Pattaya Ice Hockey Association - PIHA

Some low level rumblings from BKK hockey community, really just rumors at this point. With new arenas under construction in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, both men and women’s Thai hockey is on the rise. Thai figure skating is also very popular.
It makes sense that the Pattaya area, with its large expat community and loads of International schools, could certainly support a multi-sport training facility featuring hockey & figure skating. Let’s hope the rumors are true and that we can someday soon have a venue to play and support the game we love.

It’s with sadness we’d like to inform everyone in our hockey community of the recent death of Kevin Mingoia.
Kevin had a heart attack in his hotel room in Pattaya the day after competing in a hockey tournament in Bangkok. He was a great supporter and organizer of ice hockey in Pattaya, Bangkok & Okinawa. He will be sorely missed by all who knew and played with him.
Condolences to his family, his fiancee Nui, and all who knew him.

4 years ago Gabe took a shot that rode right up his stick into his eye. He leaked blood for awhile, got stitched up and came back and played the rest of the games, including our group championship win!!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CtLMnh9gji6/

Brad Marchand is the ultimate employee in this old commercial 🤣 (🎥: @purehockey/YouTube)

https://twitter.com/NHLBruins/status/1480738757389303812/photo/1

Boston Bruins on Twitter “Never gets old. https://t.co/zl5Ihqx4UZ”

RIP

RIP Tay Nell
Sadly, today at around 12:30om Tay Nell, the wife of longtime Flying Farang and Thai Stix player Kirk Nell, passed after a long fight with cancer.
Tay put up a valiant fight but in the end, the cancer was too strong to fight. Kirk was able to carry her to the seaside last week to see some final beautiful sunsets.
Tay was full of energy and full of life and it was only a scourge like cancer that could dim that light and colorful personality. She was the life of every party she organized and attended; and rest assured she's probably already organizing an event in heaven right now.
Tay's body will lay in the Buddhist temple beside Ekamai BTS, the same spot where Jason Cotsmire's funeral was held.
Details to follow about when is best to visit this week, but please do pass on condolences to Kirk and support him in any way you can.

Gabriel Roško had a tough last shift at the end of our opening game in the LOS Tourney. A 2-2 tie against a very talented Russian team. For some crazy reason he decided to block a shot with his eyebrow!!

PIHA SHINNY HOCKEY ROUND-UP WEDNESDAY AUGUST 7th

It was a close call this Wednesday, as it appeared we had a solid group signed in on our Line group. 2 goalies and more than enough skaters for a full lineup.

A late cancellation by our primary goalie Igor (due to business obligations) led to a bunch of of guys backing out.

Luckily we had just enough players to suit up and play and have a good game and a hell of a workout!!

Mike, Artune & Adareak were the Men in Black. Alexander Finance , Naka and myself were the White hats.
Badass Alex was the solo goalie and faced a lot of rubber.

We played 3 on 3 with nobody getting off the ice. Everybody worked up a good sweat. The teams were evenly matched with both sides getting their fair share of scoring chances and goals.

Players of the Game (POG)
#1. Alex Without at least 1 goalie it’s just not as much fun playing. Thanks to Alex, Igor, DJ, Gabor, Tomas and all our guys that have showed up and put on the pads since we’ve been playing here in Pattaya.

#2. Artune the Russian sniper abused our #1 POG by going top shelf glove side with at least 5 laser beams that Alex never had a chance on.

#3. Alex Finance led the White team with end to end skating, countless 5-holes on the Tutor Shooter and as always the spectacular jean shorts.

PIHA SHINNY ROUND-UP FRIDAY JULY 5th, 3019

It was a pretty frustrating night of hockey. It appeared by the online sign-up that we had plenty of players. 2 late cancellations and a no-show later, left us shorthanded, with only 7 skaters and 1 goalie. Yours truly was further annoyed when Dennis, while admiring my skates, noticed that one of my blades was cracked all the way through.

We split up into two undermanned teams. DJ was the loan goalie. Team Black had 3 players, made up of Mike, Clint and Bomb. Team White had 4 skaters consisting of Dennis, Naka, Adiraek and myself.

Team White’s extra man should have given them a significant advantage in the 3 on 3 action, as we had the spare skater, and were able to get some rest while Black had nobody on the bench.

Mike obviously had some tricks up his sleeve. The earlier mentioned broken skate blade may not have been an accident!! After the game we also checked Naka and Adiraeks sticks. We discovered 2-way hinges had somehow been installed on the blades of both, explaining why every single pass to the tape to both of them had slipped straight thru!!

The game was an absolute slaughter as Black destroyed the White team, which could not overcome the handicaps imposed on them by the crafty German.

Naka brought the crowd to its feet with numerous fancy circular skating moves always in the opposite direction of play. While Adiraek showed gritty determination by trying to stickhandle thru the whole Black team every time he touched the puck. Impressive but annoyingly futile for a hockey beginner.

Anyway we’ll be doing a pre-game equipment check from now on. Hopefully we’ll have a better turnout next Monday.

Player/Saboteur of the Game: Michael Nakvachara Devious manipulation of the opponents equipment led to an easy lopsided victory. Well played sir!!

FRI. MAY 24TH PATTAYA SHINNY ROUNDUP

It was a loud and bloody night of exciting shinny hockey at The Rink last night. The building was reverberating with the booming sounds of the 1st night of the annual Pattaya International Fireworks festival, taking place at the nearby beachfront.

Before we get into the gory details of the game, all the PIHA hockey members extend a warm welcome to new rink manager Sugar. She’s been a welcome presence the last 2 weeks and we all were impressed with her taking the helm of the Zamboni last week. I need to get a photo of her for next weeks entry as it will certainly be more attractive than the usual mugs posted in this space!!

We again had Alex & Igor doing their usual outstanding job of minding the nets. Each team was manned with 5 skaters which had us playing 3 on 3 with 2 men rotating on the go as required.

Team Black consisted of Mathew Sigel, John McHugh , Tu, Chackapat and another rink employee whose name I don’t have the Thai language characters to write. Alex in net.
Team White consisted of Clint Towl, Dennis Paul, Anton, Beam and Adiraek and Igor Sykora goalie.
Another evenly matched, well played game, with a distinctly Thai flavor. Over 1/2 the players were from the host nation. Without the rink employees we would not have had enough players to even have a game so thanks and helmets off to them for joining us. The rinks employees/Thai players hockey skill levels are improving steadily, as they are learning the intricacies of the game to go along with their already strong skating skills.

The game was evenly matched with Matty singlehandedly providing almost all the scoring for the Black squad. Any non-Matt goals were doorstep tap ins from a Sigel feed. Team White had more balanced scoring as just about everyone chipped in a goal before the night was finished.

Dennis Paul sustained a gruesome, bloody injury that would have sent most mortals to the emergency room or perhaps even the morgue. The Canadian trooper simply missed 1 shift, took a belt of whisky and came back leaking blood and spewing venom. Vowing to take revenge on the hack who opened him up like a can of tuna with a vicious high stick to the kisser.

Stars of the Game:
#1. Dennis Paul The ice resembled a Civil War battlefield after Dennis courageously played and leaked a conservative estimate of 3-4 pints of blood onto the skating surface. This after the savage, unprovoked and criminally, unpenalized assault on his lower lip by the lowlife who shall remain unnamed.

#2 Mathew Sigel without him team Black would have been shut out.

#3. Tie Alex and Igor Sykora both goalies again stood on their head/mask helmets by saving their sieve like D-men time and again.

Have a good weekend and see you all next Monday same time same place. SIGN IN EARLY check mark, ? or X!!!

PATTAYA SHINNY ROUNDUP MONDAY MAY 20th, 2019

11 Skaters and a pair of goalies made for a decent turnout last night at The Rink on the 5th floor of Harborside Mall.
We had the return of Clint from an unfortunate injury suffered almost a month ago. The result of a blatant charge, boarding, cross-check, roughing (take your pick) penalty. The offense was committed by one of the cheaper players in the group, that happens to go by the same name as me. Welcome back Clint, happy to have you again, keep your head up!!
With Igor and Alex minding the nets.
We started the game off at a brisk pace. Luc, Clint, Mika, Anton and one of the rink boys decked out in fresh out of the package Pattaya Predators Black/Red vs. Thai National Team member Mathew Sigel, Dennis, myself, Big Steve, Bomb and Adiraek in the PIHA white jerseys.
The game was close with the Black team getting the best of the 3 on 3 action. Stout defense led by Igor in goal and lots of stretch passes, leading to breakaways in the early going, gave them a slight lead. The White team eventually clawed their way back. Matty and Dennis worked well together
and Steve along with the Thai boys pressed the action. As the game wore on, the one extra skater proved to be a huge advantage for the White squad as the double shifting took a toll on the Preds. Not sure of the final score but it was close and competitive and that’s all you can ask for.
Another great night at the rink. To all members please remember to check in on our Line group and give your status for shinny YES, NO or ?. With that info we can determine if we have enough guys to play on the night. See you all Wednesday.

Players of the Game:
#1 Big Steve Kausal
Steve is built like an NFL tight end, he uses his size to distract and intimidate the opponent by running into the boards and falling down in spectacular pratfalls for no apparent reason. This allows his line-mates to skate free as the other team is paralyzed by laughter. Steve is the ultimate team player, sacrificing personal glory for the greater good.

#2 Bomb
In addition to his main job as back-up Zamboni driver, Bomb has been polishing his skating skills and has become a valuable player in our group. Last night was probably his best showing.

#3 Alex
Goalie Alex works long night hours so it’s always a late arrival to the rink for him, he barely gets on the ice before we start the game. So he’s lucky if he gets 4 or 5 warmup shots. Moral of this story is, you better get your scoring on Alex in early because he never fails to get better as the game goes on. Last night was no exception.