Gangneung 2017: South Korea team preview

South Korea have the biggest incentive of all the teams competing at the 2017 World Para Ice Hockey Championships A-Pool in Gangneung between 11-20 April.

All eyes will be on them as they compete on home ice less than one year ahead of their home PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.

The competition is crucial for South Korea. They have a guaranteed slot for PyeongChang 2018, but they will aim to show their strength by reaching a top five finish.

If they fail to reach the top five, their ranking for the Paralympic Winter Games will be determined from their performance at the Qualification Tournament scheduled for later in 2017.

South Korea returned to the top flight of Para ice hockey in 2015 when they were promoted from the B-Pool following a winning performance at those World Championships.

They beat Sweden 4-2 to finish the tournament with a perfect record of 5-0. Sweden were also promoted to the A-Pool, meaning that the two teams will face each other once again in Gangneung.

Seung-Hwan Jung was named Best Forward of the tournament, leading all players with 13 goals, nine assists and 22 points. He will once again be a key asset.

Roster

Forwards

No. 27 - Byeongseok Cho

No. 38 - Siwoo Choi

No. 55 - Jongho Jang

No. 14 - Suenghwan Jung

No. 28 – Jongkyun Lee

No. 21 - Juseung Lee

No. 19 - Daeseok Na

Defenders

No. 10 - Youngjae Cho

No. 7 - Kwanghyouk Choi

No. 68 - Minsu Han

No. 20 - Dongshin Jang

No. 12 Youngsung Kim

No. 90 - Woochul Park

No. 6 - Jeehyun Ryu

Goaltenders

No. 39 - Ohsong Kwon

No. 2 - Jaewoong Lee

No. 31 - Man-Gyun Yu

Live coverage and the game schedule of the 2017 World Para Ice Hockey Championships is available at Gangneung2017.com.

Gangneung 2017 also doubles as the Test Event for the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games. All games will be played at the Gangneung Hockey Centre.