South Korea's men's ice hockey team defeated Croatia in the first edition of the World Championship.

The South Korean national team, led by head coach Kim Woo-jae, beat Croatia 5-2 in the 2025 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championship Division 1 Group B (third division) in Tallinn, Estonia on the 27th (Korea time).

Korea (22nd in the world) aims to advance to Division 1 Group A (second division) in the third division of the World Championship against Croatia (32nd), China (26th), Spain (30th), Estonia (28th) and Lithuania (25th).

If the team wins the championship, it will be promoted to the second division. If the team ends up at the bottom, it will be demoted to Division 2 Group A (fourth division). Korea was demoted to the bottom at the Division 1 Group A World Championship last year.

South Korea scored 21 shots (three Czechs) in the first period, but was given the first goal by Carlo Marinkovic.

After rearranging its ranks, Lee Yoon-seok launched the puck at 2:29 of the second period and shook the net. With about five minutes left to go, Nam Hee-doo changed the direction of Ahn Jin-hwi's shot and scored an additional goal. 바카라

South Korea allowed a 2-2 tie after getting a one-timer (non-stop) goal from Patrick Dobrich midway through the third period.

With four minutes left to go, however, Kim Sang-yeop scored a powerful list shot and Kim Gun-woo scored a push to regain the lead. He lightly pushed to score the finishing goal to lead 3-2.

Croatia came out with a "Mtinet" operation in which they emptied the goalposts and made a total offensive, and South Korea did not miss the gap and Lee Min-jae and Kim Sang-wook scored goals one after another to seal the victory.

South Korea will play China in the second round of the tournament on the 28th.

Afterwards, they will meet Spain (29th), Estonia (1st May), and Lithuania (2nd May).