Philippines men's national ice hockey team

The Philippines national ice hockey team is the national men's ice hockey team of the Philippines. They are controlled by the Federation of Hockey League in the Philippines (FIHL) and a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) since May 20, 2016. Prior to that period, a national team has played in regional tournaments in Hong Kong since the 2000s.
The Philippines is currently ranked 53rd in the IIHF World Ranking and have entered in the World Championship since 2023. They have played in the Challenge Cup of Asia, a regional tournament for lower-tier hockey nations in Asia.
==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.
French-Filipino general manager, Francois Gautierhttp://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=518767 led the Philippine national team in open tournaments in 2015. Gautier mentored the Philippine squad that finished third at the adult division of the 2015 Hong Kong Fives, as well the Philippines that took the Gold Cup Division title at the 2015 HKAHC Invitational Amateur Ice Hockey Tournament.
===As an FIHL affiliate===
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 (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 Challenge Cup of Asia and the Southeast Asian Games.
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 to Mitsubishi Corp. in the Gold Plate Division final. They also played against the national team of Oman in the tournament.
===Official 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,http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=49002 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. Philippines secured their first official win as a FIHL member when they defeated Qatar with a score of 14–2 and was followed by an 8–3 triumph against Kuwait, who were competing as the Independent Olympic Athletes. 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 2017 Southeast Asian Games. 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. The national team finished third behind second placed New York-based Islanders Red and first placed Singaporean side Pandoo Nation.
The Philippine national team mentored by Czech head coach Daniel Brodan started their Southeast Asian Games campaign with a 12–0 victory over Indonesia. This was followed by their game against Singapore 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. The Philippines outshot Malaysia to register a win.
The Malaysian organizers decided to suspend Fuglister for the final match against Thailand. 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 from 3 to 8 April 2018, their first IIHF-sanctioned tournament, at the SM Mall of Asia Ice Skating Rink in Pasay, Metro Manila. The team was mentored by American head coach, Jonathan De Castro. The national team settled for bronze after tying in points with champions Mongolia 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.
b|Kaspersky, an internet security firm, sponsored their participation in the regional games.
===IIHF World Championships===
The Philippines' ice hockey governing body, the Federation of Hockey League in the Philippines, from 2017, projects the national team's first participation in the IIHF World Championships 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 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, the ice rinks reopened and in October 2022, Finnish instructor Juhani Ijäs was 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 Mongolia. They swept all three games against Indonesia, the hosts, and Kuwait to earn a promotion to Division III.
==Tournament record==
===World Championships===
Year 	Host 	Result 	 	 	 	 	
1930 through 2015	1930 through 2015	Not an IIHF member 	Not an IIHF member 	Not an IIHF member 	Not an IIHF member 	Not an IIHF member 	Not an IIHF member
2016 through 2019	2016 through 2019	did not enter 	did not enter 	did not enter 	did not enter 	did not enter 	did not enter
2020 	Bishkek 	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021 	Bishkek 	All lower division tournamentscancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	All lower division tournamentscancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	All lower division tournamentscancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	All lower division tournamentscancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	All lower division tournamentscancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	All lower division tournamentscancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2022 	Bishkek 	Withdrew due to the COVID-19 pandemic 	Withdrew due to the COVID-19 pandemic 	Withdrew due to the COVID-19 pandemic 	Withdrew due to the COVID-19 pandemic 	Withdrew due to the COVID-19 pandemic 	Withdrew due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2023 	Ulaanbaatar 	52nd place 	3 	2 	1 	0 	0
2024 	Sarajevo 	50th place 	5 	2 	0 	0 	3
Total 	Total 	2/3 	8 	4 	1 	0 	3
===Asian Winter Games===
Year 	Host 	Result 	 	 	 	 	
1986 through 2011	1986 through 2011	did not enter	did not enter	did not enter	did not enter	did not enter	did not enter
2017 	Sapporo 	13th place 	4 	3 	0 	0 	1
Total 	Total 	1/1 	4 	3 	0 	0 	1
===Challenge Cup of Asia===
Year 	Host 	Result 	 	 	 	 	
2008 through 2017	2008 through 2017	did not participate 	did not participate 	did not participate 	did not participate 	did not participate 	did not participate
2018 	Pasay 	3rd Place 	4 	3 	0 	0 	1
2019 	Kuala Lumpur 	2nd Place 	5 	4 	0 	0 	1
2020 	Singapore 	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Total 	Total 	2/12 	9 	7 	0 	0 	2
===Southeast Asian Games===
Year 	Host 	Result 	 	 	 	 	
2017 	Kuala Lumpur	1st place	4 	3	1	0	0
2019 	Pasay 	3rd Place	6 	4	0	0	2
Total	Total 	2/2 	10	7	1	0	2
==All-time record against other national teams==
Last match update: 29 February 2024
 Key
    	
    	
    	
Team 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	1 	0 	0	1	3 	6
 	1 	0 	0	1	5 	9
 	3 	3 	0	0	34 	1
 	1 	1 	0	0	14 	2
 	3 	3 	0	0	35 	3
 	1 	0 	0	1	5 	10
 	1 	1 	0	0	10 	0
 	4 	4 	0	0	47 	13
 	4 	3 	0	1	23 	21
 	1 	1 	0	0	9 	0
 	1 	0 	0	1	2 	10
 	2 	2 	0	0	28 	4
 	7 	6 	0	1	49 	17
 	3 	1 	0	2	10 	21
Total	32	25	0	7	269	108
==References==
==External links==
*IIHF profile
*National Team of Ice Hockey profile
*Hockey Philippines
==External links==
*Philippines - National Teams of Ice Hockey
Category:National ice hockey teams