International Ice Hockey Federation

Welcome to Goyang

Welcome to Goyang

Korean venue near Seoul named for Division IA

Published 31.10.2013 23:47 GMT+8 | Author Martin Merk
Welcome to Goyang
The Goyang Ice Rink in the Seoul region will host the games of the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group A. Photo: KIHA
The Korean Ice Hockey Association has proposed the Goyang Ice Rink near Seoul as the venue for the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group A.

The new venue was approved in September by the 2013 IIHF Semi-Annual Congress. The event will now be staged in the 3,400-seat arena in Goyang that was opened in 2005.

The Goyang Ice Rink is part of a sport complex. It has two international-size ice sheets and hosts the home games of High1, one of the three Korean teams that compete in the Asia League.

Goyang is a satellite city that borders with Seoul in the northwest. It has 970,000 inhabitants and can be reached from Seoul by highways, trains and a subway line.

“It is a great honour and pleasure for us. We want to host the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group A since we are preparing for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games,” said Kim Sangwoo, Vice President of the Korea Ice Hockey Association and Chairman of the Organizing Committee.

“We want to make ice hockey a highlight of the Winter Games in PyeongChang. For this need experience in hosting ice hockey events at that level early on and we’re welcoming everybody in Korea next year. We want to host the event at the standards of a top-division event.”

The six best nations not part of the top division will play in the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I Group A.

Austria and Slovenia, which were relegated to the Division I, along with Hungary, Japan, host Korea and Ukraine will compete at the event from 20 to 26 April 2014.

The top-two ranked teams will be promoted to the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Prague and Ostrava, Czech Republic.

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Korea will host the tournament under the slogan “Beyond the New Horizons” just one year after reaching its best placing ever, fifth in the Division I Group A and 21st overall in the men’s category of the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Program.

Korea has hosted several international ice hockey events in the Seoul region but it will be the first time the country will host an event at the men’s Division I level.

 

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