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

[jekoh]

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.

In fact they are the biggest national basketball team on the planet. At least they were in Beijing 2008 and even if you took out Yao Ming they were still bigger than everybody else. Is the younger Chinese generation really any smaller than their European counterparts any more these days, particularly the ones from Northern China where most of the hockey players come from?

 

[Holden Caulfield]

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.

Agreed. Italy was ranked 19 when they were given automatic admission in 06. South Korea is currently 28th but as has been stated here, had South Korea competed for a spot at the 2010 olympics they would be ranked an absolute minimum of 21st right now (that's assuming they played as good as Netherlands and Spain, nations they have badly outperformed in recent years). No reason why they should be not given an automatic berth to the Olympics in 2018.

 

[Siamese Dream]

Agreed. Italy was ranked 19 when they were given automatic admission in 06. South Korea is currently 28th but as has been stated here, had South Korea competed for a spot at the 2010 olympics they would be ranked an absolute minimum of 21st right now (that's assuming they played as good as Netherlands and Spain, nations they have badly outperformed in recent years). No reason why they should be not given an automatic berth to the Olympics in 2018.

Yes, in pre-qualifying S Korea beat GB in OT and lost to Japan in OT, nations ranked a lot higher than them at 21 and 22

 

[garbageteam]

Yeah, SKorea hockey is pretty weak, but they are not a Mongolia level of godawful. They have a good sporting culture and it wouldn't be inconceivable that they would manage to limit all their losses to single digits in 2018 if the prep work they do for the next five years is solid (combined with a great number of imports). They aren't far off from Great Britain or Japan (actually ranked ahead of Japan in the 2014 qualification), the latter of which played in Nagano IIRC. If Canada played Japan I do not expect a 25-0 level of blowout (hypothetically speaking I don't even know how bad a team needs to be to get to that kind of a lopsided scoreline. Maybe the Israeli team? That's 8-9 goals a period or a goal every two minutes consistently...).

In any case, I really hope that S.Korea gets an automatic qualification and that they greatly improve their level by 2018 as it would be pretty sad for the ratings and national interest if they weren't part of the games. Would they be the first host in Olympic ice hockey that didn't have a team?

As for FIFA/IIHF comparisons it's a lot trickier and can't be summarized well, but a good place to start is to recognize that the soccer world is about four times as large as the hockey world (200 NTs as opposed to 50 NTs - I'm only counting those that are ranked as the Vatican City soccer team is about as irrelevant as the Hong Kong Ice Hockey Team). The top 100 ranks in FIFA could conceivably be World Cup entrants - North Korea was in 2010, and while they were blown out by Portugal, they held their own against Brazil in a 2-1 loss and kept their loss to Ivory Coast respectable at 3-0 (frankly they were fed to the hounds in their group). North Korea is currently ranked 102. New Zealand is another one... ranked 90th but managed to draw Italy in the last world cup. Hell even Bahrain at 119 was a goal away from qualifying. Point is, you won't really see too many blowouts in the top 100 in soccer - that's around half of all the 200 be FIFA countries. Would half of IIHF do as well? 25th is Lithuania - just three spots ahead of South Korea. How would they fare against Canada, as opposed to North Korea against Spain? It'd obviously be bad, but not so awful that it doesn't belong in the competition in both cases.

So in summary after such a long winded post, South Korea isn't THAT bad for it to be ridiculous notion for them to play in the Ice Hockey OGs.

 

[Jussi]

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.

That idea has already been scrapped, as the other Mestis clubs and fans were heavily against it. Of the players that tried out in Finland none failed to make any impact, even on tier 3 level.

Though there are rumors that Kiekko-Vantaa have been bought by Koreans.

 

[Brooklanders*]

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.

The World Baseball Classic is no different
Jameson Taillon isnt Canadian and half of Italy are Americans

 

[EbencoyE]

Yes, this is a little cheating

It's not cheating at all.... he meets the IIHF eligibility requirements.

 

[EbencoyE]

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.

In the other thread someone said Canada was given a choice of qualifying as host or qualifying by ranking, which would mean this rule is still in place. (If true)

 

[Franck]

In fact they are the biggest national basketball team on the planet. At least they were in Beijing 2008 and even if you took out Yao Ming they were still bigger than everybody else. Is the younger Chinese generation really any smaller than their European counterparts any more these days, particularly the ones from Northern China where most of the hockey players come from?

When you have a population of over 1 billion people, there is bound to be quite a few statistical outliers. Given what I've heard, seen and read about the way the Chinese sports governing bodies run their youth development, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they deliberately encourage unusually tall youngsters to play basketball.

The physical attributes of the average person doesn't matter if you have the means to "entice" the outliers into playing the sport you want them to. It's one of the advantages non-democratic nations have in sports.

If the Chinese Communist Party decided to fund a large-scale hockey program, I have no doubt that they'd have a national team filled with guys who are 6'2"-6'7" 15-20 years later if the men in charge of the program felt that would be desirable.

 

[Garl]

In fact they are the biggest national basketball team on the planet. At least they were in Beijing 2008 and even if you took out Yao Ming they were still bigger than everybody else. Is the younger Chinese generation really any smaller than their European counterparts any more these days, particularly the ones from Northern China where most of the hockey players come from?

Chinese are obviously smaller than europeans on average. Younger generation included, they are just small people. On the other hand, they have 1,5 billion people, and it's not hard to find 20 6+ feet people.

 

[Pominville Knows]

A team ranked 18th is not that bad of a team, Slovenia is there now, but 28th like South Korea are now are and definetely have nothing to do in an olympic ice hockey tournament. But as i said, if they can get to 18th i'm all for it they get a free pass.

 

[The Korean*]

Why not get Richard Park? He is Korean by heritage, and at least he played in NHL for quite a bit.

 

[worstfaceoffmanever]

Why not get Richard Park? He is Korean by heritage, and at least he played in NHL for quite a bit.

Won't happen for three reasons:

1. Park has already represented the United States at the senior level (28 games and was the captain of the '06 World Championship team).
2. In order to be eligible to play for South Korea after representing the US, he has to play in the Asia League for four consecutive years. He could theoretically do that, but he has a contract through next season in Switzerland and...
3. He'll be 41 at the time of the 2018 Games. Very few players make it to 40, even with conditioning being what it is these days. I seriously doubt Park will still be playing by the time he would be eligible to play for South Korea.

 

[The Korean*]

Ah I see.

Even if hes 41 hes still gonna be their best player I imagine.

 

[Jesus Vitale]

Radunske played for SK in the 2013 Division 1 Group A World Championships. he was Korea's second leading scorer with 5 points in 5 games and the 7th overall leading scorer in the tournament. Korea finished 5th out of 6 teams, just good enough to avoid being demoted back to Group B.

 

[Crossfire Hurricane]

Chinese are obviously smaller than europeans on average. Younger generation included, they are just small people. On the other hand, they have 1,5 billion people, and it's not hard to find 20 6+ feet people.

That, and size shouldn't eliminate them from competing. The Chinese have some phenomenal skaters. If they can find someone to implement a solid positional defensive system and maybe put an emphasis on stickhandling and passing on the offensive side, they could be dangerous down the road. A team full of Kanes and St. Louises would be awesome, even if they can't find some larger outliers.

 

[Pajicz]

Ah I see.

Even if hes 41 hes still gonna be their best player I imagine.

I wouldn't be completely sure about that. He could be able to make the team, but I doubt that he'd be the best player at 41...

 

[Uncle Rotter]

2 new freshly minted Kor-nucks:
http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/....html?tx_ttnews[backPid]=955&cHash=6fba365ff1
Change thread title to "3 Canadian players will play for the S.Korea national team"

 

[capebretoncanadien]

This is interesting stuff.

Nice pink hanbok lol.

I hope these boys can elevate the SK hockey program.

Make it a more popular sport in the country.

I played over there for a few years and some Koreans I've played against have oodles of natural ability especially with skating and stickhandling.

From what I've seen the coaching is sub par.

 

[Urbanskog]

I am very positive regarding South Korea's attempts to qualify for the 2018 Olympics. I have understood that they should be ranked at least 20th in the IIHF World Ranking to auto qualify for the games and I think that it's very likely to happen. I have also been observing their appearances in the World Championships and they seem to get better each year.

This is a great chance to popularize ice hockey in Asia.

 

[Stats01]

Ah I see.

Even if hes 41 hes still gonna be their best player I imagine.

wow...I know it's not in the "Olympic spirit" to run the score up, but if Canada is in South Korea's group, how does Canada NOT run up the score. The difference in skill, size, and just pure overall depth is enormous. Seriously you could give Korea a 10-0 head start and I bet Canada still wins.

 

[Noisespektrum]

Interesting story but a few odd points. Korea does not allow dual citizenship. That is why short track speed skater Victor Ahn had to give up his Korean citizenship when joining the Russian team.

 

[IIHFjerseycollector]

Interesting story but a few odd points. Korea does not allow dual citizenship. That is why short track speed skater Victor Ahn had to give up his Korean citizenship when joining the Russian team.

So Radunske renounced his canadian citizenship?

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

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

Peter Stastny also played for Canada in the 84 Canada Cup, Brett Hull fof Canada and US and many American kids like Zachary Parise, Tinordi, Paul Statny etc all have dual citizenship.

 

[baronsforever]

there is little or no chance South Korea will be a participant in the 2018 winter olympics. Fasel said he wanted to see them ranked in the top 18, well that is mathmatically impossible now by 2016 (the cutoff for qualification ranking). It would take a major miracle for them to even be in the top 20.

There is no rule that the host qualifies, ask the greek field hockey team what happened to them.