The Philippines ice hockey team celebrates a goal during their Ice Hockey round robin game against Malaysia during the 29th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in Kuala Lumpur on August 23, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / ADEK BERRY
The Philippines swept its way to the Southeast Asian Games’ inaugural ice hockey gold medal Thursday night.
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The PH ice hockey team nipped Thailand, 5-4, in a tense final to seal the country’s 15th gold medal in a historic undefeated run.
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The Filipinos beat Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia before frustrating the Thais, who managed to close in at the end of the second period despite an early deficit, in the last match.
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The Philippines got an early 4-1 lead but Thailand refused to go away and cut it down to one in the second.
After a scoreless third period, Niko Cadiz struck goal no. 5 with eight minutes left to play as the Filipinos held on to the win.
Ice hockey was played for the first time in the regional sporting meet.
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It was quiet a debut for the nation’s hockey team, which was only assembled a few years ago.
Majority of the team are homegrown talents who learned to skate at SM mall rinks, which has existed in the Philippines for two decades
That worked to the Filipinos’ advantage in the SEA Games ice hockey tournament, which was also played inside a mall in construction in Kuala Lumpur.
Members of the team are Benjamin Jorge Imperial, Carl Michael Montano, Daniel Pastrana, Francois Emmanuel Gautier, Javier Alfonso Cadiz, Gianpietro Iseppi, Jan Aro Regencia, John Steven Fuglister, Georgino Orda, Jorell Crisostomo, Jose Inigo Anton Cadiz, Joshua Carino, Julius Frederick Santiago, Lenard Rigel II Lancero, Miguel Alfonso Relampagos, Miguel Serrano, Paolo Spafford, Patrick Russell Syquiatco, Paul Gabriel Sanchez and Carlo Martin Sison Tenedoro. Head coach is Daniel Brodan.