The Philippines national ice hockey team is the national men's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

team of the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. They are controlled by the Federation of Ice Hockey League (FIHL) and a member of the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 ...

(IIHF) since 20 May 2016. Prior to that period, a national team has played in regional tournaments in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

since the 2000s. The Philippines is currently ranked 54th in the

IIHF World Ranking The IIHF World Ranking is a ranking of the performance of the national ice hockey teams of member countries of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It is based on a formula giving points for each team's placings at IIHF-sanctioned to ...

and have entered in the

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since

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. They have played in the Challenge Cup of Asia, a regional tournament for lower-tier hockey nations in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

History

Early history

Prior to 2008, there were no organized leagues and an unofficial Philippine national team composed of players from selected clubs participated in regional tournaments. One such unofficial national team was "Manila Pilipinas" that participated at the HKAHC Invitational Amateur Ice Hockey Tournament in 2005. They were second runners-up team in the Bauhinia Division, the lowest of the three divisions in the invitational tournament. Starting 2008, ice hockey in the Philippines began to gain traction. The Philippine national team participated again at the 2014 edition of the HKAHC invitational tournament. The team were champions of the Silver Plate Division, the second highest division in the tournament. It was in this tournament that the Philippines played against another national side. They won 10–0 over a Macau squad, sanctioned by the Macau Ice Sports Federation. The Federation of Ice Hockey League (FIHL), a national ice hockey federation was then established in February 2015 to govern ice hockey in the Philippines making efforts to organize a formal national team easier.

2016: FIHL affiliation

The FIHL became an associate member of the IIHF on 20 May 2016 and by July 2016, the federation also became a member of the

Philippine Olympic Committee The Philippine Olympic Committee Inc. (POC) is the National Olympic Committee of the Philippines. The POC is a private, non-governmental organization composed of and serve as the mother organization of all National Sports Associations (NSAs) i ...

(POC). The FIHL's membership with these two bodies made them eligible to send national teams including a men's national team to the official tournaments such as the IIHF Asia and Oceania Championship (formerly the IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia) and the

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with sup ...

. The Philippine national team participated once again at the HKAHC Invitational Amateur Ice Hockey Tournament for the 2016 edition. They settled for first runner-up place after they lost 4–3 in

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...

to Mitsubishi Corp. in the Gold Plate Division final. They also played against the national team of

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

in the tournament.

Official FIHL tournament debut

The Philippine national team participated at the 2017 Asian Winter Games, which was their first official tournament. They participated in Division II of the tournament. The team, captained by Swiss-Filipino, Steven Füglister, underwent a seven-month training which started in July 2016 prior to the competition. The team lost 10–5 in their first official match against

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

. Philippines secured their first official win as a FIHL member when they defeated

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

with a score of 14–2 and was followed by an 8–3 triumph against

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Ku ...

, who were competing as the

Independent Olympic Athletes Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independen ...

. The team finished third in their division following their 9–2 win over Macau in the play-off for third place.

2017 Southeast Asian Games

The Philippines participated at an ice hockey tournament event of the

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. To prepare for the tournament, they participated at the 2017 Philippine Ice Hockey Tournament which was held at the SM Megamall Skating Rink in

Mandaluyong Mandaluyong, officially the City of Mandaluyong ( fil, Lungsod ng Mandaluyong), is a first class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to ...

. The national team finished third behind second placed

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-based Islanders Red and first placed Singaporean side Pandoo Nation. The Philippine national team mentored by

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head coach Daniel Brodan started their Southeast Asian Games campaign with a 12–0 victory over

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

. This was followed by their game against

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

which ended with a 7–2 triumph. This was then followed by their game against Malaysia which saw the ejection of the Philippine captain, Steven Füglister from the game in the first period. He was given a game misconduct penalty for hitting a Malaysian player in a head while pursuing the puck although the skipper said the infraction was an unintentional accident. The match ended with a 7–7 tie after regulation time after an extra five-minute-period which led to a

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only invo ...

. The Philippines outscored Malaysia to register a win. The Malaysian organizers decided to suspend Fuglister for the final match against

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

. The Philippines appealed this decision but failed to overturn the suspension. Despite playing sans their captain, the Philippines wrapped up their campaign, undefeated with a 5–4 win over Thailand and clinched the first ever ice hockey gold medal in the history of the regional tournament.

2018 and 2019 IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia

The Philippines hosted the Top Division of the

IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia The IIHF Asia and Oceania Championship (formally the IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia) are a series of international ice hockey tournaments in the continent of Asia. The purpose of the tournament is to provide competitive opportunities for Asian and Oc ...

from 3 to 8 April 2018, their first IIHF-sanctioned tournament, at the SM Mall of Asia Ice Skating Rink in

Pasay Pasay, officially the City of Pasay ( fil, Lungsod ng Pasay; ), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 440,656 people. Due to its location jus ...

Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila (often shortened as Metro Manila; fil, Kalakhang Maynila), officially the National Capital Region (NCR; fil, link=no, Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), is the capital region, seat of government and one of three List of metrop ...

. The team was mentored by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

head coach, Jonathan De Castro. The national team settled for bronze after tying in points with champions

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million ...

and runners-up Thailand. Goal differences of the three teams with matches against the two other teams, Kuwait and Singapore, disregarded was used as tiebreaker to determine the final standing. The national team improved its best finish in the tournament in the following edition of the tournament in 2019 hosted in Malaysia. They lost to Mongolia in the final settling for second place.

2019 Southeast Asian Games

The Philippines failed to defend their Southeast Asian Games title at home in the 2019 edition of the regional games settling for a bronze medal finish. Kaspersky, an internet security firm, sponsored their participation in the regional games.

IIHF World Championships

The Philippines' ice hockey governing body, the Federation of Ice Hockey League, from 2017, projects the national team's first participation in the

IIHF World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual ...

within three to five years. They have applied to participate in the inaugural Division IV of the World Championships for the 2020 edition. However the tournament was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. The 2021 Division IV tournament would also get cancelled. The Philippines' debut in the World Championship would be further postponed, after it withdrew from the 2022 Division IV tournament citing inability to train due to closure of ice rinks in the past two years due to the pandemic. By August 2022, ice rinks have reopened and in October 2022,

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

instructor Juhani Ijäs has been appointed as head coach and program director of the Philippine national team. They would finally make their World Championship debut by taking part in the 2023 Division IV tournament in

. They swept all three games against

, the hosts, and

to earn a promotion to Division III.

Tournament record

World Championships

Asian Winter Games

Challenge Cup of Asia

Southeast Asian Games

Team

Current roster

Roster for the

2023 IIHF World Championship Division IV The 2023 IIHF World Championship Division IV was an international ice hockey tournament run by the International Ice Hockey Federation. The tournament was held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from 23 to 26 March 2023 after the original hosts, Kuwait, ...

. Head coach: Juhani Ijäs

Coaching history

Fixtures and results

All-time record against other national teams

''Last match update: 26 March 2023''

References

External links

IIHF profileNational Team of Ice Hockey profile
{{Ice hockey in the Philippines Ice hockey in the Philippines National ice hockey teams in Asia

Ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...