Philippine Ice Hockey

[cjeagle]

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 the 30th Southeast Asian Games from 30 November to 11 December 2019 that for the second consecutive time will include ice hockey and IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s Challenge Cup of Asia between 24 and 28 February 2020

Steven Füglister, 33 years old, is a Swiss-Filipino dual citizen and played in Switzerland until the age of 28. When retired, he moved to the Philippines and got in touch with the local hockey community and have been playing here ever since. When fulfilled the IIHF residency requirements, once the National Team got formed he competed with the Team in all international competitions so far. Inside the Federation, he is part of the Hockey Development Committee and Captain of the Men's National Team.

1: Congratulations for the entrance in the IIHF family. It's the final step of a long journey: could you resume the history of hockey in the Philippines? when all began and the evolution until today.
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The history of ice hockey in the Philippines began with the ice rinks set up in shopping malls in the country which were initially only used for recreational activities. In 2008 the Manila Ice Hockey League was founded by hockey enthusiasts. The governing body of ice hockey in the country, the Federation of Ice Hockey League (FIHL), was formed years later in February 2015. The FIHL was admitted as an associate member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) on 20 May 2016 and secured Philippine Olympic Committee membership by July 2016. In 2018 the Philippine Hockey League was created to follow the IIHF’s guidelines in having a IIHF regulated League in place to allow application to the World Championship program. This means all games are now played 3x20 stop time with 3 refs and full contact. This season the Philippines will compete in the World Championship stage.

2. How many teams are there currently and how the activities are organized? there is a Manila Ice Hockey League, it means all the hockey is concentrated in the capital?
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As of now there are two leagues in the Philippines. The Philippine Hockey League (PHL) and Philippine Minor Hockey League (PMHL) both consist of 4 teams each. There is a growing community in Cebu where there is another olympic size rink and there are efforts by the Federation to grow the sport there as well and inviting players to join the national team programs on the junior level.

3. How many rinks are there in the country?

Currently there are 4 rinks in the country of which two are olympic sized and used for ice hockey.

4.Is ice hockey popular in the country?

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Its a growing sport but not yet overly popular among the majority of the country, given there are only rinks for hockey in the capital Manila and one in Cebu.

5. Has Federation any activities to promote hockey among youth?
The Federation has a "learn to play" program in place where people can join at discounted ice rates. We also just received around 60 sets of youth gears donated by the IIHF to help us in promoting the sport and making it more accessible to the public. There are also plans to do roadshows in local and international schools to help promote hockey and let people know that there is an alternative sport out there.

6. National team took home a silver medal at Challenge Cup: did the achievement contributed to popularize hockey?
The first time we had the countries attention was during the 2017 SEA Games after winning the gold medal. The ensuing media coverage helped creating awareness in the country that there was a National Team in ice hockey. Since then, we continue doing our best whenever we compete internationally and try making our country proud by aiming to bring home medals every tournament. Our Women’s Team just recently won their Division at the Women’s Challenge Cup of Asia in UAE and got promoted to the Top Division. Results like that garner media attention and hopefully that will strengthen the publics support and awareness in our teams.

7. What ice hockey in the country needs most?
Its the youth and our grassroots programs we need to invest in to attract more people to the sport to create a bigger base. Our youth programs are doing well at the moment but there is still so much room for growth in that regard.

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.

The journey of hockey in Philippines - Eurohockey.com

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The Philippines have only been an associate member of the IIHF since 2016. They made their IIHF tournament debut in 2017 when they competed in the 2017 Winter Asian Games and finished 13th overall.

Since then the men's team has won the gold in the inaugural competition for Ice Hockey in the SEA Games in 2017, and won silver(2019) and bronze (2018) in the IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia. After getting those results and fulfilling the requirements to join the IIIHF World Championships tournaments including the setting up of an IIHF regulated Philippine Ice Hockey League, they will enter the WC tournament cycle for the first time at Div IV in 2020.

They will also be competing in the SEA(South East Asian) games (2019) in a few weeks as defending champion to try defend their title at home.

The Women's National Ice Hockey team also made their international debut in 2017 and finished 4th place overall in the 2017 IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia and finished in 1st place in Div 1 in the 2019 edition of the event winning 3 games overall with no losses.

The 2019 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s Challenge Cup of Asia was played on 14-19 April 2019 in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The top-division tournament includes Chinese Taipei, New Zealand U18, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore while the United Arab Emirates, the Philippines, India, Mongolia and Kuwait played in the Division I tournament. For Mongolia and Kuwait it will be the first participations with a women’s national team in IIHF play. The Philippines Women's team won the Division I tournament and got promoted to the top division for the next tournament.

Click to read more...

 

[cjeagle]

For a new ice hockey nation that just recently joined the IIHF, the men's national ice hockey team have a pretty good record (16-0-3)internationally albeit against mostly similar smaller and recent entries in Ice Hockey in Asian countries that don't have a winter season. 2 of their 3 losses came against countries with winter climates, Kyrgyztan and Mongolia. Surprisingly they have a winning record against Mongolia, a country with an extended winter season and a much larger base of players, with 2 wins and a loss overall though.

 

[cjeagle]

There might soon be a couple of Fil American players joining the NHL, Jason and Nick Robertson

Robertson, 20, a left wing who was the No. 39 pick in the 2017 draft, could become the first Filipino-American to play in the NHL, but only if he beats brother Nick (Toronto's second-round pick this year) to the world's best hockey league. Over pork adobo and pancit, garlic fried rice and bistek, Robertson talked about family histories, Filipino food and the changing face of Asians in hockey.

Stars prospect Jason Robertson hasn't forgotten his roots while forging own NHL path

They will try to follow in the footsteps of defenceman Matt Dumba, the first Fil Canadian player to make it to the NHL who plays for the Minnesota Wild.

Another Filipino Jomar Cruz was selected by the Washington Capitals in the second round of the 1998 NHL entry draft. Cruz is the son of Filipino expats and was born in Canada. The 6-1 goalkeeper never made it to the NHL but played in four Western Hockey League (WHL) seasons with the Brandon Wheat Kings, Tri-City Americans and Portland Winter Hawks.

Andrew Sharp is probably the most experienced pro hockey player with Filipino lineage ever although he never broke into the NHL. Sharp has played over 10 years in North American and European leagues. He made his mark with the Guildford Flames in the English Premier League and also played in the British Elite League. Known as a hard-nosed enforcer, he averaged 20 scraps a season during his prime.

 

[cjeagle]

Ice hockey returns to SEA Games

The Philippines will soon host the 30th Southeast Asia Games – a traditional multi-sports event in the region that takes place every two years.

It will be the second time after 2017 in Malaysia that ice sports will be included. Ice hockey debuted two years ago with the inauguration of the Malaysia National Ice Skating Stadium outside of the capital of Kuala Lumpur.

The newcomers from the Philippines surprised pre-tournament favourite Thailand in the deciding game to win the first SEA Games ice hockey tournament. A good omen for this year as the Philippines are the host of the SEA Games at various venues with a record number of 56 sports. Many Olympic sports, since 2017 ice sports but also less known sports such as the debut of... underwater hockey!

This year’s SEA Games are split into several clusters including ice sports in Manila’s metropolitan region. The ice hockey tournament will be held at the SM Mall of Asia Ice Skating Rink in Pasay south of Manila. The rink located in a mall has a full-size ice sheet and hosted the 2018 IIHF Ice Hockey Challenge Cup of Asia.

The tournament will include the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. They will play a five-team round-robin competition followed by semi-finals and medal games. The tournament dates are 1-8 December 2019.

IIHF - Ice hockey returns to SEA Games

 

[cjeagle]

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

Their head coach is Czech national Daniel Brodan

 

[tony d]

I always enjoy reading on the different nations that are playing hockey. All the best to the Philippines and their new hockey team.

 

[cjeagle]

The Philippines also has an U20 junior national hockey team competing in international tournaments in Asia.

The first IIHF-sanctioned event the Philippine junior team participated in was the 2018 IIHF U20 Challenge Cup of Asia where they finished fourth in the top division of the tournament. They improved on that this year(2019) by finishing third this time again in the top division of the same tournament.

The Challenge Cup of Asia is a program aimed at the IIHF’s smaller Asian members not competing in World Championship events.

The 2019 U20 Challenge Cup of Asia was played the whole week in two separate divisions.

Overall Ranking:
1. Malaysia
2. Kyrgyzstan
3. Philippines
4. United Arab Emirates
5. Thailand
6. Mongolia
7. Indonesia
8. Kuwait

IIHF - Malaysia’s U20 triumphs again

 

[Aho and the Bunnaman]

Thanks for all the updates! Excited to have Robertson as a Leaf prospect; maybe he can turn some of the massive Filipino Raptor fanbase here in Toronto to the Leafs as well!

 

[cjeagle]

Thanks for all the updates! Excited to have Robertson as a Leaf prospect; maybe he can turn some of the massive Filipino Raptor fanbase here in Toronto to the Leafs as well!

No problem. I am sure their kids will eventually if not themselves. It is hard not to get exposed to the sport in Canada. It is everywhere.

Many of those North American(as well as European) expatriates and students who have gone back to the Philippines have actually been involved in promoting, officiating, managing, coaching, developing and playing the sport in the Philippines, the pioneers that is making ice hockey a small but growing sport in the Philippines.

For instance Fil Canadian Carl Montano became head coach of the youth teams in Manila teaching the game to a new generation of players and helping guide its growth. He went on vacation in 2011 to the Philippines and decided to stay and become a coach, official as well as a player there.

Hockey Night in Manila: how a Surrey rec-league player joined the Philippines' hockey elite


https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/hockey-surrey-philippines-1.4016497

Montano says coaching in his new home has been a rewarding experience.
"Just being able to teach these kids as they grow with the sport I love is just great for me, to pass on the knowledge I learned at their age," he said.
Montano says he's trying to instill Canadian-style hockey to those kids, which he says is more defensive.

 

[cjeagle]

IIHF - New season in Asia ahead

The Asia Strategic Planning Group (ASPG) met in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, for the 24th ASPG Meeting to exchange views and build plans for the development of Asian Hockey but also to plan the upcoming tournament season. The host, Hockey Philippines, extended their warm hospitality to over 30 delegates and guests attending the meeting.

Among the 76 IIHF Members, 22 are from Asia and two from the Oceania. Though most of the ASPG members are relatively new to the sport of ice hockey, with their determination and extra effort, 16 of them have overcome various hurdles to make their way into the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Program. IIHF Vice President and ASPG Chairman Thomas Wu said: “This is an achievement shared by every hard-working ASPG member as well as the whole hockey family, as the IIHF and other strong hockey nations have been most supportive to the growth of hockey in Asia.”

Challenge Cup of Asia starts in February

One tool to get ready for the World Championship level has been the IIHF Ice Hockey Challenge Cup of Asia program where the smaller hockey programs can meet and play each other in various categories. The event is designed for countries that have not met the requirements yet to enter the World Championship program – although this number has become lower recently.

Six men’s teams will compete in the 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey Challenge Cup of Asia in the new season with Mongolia, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Macau and India. The tournament will be hosted by Singapore from 27 April to 1 May 2020.

More countries are involved in the 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 Challenge Cup of Asia that will be organized in two tournaments with both taking place 10-16 February 2020 in Bangkok. The top division includes Malaysia, the Philippines, host Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Mongolia. The other teams – Indonesia, Kuwait, India, Singapore and Macau – will compete in the Division I event. The latter three teams are new entries into the U20 category.

Manila will be back in focus of the Asian IIHF members when the Philippines will host the 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s Challenge Cup of Asia between 24 and 28 February 2020. The eight teams will play in two separate divisions with Thailand, Singapore, a New Zealand junior team and host Philippines competing in the top division. The Division I tournament includes Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, India and Kuwait.

Click here for an overview of the 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey Challenge Cup of Asia program.

The Philippines will also be the host of the 30th Southeast Asian Games from 30 November to 11 December 2019 that for the second consecutive time will include ice hockey.
Workshops held in Manila

The Asian IIHF members did of course not only meet to prepare for the tournaments but used the opportunity to advance off the ice as well.

With the increasing number of ASPG members, workshops on transfers, eligibility and code of conduct were held by Ashley Ehlert, Legal Director, and Simona Richiger, Compliance Officer, in conjunction with the 24th ASPG Meeting. Feedback from the delegates attending the workshops were most encouraging and positive as they found themselves better equipped to manage the daily operation of their national associations and their teams.

Meanwhile the collaboration between the ASPG with various IIHF Committees and other strong hockey nations have been strengthening as the potential of Asian ice hockey is well recognized.

Anders Larsson, President of Swedish Ice Hockey Association, and Martin Lundby were among the guests who joined the ASPG Meeting to generously share their expertise, experience and advice with the Asian membership.

Among the various areas for development for Asian hockey, the areas of coaching, youth development, officiating, facilities and ice rink management are ranked with the highest priority.

____

Since joining the IIHF in 2016, the local ice hockey federation in the Philippines has been very active in joining, promoting and hosting many ice hockey events in Asia and as far as I know will be the only country in Asia who will compete at men's level in both Challenge Cup of Asia events as well as for the IIHF World Championship tournaments as well(you can usually only play in only one or the other), where they will be making their debut next year(2020) at the inaugural Div IV level, after finally fulfilling all the IIHF requirements(including the final hurdle, the setting up of an IIHF regulated local league in 2018) and excelling at many of the Challenge Cup of Asia tournaments they have participated in.

They have participated in every IIHF recognized Asian tournament they have been eligible for since 2017 in the men's, women's and youth ranks and have volunteered to host many of those events themselves.

Not bad for a federation that only joined the IIHF a couple of years ago in 2016.

 

[cjeagle]

Apparently they have a new head coach now for the national team, a Japanese guy replacing the Czech guy who had a lot of success in the past. I am not sure I agree with that decision but apparently the Japanese federation offered to help the Philippines fed, so hopefully it works. They are apparently using a different system now based on speed.

 

[mattihp]

How many on the team are north-americans of filipino descent?

 

[SixStrings]

Cool to see a Filipino team. Good luck to them.

 

[Kamina]

hala bira!! (let's go!!)
walang takot, kahit kanino!!! (no fear, no matter who we're up against!!)

 

[cjeagle]

How many on the team are north-americans of filipino descent?

A couple I believe. Because of the 2 year(or 2 full seasons) residency requirement that the IIHF imposes on national teams as well as the requirement for Filipino citizenship, most of the players are native Filipinos.

This makes it difficult for the Philippines to recruit the few Fil Ams or Fil Canadian prospects I have named earlier who either play in the NHL or are NHL prospects within the Toronto Maple Leafs and Dallas Stars system since they are based abroad and would not be able to fulfill the residency requirement.

The few Fil Ams, Fil Canadians and Fil Euros who play for the team needed to find work there and live in the Philippines on a full time basis and have at least one parent who is a Filipino citizen in order to acquire Philippine citizenship. Some of them are actively, coaching, promoting and helping administer tournaments(youth and league levels) as well as playing for the national team.

Some of the local Filipinos lived for a time abroad as students and picked up the sport while living there but majority learned and trained in the sport in the the few ice hockey rinks they had there which was built in the late 1990's and early 2000's.

 

[cjeagle]

The SEA Games Ice Hockey Tournament is currently going on, the second time that Ice Hockey has been added to a muli sport IOC sanctioned tournament in that region.

If anybody is interested in watching the games live for the Philippine Ice Hockey team check their facebook site where it is being streamed



You can also the check live gamecenter statistics at the IIHF website here

https://www.iihf.com/en/events/2020/sea

Philippines wins its first game 15-1 over Malaysia.

 

[Lakas]

I'm definitely catching the 2nd Philippine game. Will be 5 AM (central) for me.

 

[cjeagle]

I'm definitely catching the 2nd Philippine game. Will be 5 AM (central) for me.

Same time for me in a couple of hours. I am not sure I can finish though since I have to go to work.

The Hockey Philippines facebook page usually has a livestream and comment section as well.

IIHF also has a livestream

IIHF - Schedule and Results 2020 SOUTHEAST ASIAN GAMES

 

[Lakas]

Same time for me in a couple of hours. I am not sure I can finish though since I have to go to work.

The Hockey Philippines facebook page usually has a livestream and comment section as well.

IIHF also has a livestream

IIHF - Schedule and Results 2020 SOUTHEAST ASIAN GAMES

Philippines won 5-3, was a good and close game throughout. Fuglister was 2G 1A, his 2nd one was a beauty.

Next game will be tomorrow, against Indonesia. And after that will be against their regional rival, Thailand.

 

[cjeagle]

Philippines won 5-3, was a good and close game throughout. Fuglister scored 2 goals, his 2nd one was a beauty.

I was able to watch most of the game. It was indeed a close match with neither team being able to pull away by more than one goal until the end. Fuglister scored 2 goals early then Regencia finished the last 2 goals which made the difference in the match.

 

[cjeagle]

Thailand is favored to win the SEA Games championship since they have a lot more experience playing in Division 3 in the World Championships. The Philippines will make their World Championship debut next year at the Division 4 level.

 

[tiburon12]

OP, did you watch any of the SEA Games? I'm in Thailand and got to watch my friends compete for the Thai team.

Was surprised how much Thailand surpassed the rest of the region, considering they lost the SEA Games last year

 

[singlesliceofcheese]

OP, did you watch any of the SEA Games? I'm in Thailand and got to watch my friends compete for the Thai team.

Was surprised how much Thailand surpassed the rest of the region, considering they lost the SEA Games last year

I was impressed with them. Tell them some rando Canadian said, "Good job!"

 

[jimmysheva]

the two Philippines vs Singapore games were quite fun

 

[cjeagle]

The Philippines was granted full membership in the IIHF last year.

Hockey Philippines Executive Vice President Francois Gautier said the country’s Men's National Ice Hockey Team has been granted full membership in the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).

Gautier said the national team can now participate in IIHF Championship programs and compete in events around the world. Previously, the team’s participation was limited under associate membership.

The Philippines is currently 54th in IIHF rankings.

The COVID-19 pandemic however led to the cancellation of many hockey tournaments that the Philippine team was supposed to participate in. This included events that the Philippine Women's National Ice Hockey team and Under-20 National Hockey team were to join. The men’s team said they are just waiting for announcements on the new game schedules.

The team also hopes that Metro Manila will be put under MGCQ (modified general community quarantine) so they can practice at a Pasay City mall’s ice skating rink.

The Philippine Men's National Ice Hockey team earned a bronze medal at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.

Gautier said ice hockey in the Philippines started in the early 1990s after the opening of the first mall in Metro Manila with an ice skating rink. The official National team however was formed only a few years ago.

He added that the sport has few followers here in the country compared to basketball and boxing. The team however was happy with what they achieved in the sport considering that hockey is not common here.

https://www.advocatesomi.com/news/philippine-mens-hockey-team-gets-full-membership-in-iihf