Advertisement

IIHF grants Korean hockey teams automatic entry into 2018 Olympics

Getty Images
Getty Images

When PyeongChang, South Korea hosts the 2018 Winter Olympics, their men's and women's hockey team will be able to ice teams in their respective hockey tournaments after the IIHF granted the country automatic entries.

Last April, the IIHF expressed to the Korea Ice Hockey Association their desire to see the country make "progress in performance." That progress, at least on the men's side, meant seeing the team rise to 18th in the IIHF world rankings, a tall task after recently being relegated to Group B in the Division I World Championships.

The IIHF Congress decided on Friday that the Olympic hosts should be able to participate after the KIHA presented a four-year development plan that will see $20 million invested into the national team program.

From the IIHF:

In addition to the financial investment, the KIHA plans to organize annual exchange programs for their players with the world’s top hockey leagues and organizations. A major effort will be also made towards increasing the number of domestic and international games for the national team.

“Korean hockey has been working for a long time for this opportunity, and to have this presented to us today is overwhelming,” said Korean men’s national team head coach Jim Paek. “I don’t want to make any promises but as long as we focus on the process every day to get better I think we’ll be very competitive and hopefully we’ll represent the country well.”

Had Korea's men's side not been granted automatic entry by the IIHF, they would have had to attempt to earn one of three spots through the qualification process.

[ Yahoo Sports Fantasy Hockey: It's time to join a league today! ]

Overseas training camps and expansion of the country's domestic league are in the works to helps the women's side. The men's team made their first step to improving in July when Paek was hired as head coach. There's a lot of work to be done in Korea, and while the results may not be seen in four year's time, t's a good first step toward further developing that sport in the country.

- - - - - - -

Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!