MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine national men’s hockey team blanked cellar-dweller Kuwait, 13-0, on Thursday, April 5, at the SM Mall of Asia Skating Rink. 

The nationals bounced back from their 4-7 loss to Southeast Asian rivals Thailand in their opening game last Tuesday, April 3. 

Philippines left no mercy in pummeling Kuwait’s defense that saw them become the highest scoring team in a single game at this point of the tournament. Minor penalties plagued Kuwait throughout the game. 

“We had 4 lines rolling, so we just had more depth on our team. We tried to take more shots and create more scoring opportunities and it showed on the scoreboard,” said Captain Steven Fuglister. 

The host country now stands at 1-1 while Kuwait remains last in the standings at 0-2 in the 2018 IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia.  

Paul Sanchez emerged as the topscorer of the team, tallying 4 goals out of the total 13 team goals.  Fuglister nabbed the player of the game award for the Philippines 

Sanchez opened the scoring with an assist from Javier Cadiz in the 2nd minute of the game.

Fuglister, Benjamin Imperial and Sanchez followed suit as the last goal of the first by Sanchez was primary assisted by Fuglister who connected from Hector Navasero (4-0). 

Less than two minutes into the second period, Fuglister scored at unassisted goal to continue Philippines’ momentum. 

Patrick Syquiatco got on the scoresheet 3 minutes later via an assist from Jose Iñigo Cadiz. Carl Montano assisted older Cadiz in the 30th minute and Daniel Pastrana in the 36th minute to see the Philippines go up, 8-0. 

Sanchez closed out the second period with two straight goals both from Fuglister and enter the last period up 10-0. 

Imperial scored his second goal of the game via an assist by Jan Regencia in the 3rd period.

In the 47th minute, Lenard Lancero went one-on-one with the tender and slotted in an unassisted goal that surpassed the 2018 tournament’s record for most number of goals in a single game (12-0). 

Fifteen seconds later, captain Fuglister scored his second goal of the game to make it 13-0. 

The Philippines’ next match will be against the first seed Mongolia on Friday, April 6 at the SM Mall of Asia Skating Rink. – Rappler.com