Despite starting slow and absorbing multiple penalties, the Philippine men’s ice hockey team found its groove against Malaysia en route to a triumphant start in the 33rd Southeast Asian Games in Thailand.
After committing penalties, the 2017 gold medalists found themselves down by a goal, 1-2, midway through the opening period.
But Manny Billones scored the first of his three goals for the game with 5:52 left in the first stanza to tie the match and shift momentum to the Philippines’ side heading into the first break.
From then on, it was a much more organized side for the Philippines, which focused on its defense as much as their offense — all without sacrificing too many penalties to keep themselves in full power against a determined Malaysia team.
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It was a defensive stalemate for most of the second period before Aro Regancia opened the floodgates with 5:30 left in the period, and Billones added his second goal with 2:49 to make it a 4-2 lead for the Filipino skaters.
The Philippines then got busy on offense in the final canto with three goals — including Billones’ third and two from Kenwrick Sze. The latter provided the cherry on top when he scored the country’s seventh goal with 31.9 ticks left.
Billones said it was a matter of getting into their own game after a frantic start, especially with a lot of younger players on the roster.
“Well, most of us, it's our first SEA Games game, so we were all just so excited. So, first period, we just want to go hard at them and just hit them. 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.” said Billones.
The team guns for a 2-0 start when they face Indonesia, which flaunts a line of Russian-Indonesian athletes on Thursday afternoon.