Austria and South Korea to the World Championship

Perhaps it is the upcoming Olympic Games on home ice that has taken South Korean ice hockey to a new level but they will not only play in the Olympics for the first time in 2018 but also in the World Championship. The team finished second behind Austria in World Championship Division 1 A.

Austria dominated the group and only conceded four goals in five games to promote but lost to Kazakhstan who just missed out on promotion finishing on the same points as Korea but losing the game against them 2-5.

The Koreans needed to win their last game against Ukraine to win promotion and it was a thriller. Korea was the better team but the Ukrainian hosts took the game a shootout. There goals by Michael Swift and Sanghoon Shin and two saves by Michael Dalton took Korea to their biggest hockey success ever. Dalton and Swift are two out of five naturalised Canadian born players on the roster that has helped South Korea to this level.

For Ukraine it was the only point the team took on home ice and the team is relegated to division 1B.

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