Publisher Colin Hastings of Bangkok’s Big Chilli magazine recently sat down with Scott Murray to discuss the history of ice hockey in Thailand: https://vimeo.com/549208900?fbclid=IwAR0TfccUidLiBF4hGtdIx3HcuCvy6he3ZxiALp40Kt0mgNHNXqlhhUP3wLU

https://www.acrossthepondhk.com/atphk/atp-hockey-talks-vol-27-scott-murray

From January 31, 2020 to February 02, 2020, the Flying Farangs took part in the Northern Breakaway tournament in Chiang Mai.  In the first game, on January 31st, the Flying Farangs played the team from Chiang Mai. The Flying Farangs did win this game, but near the end of the game, forward David Boere got his hand caught in the netting and ended up breaking his hand.  He did finish the game, and tried to play in the second game that day, but only skated two shifts of the second game.

In the second game, the Flying Farangs played against Southern Wolf.  They did win this game as well, but not only did they lose Boere early in the game, but John Schachnovsky also strained his groin in the game.  At the end of the first day of games, the Flying Farangs had won their two games.

On the second day of games, in the first game, they played Hong Kong Transformers.  Although they were missing Boere with a broken hand and Schachnovsky was playing with a strained groin, they won this game as well.  During the game, Domnick Dumais strained his knee in the game.

In the second game of the day, the Flying Farangs played against the Chiang Mai Jokers.  As the Flying Farangs had already sealed their spot in finals, and they were playing with injured skaters, they didn’t put out their best effort and this game ended up being their first loss in the tournament.  Injuries were still plaguing the Flying Fanrangs and Tom Price strained his groin as well.

Going into the final game on Sunday, February 2nd, it was Flying Farangs against the Chiang Mai Jokers.  Starting this tournament, Flying Farangs had eight skaters and one goalie. Going into this game, the Flying Farangs were down to seven skaters and three of those skaters were playing with strains.  The Flying Farangs hung with the Chiang Mai Jokers for most of the game, but with the injuries to the Flying Farangs, the lost to the Jokers in the closing minutes of the game, 6-4.

On December 1, 2019 we lost a loved member of the hockey family here in Thailand, and that was Jason “Cots” Cotsmire. He died playing the game he loved with the people he loved playing with.

On December 18, 2019, the Flying Farangs and the Sport Corner Siam Hockey League held a memorial game in remembrance of Cots to help raise money for the education of Cots’ daughter Jayla. You can find the pictures in the links below:

If you would like to contribute to the Jayla Education fund, you can transfer to the account below:

Tasma Cotsmire for Jayla Cotsmire
SCB #204-209011-0
Swift Code: SICOTHBK

Date : 09 – 13 September, 2019
Location : The Rink Ice Arena rama9
Division : BOYS'(U15) AND GIRLS'(U16)

การแข่งขัน รายการ “South East Asia Youth Cup 2019” | ⓈⒺⒶⓎⒸ ระดับเยาวชนทีมชาติไทย ทีมชาย U15 และทีมหญิง U16 โซนเอเซียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้ โดยประเทศไทยเป็นเจ้าภาพ มีประเทศร่วมการแข่งขันได้แก่ ไทย, สิงคโปร์, มาเลเซีย, อินโดนีเซีย และ ฟิลิปปินส์

» วันที่ 9-13 กันยายน 2562

📡ถ่ายทอดสด 🔴(Live) ทางเพจ Ice Hockey Family 🏒✨🏆🏅🥇🥈🥉🥅

สนาม The Rink Ice Arena พระราม 9 ชั้น 7

The Bangkok Flying Farangs were trying to win their third City of Angels crown in five years; all that was stopping them was a 62-year-old goalie – and he did. The keeper for the all-Finnish team, Ukkometsot, Mika Rantanen, which had flown in from Helsinki, stoned the Farangs in the final match as the visiting Finns won the first tournament to be played at the new arena, The Rink, located on the 7^th floor of the Central Grand Rama IX shopping mall.

The favourite going into the 35-and-over tourney was the Hong Kong Tigers who had a slew of relatively young forwards (aged 35-39), who skated rings around the opposition in the early matches, making mincemeat of their opposition. But like the Farangs, the Tigers fell victim to the wily Finnish keeper in the semi-final exiting the tourney without the Cup they so eagerly coveted. The Farangs beat the Kuala Lumpur Cobras in their semi-final game to set up the final match against Ukkometsot.

Flying Farang goalie Jason Cotsmire had a brilliant tourney except for a brief 5-minute span at the start of the final game when Ukkometsot scored three quick goals on him. It was erringly similar to the 5-minute breakdown the New Jersey Devils suffered in period one of game 6 of the Stanley Cup final when Steve Bernier took a five minute major boarding penalty and the LA Kings scored three power-play goals. The Farangs did call a time out after the Finns’ three quick goals, but like the Devils were never able to gain the momentum, losing the final by the same score the Devils did, 6-1.     

The 15-team tourney was divided into three four-team divisions and one three-team division, with each team playing the other teams in its division before being re-seeded according to their records. Bangkok entered two other teams in the tourney and the second-seeded Bangkok team reached the semi-final of the consolation championship, while the third Bangkok team, composed – ironically – mostly of Finns, saw an early exit from the tourney as they were unable to muster much scoring power.   

The highest-profile player in the tourney was Jay North, who had flown in from Texas to play for the Singapore Hawkers (Singapore like Bangkok, entered three teams in the tourney). North, a Minnesota high-school stand-out, was selected 63rd overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the 1980 entry draft, ahead of future NHL stars like Jari Kurri, Bernie Nicholls, Steve Larmer, Steve Kasper, Hakan Loob & Andy Moog.  His NHL career never did pan out, but people still talk about the way he dazzled the crowd in his high school days. 

All the matches on the final day were televised live on Thai TV and the rink was a beehive of journalistic activity with cameramen, photographers and writers everywhere. Tournament organizer Scott Whitcomb and his team at Jogsports did an outstanding job of running the event. And the Rink, which was still trying to air out its kinks was able to withstand the heavy schedule of morning to late-night matches despite Bangkok’s heavy humidity.

www.jogsports.com

Johnny Oduya of the Chicago Black Hawks, currently locked out over a revenue sharing dispute between the National Hockey League owners and players, took advantage of his spare time to lead Bangkokís Flying Farangs to do something theyíve never done before, win their own tournament.

The four-division, 36-team, 18th annual Land of Smiles tourney was labelled an instant classic with the Farangs defeating the Abu Dhabi Storm 2-1 in a very close final game to win the international open division. Bangkok captain Geoff McIntyre provided most of the final-game dramatics, assisting on Rob Taylorís tying goal, after Abu Dhabi jumped out to an early 1-0 lead, and then scoring the winning goal himself. McIntyre didnít make it easy for his team though taking a minor penalty with just over two minutes to go; the pro-Bangkok crowd was on pins and needles as the clocked ticked down to the Flying Farangsí first home championship. Netminder Dean Tzembelikos, who flew in from Hong Kong for the tourney, provided crucial saves for the Farangs at key times to earn the win. And veteran Robert Voisine, also played an important tormenting opposing netminders so Farang forwards could better put in the blasts coming from their stellar defensemen on the points.

Thai National star Tewin ìThorî Chartsuwan skated on the Farangs top line with Swiss speedster Jurg Dolder and Swedish ace Henrik Olofsson. Likit Neimwan-Andersson, the only Thai to ever play professional ice hockey, teamed up with Oduya on defense. Likit had played with Oduyaís brother Freddy (now deceased) years earlier in Sweden, and was one of the few players on the team who could handle Oduyaís rocket-hard passes.

The ìPitstopî team from Latvia defeated the Singapore Manimals to win the International Menís Tier Two division (the Flying Farangsí second squad came within a goal of reaching their final as well, losing in a semi-final shoot-out to the Latvian team).
The Hong Kong Hitmen trumped the Abu Dhabi Theebs to win the Asian Division and the Abu Dhabit Storm beat the Bangkok C Galís to take home the womenís division honours.

Also competing in the tournament for the Finnish team Jellonas was Vesa Toskala, the former number one goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now retired, Toskala also played for San Jose, Anaheim and Calgary in his NHL career. Toskala holds the San Jose record for most points by a goalie in a game (2), he was also traded to Anaheim with Jason Blake for former Conn Smythe trophy winner (MVP in the playoffs), Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

Oduya was traded to the Atlanta Thrashers (who became the Winnipeg Jets) from the New Jersey Devils on 4 February 2010 along with Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier and a 1st round draft pick for Anssi Salmela and Ilya Kovalchuk. On 10 March 2010; Kovalchuk went on to sign the most expensive contract in NHL history – US$102 million spread over 17 years. Oduya was later dealt to Chicago on February 27 of this year for a 2nd and 3rd round pick in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. He is scheduled to make US$4 million this year (if the NHL resumes play), and he plays on defense with former James Norris trophy winner (best defenseman in the NHL) Duncan Keith and his co-Olympic gold-medal winning teammate Brent Seabrooke.

The Land of Smiles tourney took place over five days at ìThe Rinkî, Grand Central Rama IX Mall and the Imperial Samrong Ice Arena. The Zamboni at Samrong broke down early in the tournament and panic set in quickly, because when the machine broke it left a large and deep rut in the ice, so dangerous that the Canadian Hackers team threaten to leave for safety concerns. Quick thinking by Flying Farang Mike Swager saved the day, as after packing the whole with some loose ice, he grabbed a fire extinguisher and hosed the rut shut earning the nickname ìThe Extinguisherî (photos by Naz Brown).