South Korea sends players to NHL camp

South Korea never qualified for the Olympics in ice hockey. But with the games held in Pyeongchang in 2018, they get an automatic bid. Playing against powerhouse such as Canada, Russia, Finland, the United States and Sweden, you can expect this to be a rough welcoming party for the Asian country, but they are trying to make sure they will be as competitive as possible. Head coach Jim Paek, who was born in the country but raised in Canada, and won two Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the early 90's, recently sent some of his players to the Dallas Stars development camp to gain some experience. Per Sportsnet:

And that's why Paek asked Nill to let Park, defenceman Won Jun Kim and forward Jin Hui Ahn join a group of Dallas players still trying to reach the NHL. All three are under 25, and have a reasonable amount of experience with the national team. And they're not trying to pretend they come from a hockey hotbed. "Absolutely not," Ahn said through an interpreter when asked where the sport ranked in South Korea. "It's not there."

The biggest problem for South Korea will definitely be their size. We don't know yet if NHL players will play in the tournament in Pyeongchang, but you can still expect Canada, United States and even the European teams to count on some big muscles, which won't be the case for the home team.

"We are smaller than like these guys, so we play more like we skate," said Kim, who spoke to reporters in English. "I think the guys in Asia, they play like skating. It's quite different. Here players are huge and strong."

The last two Olympics being held in Russia and Canada, the automatic bids went to world-class teams. The last time a sub-par team was awarded an automatic bid was in 2006 in Italy. The Italian team finished the tournament with a 0-3-2 record, managing to tie games against Germany and Switzerland. Image courtesy of Keystone Press Agency