Korea controls own destiny at men's hockey worlds

After four games, South Korea, coached by former National Hockey League defenseman Jim Paek, is in second place at the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championship Division I Group A. Both South Korea and Austria have nine points on three wins and a loss apiece, but Austria holds the tiebreak edge after Thursday's victory in Kiev, Ukraine. Kazakhstan is right behind them with eight points.

This is the second-highest level of men's international hockey, and the top two nations after the six-team round-robin play will be promoted to the top-flight IIHF World Championship next year.

South Korea, world No. 23, has never played at the level before.

All South Korea needs to do is to beat No. 22 Ukraine in Friday's finale. Ukraine has dropped its first four games to clinch the last place and a relegation to Division I Group B next year.

Though Ukraine is the only winless team in the tournament, South Korea shouldn't take it so lightly. The host battled Austria hard before losing 1-0. Its goalie, Eduard Zakharchenko, has a .942 save percentage, third-best in the tournament, after three games.

South Korea is 0-3 all-time against Ukraine.

Since the South Korea-Ukraine tilt is the last game of the competition, South Korea can actually clinch a spot in the top-flight tournament with some help from countries playing earlier Friday.

If Hungary defeats Kazakhstan and then Austria prevails over Poland, then Austria will secure the first place and South Korea will finish in second regardless of its result against Ukraine.

A win is worth three points, and an overtime win and a shoot-out win are both worth two points. In one possible scenario, South Korea, Austria and Kazakhstan could all end up with 11 points.

In that case, their standings will be determined on head-to-head tiebreakers. They all have three points apiece head-to-head in the tournament, and will have to go to the second tiebreaker, goal difference, in a head-to-head situation.

Austria leads in that category with plus seven. South Korea and Kazakhstan are tied at minus two, but South Korea will come out on top thanks to its 5-2 win over Kazakhstan last Sunday.

The number crunching may seem complicated, but the bottom line is South Korea must beat Ukraine, be it in regulation, overtime or shoot-out.

To do that, South Korea's blue line must regroup. After holding its first three opponents to five goals, South Korea let in five against Austria alone. Eric Regan, one of the top rearguards, was missing in action with an orbital fracture after taking a high stick to the face against Hungary.

Also scratched for South Korea were two checking-line forwards Kim Won-jung and Park Woo-sang.

In their absence, the South Koreans were caught puck-watching on a number of occasions, and gave the Austrians way too much space in the offensive zone. Goalie Matt Dalton, usually a sturdy presence in the net, was pulled in the second period after giving up four goals on 17 shots. (Yonhap)