Pinoy skaters hot on ice

Believe it or not, a Filipino team called the Manila Predators captured the Asian men’s B division ice hockey 5s championship in Hong Kong recently and proved a country without winter can be a winner in the rink.

Predators coach Deric Cadiz, who fell in love with the sport as a boy living in Germany, assembled a lineup with an average age of 19 to 20 in the 18-and-over category. One of his three sons in the roster, Javi, is only 14 but got to play after Cadiz signed a waiver. Javi turned out to be the youngest goal scorer in the competition.

“We’re playing for the love of the sport,” said Cadiz, a 50-year-old banker whose father was in the Philippine foreign service. “I lived in Germany from when I was three years old to 19. That’s when I first played ice hockey. Then I studied at the University of Michigan where I took up economics and public finance. I moved back to Manila in the 1980s and in 1995, brought my kids to learn how to skate at the SM Southmall rink.”

Cadiz said the rinks in SM Southmall and SM Megamall were the happy hunting grounds for ice hockey enthusiasts in the 1990s. He formed a team called the Manila Tigers with Southmall as their base to compete against the Manila Typhoons of Megamall. The rivalry between the Tigers and Typhoons was an intense as the rivalry between La Salle and Ateneo.

“The Typhoons were coached by a real American hockey guy whose wife worked at the ADB,” continued Cadiz. “He raised the bar for all of us. When he left the country, we merged the Typhoons and Tigers and created the Predators. Eventually, the Megamall rink was closed so now only Southmall and Mall of Asia are our playing venues. We play at Southmall which charges P400 a player an hour compared to Mall of Asia which charges P10,000 an hour. Ice hockey is an expensive sport. We change sticks and skates once a year and they’re not cheap. But we play because we love the sport.”

Cadiz explained that ice hockey competition has several age groups – mini-squirts for 5-7, squirts for 8-9, pee wee for 10-12, bantam for 13-14, junior for 15-17 and men 18-up.

“We run a league from October to March then we participate in international tournaments,” said Cadiz. “This past season, we had four teams in our local league. Next season, we hope to expand to six. We play our games Monday and Friday nights. We’re trying to encourage more girls to play. Ours is a non-checking game unlike in the National Hockey League. Of course, we also have the penalty box because let’s face it, it’s impossible to avoid contact.”

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Although there is a set schedule for the league season, Cadiz said ice hockey is played all year round in the country. “We take the sport seriously,” he went on. “We’ve even brought in coaches from Canada to do clinics. We’ve also sent players to try out with the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings. One of our players Justin Villarama, a US citizen, made it to the top 50 in the US junior team tryouts. His brother Joey plays with the Predators.”

Cadiz said if his schedule allows, he’d like to pursue the formation of a national association to link up with the International Ice Hockey Federation and later seek accreditation with the Philippine Olympic Committee.

“Our dream is to form a competitive national team,” he said. “We know there are Filipino players abroad who are willing to play for our country just like the Fil-foreigners with the Azkals. Who knows? Maybe we can qualify for the Winter Olympics. The idea of forming a national association is something that we’re considering. It’s just a matter of finding the time to get it done. At least, I’ve had some experience with another sport, equestrian. I do dressage as a hobby. I learned to ride horses when I lived in Germany and I keep in touch with some of our riders like Toni Leviste.”

At the recent Asian men’s B division championships, the Philippines was represented by the Predators and the Manila Saints coached by Jonathan Galang. The Saints are a feeder system for the Predators with an average age of 18. Aside from the Asian men’s B division, the ice hockey 5s event featured competitions in the international men, Asian women and youth divisions.

There were 10 teams in the Asian men’s B class. China, Hong Kong, Thailand and the Philippines were the countries that sent in entries. The teams were split into two groups of five. After a single round-robin, the top two teams of each group advanced to the semifinals.

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Group A was made up of the Predators, Thunderous Scorpions of Thailand, the Hong Kong Amateur Hockey Club, the Hong Kong Blades and Sam Wai of Hong Kong. Group B was composed of the Saints, the Harbin Avalanche Stars of China, the Gold Club of China, the Hong Kong Empire Skaters and the Hong Kong Homely Sportswear.

The Predators beat Sam Wai, 2-1, blanked the Amateur Hockey Club, 3-0, swamped the Scorpions, 7-0, and lost a 6-3 decision to the Blades to advance to the semifinals. The Saints weren’t as lucky, finishing third after losing to Homely Sportswear and Gold Club.

The Predators took on the Group B pacesetter Homely Sportswear in the knockout crossover semifinals. Regulation time ended at 3-all requiring a five-minute instant death overtime and a shootout where the Predators finally prevailed. After four hours of rest, the Predators were back on the rink to face Gold Club which had earlier eliminated the Blades, 2-1.