The Philippine men’s ice hockey team needed to recenter themselves in the second and third periods to get themselves out of an early hole.
BANGKOK — The Philippine men’s ice hockey team recovered in time to churn out a 7-2 win over Malaysia to open their bid in the SEA Games 2025 at the Thailand International Ice Hockey Arena on Wednesday night.
The Philippines fell behind early 1-2 against Malaysia because of personnel problems brought about penalties handed to the Filipinos in the first period. At one point, it was four against six in favor of the Malaysians.
But after Manny Billones scored his first of three goals of the night to level the match at 2-2, they were able to get things back on track with some old fashioned discipline.
“Well, most of us, it's our first SEA Games, so we were all just so excited. So, [the] first period, we just want to go hard at them and just hit them. And that kind of like, cost us the first period, lots of penalties,” Billones told POC Media after the game.
“So, after the second intermission, we just had to tone down, focus on the game, just play smarter and more disciplined, and just capitalize on their mistakes, really.”
After ending the opening period at 2-2, the Philippines shut out the Malaysians for the next two periods while scoring five more goals — completing a hat trick for Billones and a two-goal output from Kenwrick Sze.
While Patrick Abis and Aro Regencia added one goal each as well to complete the 7-goal rout.
Built for adversity
Despite not being able to start the way that they wanted to, Billones said that the team isn’t new to these types of situations.
Even with a lot of them newcomers to the SEA Games stage, they still have a lot of experience under their belt in other high-level competitions which helped them gain the mental strength they need to bounce back and claim the win.
[RELATED: SEA Games: Philippine women’s ice hockey takes positives after grueling debut vs Thailand]
“We've been through this before, like our tournament last month. We were always down, and we really just have to just tone it down a bit, just focus, and just calm the nerves, really.” said Billones, who also nabbed Man of the Match for the Philippines.
“Most of us are first-timers in SEA Games, so just take one step at a time, one step at a time, and just keep it simple, really.” he added.
The Philippines targets a 2-0 start when they match up against an Indonesia side that will feature some Russian-Indonesians in their lineup. Puck drop is scheduled at 4pm, local time at the same Bangkok venue.
—
Luisa Morales is a sports writer with a special interest in promoting women’s sports.
Her coverage highlights include the UAAP, PVL, Southeast Asian Games, and the FIBA World Cup. She also follows Alex Eala, the Philippine women’s national football team, and mixed martial arts.