World Ice Hockey 5s (12 – 17 June 2007) - Wrap-Up

By Aris Samad Yahaya

Ice Hockey players from Kelab Hoki Ais Saga (KHAS) experienced a first at the recently-concluded World Ice Hockey 5s tournament: for the first time, they played in a multi-country tournament on full-size ice rinks. The primary location for the tournament was at the brand-new MegaIce rink at Hong Kong’s new MegaBox mall located in Kowloon Bay. However, due to the high participation by over 61 teams from around the world, a portion of the games were played at the Macau Dome in neighboring Macau.

KHAS submitted 2 official teams: The Dexion Wildcats and the Malaysia Slayers. The Dexion Wildcats for the first time played in the Asian A Division, a highly competitive division comprising the region’s best teams. They were promoted to Division A after having won first place in Asian B Division in the 2006 World Ice Hockey 5s.

The Dexion Wildcats had a strong start, winning 5-2 in their inaugural game against Hong Kong AHC (Hong Kong Amateur Ice Hockey Club). Their second game was against the highly-touted UAE team. Historically, the UAE team has typically been the strongest team, winning almost all of their games at the 5s over the years. This year, the Dexion Wildcats gave them a run for their money, keeping the score at 0-0 for the first 2 periods. In the final and most exciting period, UAE scored first. Then Wildcats skipper Gary Tan was awarded a penalty shot when he was tripped up. The crowd was breathless as Gary, befitting his title as the best Malaysian player, put the puck in the top-right corner to bring the score to an even 1-1. In the end, UAE managed to win the game 2-1.

Dexion Wildcats game against defending champion, HK Hitmen (comprising mostly of expatriates Canadian Chinese) was awesome, even thought we lost 5-0, it was a truly thrilling match. The most depressing game was against Macau. Played in the Macau Dome (home of the Macau team), we lost 3-1. Our players were very tired after the tough game against UAE and we have to play Macau few hours later. The schedule is back to back and we have to rotate between Macau and Kowloon. In conclusion, Dexion Wildcats played very well in the highly competitive Asian A Division.

In the Women’s division, the Malaysia Slayers team gave a strong and convincing run. This team won their first 2 games against Macau and Manila, losing only 1 game to Japan Red Bullets in the round-robin. In the quarterfinals they sent home Macau Marauders with a 7-1 win. Making the semi-finals was a wonderful moment for the Women’s team, where they were pitted against the HK WIHO, the team from Hong Kong who are historically the strongest women’s team at the tournament. Playing a good game against the HK WIHO would require the best of the women. They proved themselves as hockey players despite losing the game 2-1. HK WIHO went on to win the tournament, beating Japan Red Bullets at the final 1-0. A total of 7 women teams participated and Malaysia Slayers is placed in the 3^rd position.

In addition to the full teams, KHAS also sent individual players who participated as guests in other teams. Nurul Ain Khadijah binti Mohd Zaki, age 8 played for Beijing Cubs in the Mini Squirt Division. The Beijing Cubs is the champion in the Mini Squirt Division. Both Nurul Badrul Arie Versluis and Shahrul Ilyas bin Abdul Shukor age 11 and 9 respectively played in the Squirt Division. The highlight was when (drum roll….) Nurul Badrul Arie Versluis won the MVP award for the Squirt Division. Ryan Edward Monterio age 12 played for the Pee Wee Division. The youngsters played remarkably well with players from different countries and made many friends.

All in all, the organizers of the World Ice Hockey 5s, AsiaSports of Hong Kong, did an excellent job running an international-level tournament open to all age groups and to players of all skill levels. To all the 39 players and officials who attended the Hong Kong tournament this year, can look forward to participating in future tournaments at ever increasing levels.