Next Nations to join IIHF?
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Iran tried to send a team to the Asia Winter Games a few months ago, but wasn't allowed for various reasons. If they were that serious about playing I could see them applying to join the IIHF soon. Also countries like Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Kenya have various forms of hockey going on so they could eventually join as well.
They're associate members and not full-pledge members like Sweden, Korea, or Australia are. Associate members means that they've joined the IIHF to start up a hockey program and eventually become full-pledge members. Chinese Taipei is the perfect example of a nation which started off as an associate member and becoming a full-pledge member. Normally associate members play in IIHF's basic skilled tournaments like the Asian or South American Cup where it's teams like Morocco, UAE, Qatar, Omen, India, Malaysia, Chile, Argentina, Brasil, etc. The men's team plays in these types of tournaments while IIHF and the the country's hockey federation make plans to increase it to the actual U18 tournament, then that U18 teams' become U20 teams, and those U20 eventually become the nations main mens team.
tony d
New poll series coming from me in June
No new countries joined this year, but at the World Championship next year both Turkmenistan and Kuwait will make their debut. Kuwait has played several smaller tournaments, including the Challenge Cup of Asia (an IIHF event for countries that don't usually play in the World Championship), while Turkmenistan played their first games earlier this year at the Asian Winter Games, where they performed really well.
The Philippines is a full member now since 2021 even though they have been playing in the IIHF accredited Challenge Cup competitions in the past as an associate member before the Pandemic. They along with Indonesia made their debut this year in the World Ice Hockey Championships at the Division IV level.
The Philippines Men's Ice Hockey Team won over Mongolia in OT 7-6 early this morning, their 2nd win(after a 14-0 rout of Indonesia) in their debut participation in the World Ice Hockey Championships Division IV. It was a good win over a cold weather nation, host and pre tournament favorite Mongolia. They will most likely rout Kuwait in their final game in a few days giving them the Div IV World Ice Hockey Championship on their first try and clinching promotion to Div III B next year. Unlike men's football, they have been training for months and have established team chemistry for these tournament which they can do since all the players are based in the Philippines as per IIHF rules.
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They do have a couple of players currently based in North America, the IIHF rules only stipulate that they've had to play in the Philippines at some point.
Which ones? The IIHF requires a 2 year residency rule for a player to be eligible. All their players live and work in the Philippines regardless of some of them originally coming from the US or Canada and they all have at least a Filipino parent in order to qualify for a Philippine passport.
If you are referring to Fil Canadian Carl Montano who moved there many years ago to coach the team, he has now established roots there, having married and working full time in the Philippines. Same thing with Fil Swiss Fuglister who is living there with his family.
The 2 year residency rule prevents the Philippines from recruiting players like Dallas defenceman Matt Dumba and the younger brother of Fuglister who is a pro ice hockey player in Switzerland for instance from joining the team.
Most of their players were trained(by Montano, Fuglister and other coaches) and learned their ice hockey in the Philippines where there is a local amateur league they can compete in.
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Tigaronita plays junior hockey in the US and Cristosomo goes to college in Canada, Sibug in the US. They used to play in the Philippines at some point before so they're eligible, but not all players are there now.
Oh I see. I thought they originally came from the Philippines though. I remember seeing them playing for the national team years ago before the pandemic when they were younger and lived there. Some went to school in NA where they learned to play ice hockey before going back to the Philippines.
That is good to hear since they can develop their game further in North America in the junior leagues.
Though for some of these guys this may well have been a one-off before pursuing other goals in life outside hockey. Kids that have received training at a reasonably high junior level in North America have a competitive advantage initially, but if they then go to college and get a regular job with at most occasional beer league appearances on ice anymore that's of only limited use to the national team.
Most of the players on the Philippine national ice hockey team have regular jobs outside of ice hockey and only play ice hockey on the side because they are passionate about the sport. That is because the Philippines doesn't have a professional league only an amateur/semi pro league. However when a tournament comes up like the SEA Games, Challenge Cup of Asia or this year's debut appearance in the World Hockey Championships, they do commit to train regularly during their free time usually in the late evening for months at a time to prepare for the tournament. The Federation hires a professional coaching staff usually from Europe and pays for their expenses during their training but it is their passion and love of country that drives them to train hard for this tournaments.
It is not a one off event because they are passionate about representing the Philippine in international ice hockey tournaments and they usually keep on coming back regardless of their work situation.
BTW Crisostomo was named one of the 3 stars tonight in their 14-0 rout of Kuwait helping the Philippines win the Gold with 3 wins in the Division IV WIHC and gaining promotion to Div III B in next year's WIHC cycle. One of the players that impressed me was 18 y.o. Kendrick Sze who played for the first time for the senior team. He is a fast tall(6'1") rookie who was very productive in this tournament. He is one of a few youngsters who got promoted to the senior team and gives them a very bright outlook moving forward.
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Yeah, but when as an adult you only play beer league hockey in North America once a week if that, then you very soon start to outlive your usefulness in higher divisions even if you used to play Canadian Junior A hockey growing up. Granted, in Division IIIB that's not necessarily yet going to be much of an issue if the aim is simply to avoid relegation. But opponents like Bosnia (or North Korea if they take part) are going to be several numbers too big without more committed players. It was a very good debut, but might also be flattering their future perspectives somewhat even if they bring in Pavel Barber.
It is not a beer league buddy. They train almost every day before the tournament for months at a time. That is the commitment required of most of the players before an international tournament(World Championships, Challenge Cup of Asia, Asian Winter Games or SEA Games). They have physiotherapists and dietitians monitoring their training when they are also not on the ice as well as qualified support staff taking care of their gear just like any professional team. They also have youth leagues too where their kids develop their skills that help replenish the roster when adults retire or are not available as you can see with the new younger replacements on the team.
Ice hockey is returning to the 2025 SEA Games in particular after skipping the event this year and that is a high profile multi-sport tournament in the region that garners a lot of government support and media engagement where they will be facing a higher ranked team like Thailand(Division IIIA in the World Ice Hockey Championships) and where getting a medal(preferably Gold) is a priority for the country adding pressure for all the sports federations to train their athletes properly.
We will see how they do in next year's IIIB Division. There will be more cold weather countries they will be facing including Kyrgyztan, Bosnia and the team relegated from IIIA(possibly N Korea). I think they will at least keep their place in the division though when all is said and done because they have already shown in the past that they are better than the other countries in Division IIIB like Singapore, Hongkong and Iran in other tournaments they have played in the past. They have also proven in the past that they can keep up with a team like Thailand which is currently in Division IIIA surprising them in the 2017 SEA Games by winning the Gold in ice hockey's debut in that tournament.
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I mean players that live in North America and are not playing in any competitive league since juniors. Perhaps they will have enough domestic talent going forward given the investments, but this year that was not entirely the case.
Many of their players actually studied in North America before returning home. As I said I remember seeing some of those players you mentioned who are now playing in North America playing for the Philippines in the past when they were very much younger and living in the Philippines and it is good to see them develop their game further over in North America. I am sure the team will welcome them back when they return even in the middle of training for a tournament. The rush and pride you get from playing international sports motivates many of them to return and train like the others and they are expected to keep in shape and join competitive leagues if they were living for an extended time abroad. You won't make the team otherwise by just joining beer leagues on the weekends. It is a competitive sport internationally and you are expected to train like an elite athlete.
Majority of the adults and the veterans on the team along with the new youth additions live in the Philippines btw where the federation can monitor their training. That is why your talk of one off events while playing in beer leagues is just not based on reality. You are expected to train like an elite athlete or you get cut from the team and are replaced by others who are more motivated to make the team and are willing to take the time to train seriously to accomplish that goal. Maybe it is your reality that you are talking about but that is not the case with the national team.
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If hockey doesn't provide living wages then it's a rather big ask, some might do it coincidentally for family reasons or alike but otherwise it's difficult to lure guys with regular jobs from developed countries into a developing one just for an annual hockey tournament. But again, how relevant that is depends on what they want to achieve in Div IIIB and beyond. Now without Kyrgyzstan and presumably hosted in Asia it's not going to be the toughest possible year for them to join.
You don't really appreciate the rush and pride you feel when playing for the national team. It is a big motivator. Those are enough reasons to keep many motivated to train even if they are not a professional hockey player whether you are based in the Philippines or North America. I can't guarantee they can win Division IIIB next year with all the cold weather teams participating in the division but I am sure they are going to try their best. Their lack of a professional league will always handicap them compared to many of these other countries but that is okay. The important thing is they do their best with the cards they are dealt with and continue developing so they can reach the levels someday that similar warm weather countries like Thailand and Chinese Taipei that are currently in higher divisions have reached in ice hockey.
JuJu Mobb
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Jamaica
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Jamaica aiming for goal of bringing hockey team to 2026 Olympics | NHL.com
2019 LATAM Cup champs primed to develop game, build rink, gain full IIHF membership
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It'll likely be Bosnia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Iran, and the Philippines next year. A couple of those are fairly similar to Philippines in that they have keen young local players and a few guys trained in North America leading the pack. Bosnia has a couple of significantly better players if they can bring them in.
The IIHF requires you to have an ice rink and have players who established 2 years residency at home before being allowed to play in the World Ice Hockey Championships and Olympic events. They won't just allow you to recruit players who were trained in North America without establishing residency first in Jamaica in the past as a hockey player. That means you have to develop players domestically.Jamaica
Jamaica aiming for goal of bringing hockey team to 2026 Olympics | NHL.com
2019 LATAM Cup champs primed to develop game, build rink, gain full IIHF membership
Take the Philippines for example. They could recruit many players with Filipino blood ties who play in the NHL already or are in European professional leagues but the IIHF doesn't allow them to do so because they have never established residency as a hockey player in the country.
They have been working a long time to develop a domestic ice hockey program that has allowed them to produce enough quality players to be competitive internationally ever since an international quality Olympic size ice hockey rink was built there back in the first decade of the 21st century and it sounds like Jamaica doesn't even have that. They have built 3 other similar ice hockey rinks since then. There are no short cuts otherwise like Jamaica is contemplating.
Even as an associate member the Philippines have already been using mostly locally developed players that can compete on the international level on their national ice hockey team which have allowed them to be competitive in their World Ice Hockey Championship debut this year as a full member winning the Division IV Championship on their first try in the event.
A IIHF sanctioned league, the Philippine Hockey League was organized in 2018 fulfilling another necessary prerequisite for the Philippine men's national team participation in the Ice Hockey World Championships and the Olympics which Jamaica also needs to organize eventually.
The author's timeline on that article is not just possible.
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If North Korea doesn't participate, I think they have a decent chance of finishing in top 2 in the Division then next year with only Bosnia and possibly Hongkong being a serious obstacle to winning the Division. They have already shown that they can beat the other 3 teams in the past other than Bosnia in other tournaments when they were still an associate IIHF member. The Philippines has also upset Thailand in the past in the 2017 SEA Games(although losing to them in the 2019 edition) and that country kept their place in Division IIIA ahead of Bosnia. The Philippines current head coach Juhani Ijäs was the former coach of the Thai national ice hockey team who was responsible for building that program.
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@Albatros
You should check the Philippine Ice Hockey Thread if you really want to know how much progress the Philippines have made. It is not just based on the few Fil North American or Fil European players they have. Maybe you will understand our team better.
forums.hfboards.com
Grassroots program key to Philippine hockey's bright future
More than two decades after ice hockey's arrival in the Philippines, many of the generation of hockey pioneers in the country are slowly approaching retirement.
Much like any other sport, Philippine ice hockey will have to rely on a solid good grassroots program to sustain and replenish players as time passes.
Hockey Philippines Executive Vice President Francois Gautier is aware of this and has made moves with the federation to ensure the future of the winter sport in the country.
"We have to make sure that our youth program is good so that it replenishes our players," Gautier said.
The federation revamped the sport's youth program last year and has been continually developing their approach to young players – including plans to proactively approach potential prospects in schools across the country.
"We're still trying out new things, working on improvement,"
"We're gonna be entering schools [to] do some extra curricular activities, just to get the word out," Gautier said.
Head coach Daniel Brodan, who first mentored the team in the 2017 during the Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, sees a bright future for the program.
"I'm looking forward to what ice hockey will look like here in the next two, three years," the Czech national said.
Both Gautier and Brodan acknowledge that sport's journey in the Philippines won't be a walk in the park but remain hopeful moving forwarad.
"It's not perfect... we still have hiccups but it's a lot better than what it was before," Gautier said.
"We still don't have many rinks here where we can play. But in the end, if we continue like this... we can compete with any country," Brodan said.
Read more at Grassroots program key to Philippine hockey's bright future | Philstar.com
8. How do you see the future for the ice hockey in Philippines?
It is a niche sport that can’t compete with the major players in the country like Basketball or Football. But it can succeed in the Philippines because it is something completely different and thats what makes it attractive. There are a lot of Filipinos working or living abroad and if they live in North America or Europe they one way or the other come in touch with ice hockey. We receive a lot of support from Filipinos abroad. As long as we can continuously attract local and international kids to join our programs and have a high retention rate by offering them fun and a perspective to compete internationally I see no problem that hockey will sustain and grow in the years to come.
You should check the Philippine Ice Hockey Thread if you really want to know how much progress the Philippines have made. It is not just based on the few Fil North American or Fil European players they have. Maybe you will understand our team better.
Philippine Ice Hockey
The journey of hockey in Philippines - Eurohockey.com Associate Member of IIHF since 2016, Philippines is one of the countries where ice hockey is growing faster in terms of visibility and popularity, mainly thanks to the untireless work of local Federation. The Philippines will be the host of...
Grassroots program key to Philippine hockey's bright future
More than two decades after ice hockey's arrival in the Philippines, many of the generation of hockey pioneers in the country are slowly approaching retirement.
Much like any other sport, Philippine ice hockey will have to rely on a solid good grassroots program to sustain and replenish players as time passes.
Hockey Philippines Executive Vice President Francois Gautier is aware of this and has made moves with the federation to ensure the future of the winter sport in the country.
"We have to make sure that our youth program is good so that it replenishes our players," Gautier said.
The federation revamped the sport's youth program last year and has been continually developing their approach to young players – including plans to proactively approach potential prospects in schools across the country.
"We're still trying out new things, working on improvement,"
"We're gonna be entering schools [to] do some extra curricular activities, just to get the word out," Gautier said.
Head coach Daniel Brodan, who first mentored the team in the 2017 during the Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, sees a bright future for the program.
"I'm looking forward to what ice hockey will look like here in the next two, three years," the Czech national said.
Both Gautier and Brodan acknowledge that sport's journey in the Philippines won't be a walk in the park but remain hopeful moving forwarad.
"It's not perfect... we still have hiccups but it's a lot better than what it was before," Gautier said.
"We still don't have many rinks here where we can play. But in the end, if we continue like this... we can compete with any country," Brodan said.
Read more at Grassroots program key to Philippine hockey's bright future | Philstar.com
8. How do you see the future for the ice hockey in Philippines?
It is a niche sport that can’t compete with the major players in the country like Basketball or Football. But it can succeed in the Philippines because it is something completely different and thats what makes it attractive. There are a lot of Filipinos working or living abroad and if they live in North America or Europe they one way or the other come in touch with ice hockey. We receive a lot of support from Filipinos abroad. As long as we can continuously attract local and international kids to join our programs and have a high retention rate by offering them fun and a perspective to compete internationally I see no problem that hockey will sustain and grow in the years to come.
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I'm rather skeptical when it comes to any developing country of the global south making significant inroads in ice hockey, that doesn't only go for the Philippines. But of course there's no reason why they couldn't compete as equals with other South East Asian countries.
