teams like Slovenia, Latvia, Belarus could S. Korea score more than one goal, but they would still decidedly lose.

GB put 2 past Latvia in Sochi qualifiers (6-2 loss) and lost 3-2 against Slovenia in last year's WC. S Korea beat GB in OT in Sochi pre-qualifiers. Not arguing S Korea wouldn't get blown out by the likes of Canada, just saying.

 

[boris4c]

and again, you dont understand the system. soccer (fifa) has about 200 countries in the rankings. and IIHF has only 60? (less than 100 for sure). 28th in the fifa rankings is really high number. realize the difference before you argue.

Please don't tell me that I don't understand the system. I understand it very well, and despite the fact that there are obviously more FIFA members than IIHF members, whoever argues that soccer doesn't have more parity on the international level is a fool.

i never said bringing a old canadian would help team korea make a good record at winter olympic. (and he wont or cant play at 2018 olymlpic because he will be too old that time) im just saying they are trying to make a good team because there is no auto-qualification, and it would be a good thing if korea qualifies at least. and i also think it is really hard to see korea at 2018 olympic icehockey just like hard to see canada soccer team at Worldcup. please don't argue on whether korea will qualify or not.

Someone in another thread said that there could still be an automatic qualification according to current IIHF Rules, but I'm not entirely sure. It was taken out for Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014 because the host team was already qualified even without the automatic qualification.

But like I've said, there is no chance that South Korea can qualify if it isn't automatically. Like others have said in this thread, it's too little too late at this time.

Sorry to say but S. Korea playing hockey in the Olympics is equivalent to a team like Faroe Islands playing in the FIFA World Cup. Like it was said before the gap between upper tier hockey, and lower tier is huge.

If you had the world top 8 in hockey (USA, Canada, Russia, Sweden, etc.) play against S. Korea, those teams would put in 20+ goals each game. It would only be an embarrassment and these brutal blowouts would not be in the spirit of the Olympics. Maybe against those fringe teams like Slovenia, Latvia, Belarus could S. Korea score more than one goal, but they would still decidedly lose.

Well said.

 

[kaiser matias]

While South Korea will probably be out of its league if they do play at the 2018 Olympics, the important thing to note is that they are working to improve the sport there in a big way because of the Olympics. It may not produce results for 2018, but in the years after that they should be a much improved team. Having players develop in Finland will certainly help them in this, and if they get associated with the Russians it will also have a huge impact on the future of Korean hockey. It would finally give Japan a competitor in Asia, which is a good thing for sure.

 

[boris4c]

There's no doubt it's a positive step.

It would be great if China started to invest into hockey as well, given its enormous potential in terms of population and money.

 

[legionista]

There's no doubt it's a positive step.

It would be great if China started to invest into hockey as well, given its enormous potential in terms of population and money.

China invests quite heavily into figure skating, and short track speed skating so they have quite good skaters, not like they're unfamiliar with sports on ice. All of my Chinese friends, and people I've spoken to hockey about like they sport, however they have said they are not physically big enough to play and compete with bigger stronger European and N.A. players so the kids gets in China get pushed more to speed of figure skate.

The Japanese teams isn't very intimidating physically, however they make up for it in their skating ability, which is where the Chinese could also excel. Just my opinion.

 

[boris4c]

Their physical size is a problem, but when you look at the China national basketball team, you notice their players are as big as those of any other nation. The same can be said for South Korea's national handball team for instance, a team which is a regular participant at the WC.

China's national hockey team though has really dropped in recent years. They were much better in the the 1990s.

 

[Uncle Rotter]

S.korea is in Division-1A and ranked 28th. Actually Korea was in Division-1B, but they made a miracle in Division 1B championship last year with 5 straight wins beating Poland.

That ranking is a bit false. They did not participate in qualifying for the 2010 Olympics & therefore got 0 points. Had they done so they'd probably be 21st right now.

 

[saskriders]

Doesn't the host nation get one qualifier in every event, regardless of where they are ranked or what not

 

[boris4c]

Doesn't the host nation get one qualifier in every event, regardless of where they are ranked or what not

That's what I thought, but someone said the rules have changed.

I'm not convinced yet. For Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014 the host nations didn't need an automatic spot for obvious reasons, and that's why the system wasn't put to use but I think South Korea will probably get an automatic spot in 2018.