It’s been a long wait, but it was worth every moment for the Philippines after winning Division IV gold at the first attempt.
The Asian nation was due to make its first IIHF World Championship appearance back in the 2019/20 season. However, the pandemic prevented that tournament from taking place. The following year was also cancelled and in 2022 the Filipino team had to withdraw prior to the competition in Kyrgyzstan. But all that frustration was forgotten in Ulaanbaatur, Mongolia, as the Philippines swept to gold and promotion to Division IIIB.
Back in competitive action for the first time since December 2019’s Southeast Asia Games, team Philippines wasted no time in making an impact. Just 21 seconds into the opening game against Indonesia, rookie forward Kenwrick Sze got his team’s first goal. The 18-year-old Manila native finished with a hat-trick and four assists in a 14-0 victory in that first game. Sze was one of three hat-trick heroes in that game, with newly-appointed team captain Manvil Billones and Carl Michael Montaro also notching trebles.
However, there was a far tougher test in store for the Philippines when they faced Mongolia. The host nation won its opening game 8-0 against Kuwait, and both teams went into game two knowing a regulation-time win would clinch gold.
That set the stage for a roller-coaster battle. The Philippines led 3-0 at the first intermission, Mongolia hauled it back to 3-3 after 40 minutes. Among the home scorers, Chinzolboo Mighigsuren stepped up from his impressive performance here in the U18 Asia and Oceania Championship tournament a couple of weeks earlier. The 16-year-old potted the first in Mongolia’s fightback here before his father, team captain Mishigsuren Namjil (aged 39) had a goal and an assist to help his country tie the games.
A breathless third period saw the teams share six goals before the action went to overtime. The winner came 72 seconds into the extras, with Billones instrumental in the decisive play. First, he broke clear of the Mongolian defence but saw his shot rebound to safety off the frame of the goal. However, he regained possession and sent a cross-ice feed for Eishner Sebug to beat Munkhbold Bayarsaikhan and win the game. Both Billones and Sebug were born in the USA to Filipino families, and both were making their first international appearances at this tournament after completing the naturalization formalities.
Despite the defeat, the majority of the 3,267 fans who came to the impressive new Steppe Arena in the Mongolian capital could still harbour some hopes of their team grabbing gold. The Philippines needed to defeat Kuwait in its final game to secure top spot. That proved to be a straightforward task, with another 14-0 scoreline ensuring there would be no stumble at the last. Sze got another early opener but it wasn’t until the second period that the floodgates opened. Montano scored another hat-trick, finishing the tournament with 10 (6+4), while Billones had 4 (2+2) to secure firt place in the scoring race with 12 (5+7). John Fuglister, a Swiss-born veteran of the Filipino hockey scene also had 3 (2+1) points in another convincing Filipino victory.
Mongolia wrapped up a silver medal in the final game of the tournament, defeating Indonesia 5-1. For Indonesia, that was a third successive loss in its first IIHF competition. However, the newcomers can take some consolation from a competitive display in a 2-4 loss to Kuwait in what was, in effect, the bronze-medal game.
Among the individual achievements, the Philippines unsurprisingly dominated the scoring chart. The top five scorers – Billones, Sze, Fuglister, Montano and Jan Aro Regencia – all represented the gold medallist, while Sibug’s four-point haul from the blue line made him the top scorer among defenders.
Mongolia’s leading scorers had six points each. Gerelt Ider and Mishigsuren Namjil both finished with two goals and four assists, Erdenesukh Bold contributed 1+5. Kuwait Ali Alsharraf was the leading scorer from the other nations here. Alsharraf also got the nod as the directorate’s best forward of the competition, with Sibug claiming best defender and Mongolian netminder Bayarsaikhan winning the best goalie prize.
The Philippines’ victory sees the team move up to next season’s Division IIIB competition. There, it will renew acquaintance with the Singapore team that inflicted a semi-final defeat at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games. That game was played at the SM Mall of Asia rink in Pasay, just south of Manila, which became the main hub for the Filipino hockey community this week as it gathered to watch the action from Mongolia.
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Golden debut for the Philippines - IIHF
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