Tag: thailand

SHL is Back!

Hello to all SHL players and fans,

I know many of you have been waiting for an update on the future of the SHL, and I appreciate your patience.

The SHL is pleased to announce that the 2022-2023 season will begin in the coming months. While we don’t have an official start date, we are looking at conducting the draft in early to mid-September. Our plan is to then have the opening faceoff in late September or early October.

We are also excited to report that we have secured 4 great sponsors, and will provide thoise in an upcoming communication.

As most of you know, the new rink has opened and the SHL is proud to call it our new home.

https://goo.gl/maps/TwL5sFFhky3RgNaq5

As the start dates are fast approaching, we need to first get an idea as to the number of players interested in joining the coming season.

Below you will see a link to a questionnaire. All players that are interested in playing in the 2022 2023 season are required to fill this out. The deadline date is August 15. Please provide this to anybody else you know who wants to play, we will also have a link on all SHL social media accounts.

https://siamhockeyleague.com/2022-2023-shl-league-registration/

I am very much looking forward to the coming season, and thank all of you for your patience and your support.
Thank you,
John Schachnovsky
President
Siam Hockey League

THEY’RE A LONG WAY FROM WALL DRUG AND ROSEAU COUNTY

Original story written by Jeff Olsen for the Roseau Times-Region (Volume 128 – Number 31) Saturday, August 5, 2017

With close ties to Roseau County, Dom Dumais and Bill Bredesen, two former Twin Cities residents who share a flair for ice hockey, recently got acquainted for the first time in the strangest of places.

In early July, Malung’s Julane Kjaer sent a photo of two white guys in a hockey arena in Bangkok, Thailand, which is twelve-time zones away and where ice cream melts rapidly.

Unbeknownst to Dom and Bill, they share an extended historical connection to Roseau County.

Dom’s late mother was a McMillin, which guarantees that at any one time in Roseau County, they can field a complete baseball team of McMillins.

Make that two teams!

Bill, Soey, Charlie and Soey's mother, Rewadee
Bill, Soey, Charlie and Soey’s mother, Rewadee

Bill’s family ties in Roseau County extend all the way back to the 1890s when his maternal great-grandfather, Olof E. Olsen, arrived here from Sweden in 1892 and was an original member of the Roseau Volunteer Fire Department when it was organized in 1903.

His wife, Anna Connelly Olsen, was the Roseau County Superintendent of Schools from 1909-1915.

On a side note, Bill Bredesen is my sister Katie’s youngest son, who used to visit here many summers ago.

In her text, Julane Kjaer explained that Dom is her cousin’s son.

“Small world,” she added.

Yes, it is.

In early July, Bill, 37, and soon to be a first-time father just a few days later, spoke by cellphone on What’s App from Bangkok.

It was 10 p.m. here and 10 a.m. the next morning in Bangkok.

On another side note, both Bill and Dom found love in Bangkok.

Bill is married to Soey, a talented young woman, and both are employed by international news media agencies.

Immediately, the ice rink came up.

They have a Zamboni, youth hockey teams, and an enthusiastic group of Thai kids who will someday be as nuts about hockey as the kids are in Roseau and Warroad.

“We play every Thursday, a pick-up game, and then I play in the Bangkok Hockey League (BHL), that’s run by Thai guys,” he said.

“The majority of every team is Thai-ten Thai players and five farangs (foreigners),” he said, explaining that farang actually means white foreigner.

“You get all these Thai teenagers out on a date, and they press their faces up against the plexiglass and watch us play, wondering what the hell is going on,” he laughed.

But get this.

They actually have tournaments where Thailand plays against Mongolia and other countries.

“Hockey isn’t big over here, but it’s got a following,” he said.

Bill has done well for himself.

“I’ve worked for the German Press Agency (Deutsche Presse-Agentur) since 2014,” he said, adding that his title is Asia Coordinator.

“I basically look after our network of correspondents and stringers in about 20 countries, spanning from New Zealand and Australia to India, including China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and everywhere else in-between,” he said, adding that he reported on President Obama’s trip to Vietnam in 2016.

From 2008 to 2014, he worked for a lifestyle magazine published by the Bangkok Post in which he covered the arts, culture, and nightlife.

What a wonderful gig!

Dining out, bar hopping and dancing, and then writing about it.

“Soey (pronounced Soy) works for Reuters, and she does big time news on Reuters TV,” he said, “She’s interviewed all the prime ministers, and she’s out there in the streets when there are demonstrations,” he said.

On Tuesday, July 11, Soey gave birth to Charles Arthit Bredesen, their first baby.

“I have 14 days of paternal leave, and Soey will have four months of maternal leave,” he said, laughing about how upset little Charlie can get when he’s hungry. Arthit, his middle name, is Thai for the sun and sunny days.

Tracy and Dom
Tracy and Dom

Dom Dumais, 46, also lives an interesting life and once served as a submariner, lost his mother when he was a teenager, has a quick laugh and a flair for podcasting.

Yes, and he loves hockey.

“My mother was a McMillin,” he said, which means he has many aunts and uncles and scores of cousins up here.

“Everybody called her Layne, but her first name was Doris,” he said, adding that he was 16 when she died.

He has one other tie to this area.

“My father, who now lives in New York, is from Warroad. I was born in Roseau and grew up in the Twin Cities, but I used to spend sum-mers and Christmas up there,” he said, adding that he’s been in Thailand for 11 years.

It’s funny how people make connections. Take Bill and Dom, who recently bumped into each other at the rink.

It took just one question.

“You from Minnesota?” asked Bill, and Dom had replied, “Yes.” and they struck up a conversation.

Who knows who snapped their photo? Probably some Yank or Canadian.

In Bangkok, the expatriates refer to just one hockey league of note -the SHL – the Siam Hockey League.

Dom is the administrator and official podcaster for the SHL.

On their website, siamhock-eyleague.com, there’s a catchy heading Siam Hockey League -Brought To You By The Flying Farangs

“It’s been nine years since I took my wife up to Roseau for the first time,” he said. “Tracy is British and works for the British Council, and we’ve been married for 10 years. We got married in Thailand.”

He laughed when recalling how strangers back in the States gave him weird looks during meals when he ate with a spoon while dining out.

“There are forks in Thailand, but spoons are the preferred utensil,” he said.

He served as a radioman in the U.S. Navy from 1990-94.

“I was on a submarine, but I also did a lot of shore stuff,” he said.

In a metropolitan area of over 14 million people, Dom knows the preferred methods of transportation in Bangkok.

“I use a bicycle some days. Depending on where I’m going, I use the subway or a motorcycle taxi,” he said.

His wife designs English instruction Apps for Thai students, “I teach math and English to first, second and third graders in a Thai school,” he said. “They’re great and a lot of fun to teach.”

Dumais is an unusual name.

“It’s French Canadian and Italian,” he said, and then explained who plays hockey in the Bangkok Hockey League (BHL).

There is a mix of Thais, Japanese, British, American, Canadian, Russian, Finnish and Swedes on all the teams,” he said, adding that he just plays in pick-up games since he registered too late.

“I’ve been away from hockey since 1989,” he said, speaking by cellphone on What’s App in mid-July.

It had to be asked of a happily married man of ten years.

“Do you do the dishes?”

“Of course,” he laughed. “I do the dishes, the laundry, we share it all.”

He’s an easy interview, which comes from a master who does numerous interviews on his Dom Dumais in Bangkok podcast at http://domdumais.com.

He’s twelve-time zones away, but he can be sitting in your living room. He’s a McMillin, so he has a gift of gab and a great love of sports.

One final note: Dom and Bill never have to worry about slipping on icy sidewalks over there.

Land of Smiles 2019

Celebrating 25 years

The Largest International Ice Hockey Tournament in Asia, the “Land of Smiles”
 

SET THE DATE:

October 23rd-26th Youth
 Adult October 29th-November 2nd 

2019 Brings a New Twist to the Land of the Smiles Ice Hockey Classic 
The 1st Annual Youth Tournament

Asia Ice Events & JOG Sports cordially invites you to the 15th Annual

“Land of Smiles” & the 25th  Annual ‘Ice Hockey Classic’  in Thailand. 

We would like to invite teams  from all over the world to participate in the largest international tournament in ASIA; the “LAND OF SMILES” Ice Hockey Classic.   

Contact Jog Sports

Bangkok United Hockey League

Bangkok United U9 Hockey League is all about becoming united and one. Let’s all grow this and have a proper youth league in Thailand that will create equal and fair play. Let’s grow the sport and good things will happen!

Check out the coaching staff for the league three national team players, a great power skating coach and a super skills coach! The FAB 5 are ready to take youth hockey to a new level in Thailand!

Contact Jog Sports

Returning to Hockey

Let me start off by saying that I moved to Bangkok, Thailand almost 14 years ago as I write this. I moved to Thailand to be with the woman that became my wife. For the first year and a half, we lived in Bangkok, then we lived in Chiang Mai, Thailand for 3 years and then we moved back to Bangkok, where we have been ever since.

When I first moved here, we talked about how I used to play hockey growing up, born in Minnesota and raised by a hockey coach father it was an inevitable part of my childhood. My wife told me about how there was hockey in Thailand, with a foreigner traveling hockey team called the Flying Farangs, and two hockey leagues, the Thai World Hockey League (TWHL) and the Bangkok Ice Hockey League (BIHL).

As interesting as that was, at the time, I wasn’t really interested in playing hockey. That didn’t happen until 2016, when I happened into one of the local malls here, Central Plaza Grand Rama 9 to watch a game with my wife. The teams that were playing were Warriors and Thunder. The two best teams in the BIHL. It was a lot of fun, and I ended up doing a podcast about it.

Two players from the Thunder team listened to my podcast and asked me for a meeting, because they wanted me to do a little bit of news and interviews for a league that they were just getting ready to start called the Siam Hockey League (SHL).

I went to the first game of the inaugural season and met the captains and did a few interviews that day. I ended up going to almost every game that season, getting to know quite a few of the hockey players, and I realized something in the process. Hockey is supposed to be fun!

Dom playing Thursday shinny,

It had been 28 yeas years since I played hockey, and now, at 45 years old, I wanted to start playing hockey again. When I went back to the States to visit my family, I started buying some gear, some new, some second hand.

One of the first things I noticed when buying my gear was the weight difference. I bought some new gear, and some second hand gear. One of the first things I noticed, were that most of the hockey gloves I looked at weren’t made of leather. When I got my shin pads, that was another thing. They seemed so much thinner and lighter, and when I wore them to shinny, they felt like they were more protective. Finally, another thing I noticed were the skates. The skates I got were second hand, but they were super rigid, almost like they were new, and they were so much lighter. It was so weird to feel the difference in how things felt now, compared to how I remembered them feeling.

My first game back, I excited and nervous all at the same time, at least until I stepped on the ice. Then I stopped thinking about it.

Dom fighting for the puck.

Here we are now, three years on, and I’ve played in half a dozen tournaments or so for the Flying Farangs, and I’ve played two seasons in the BIHL. My skill level wasn’t great, and it still isn’t, but I feel like I’m having more good games than bad games, and I’m loving playing hockey again.

Former NHL enforcer Crowder turns goal-scorer in unlikeliest of hockey venues

BANGKOK, Thailand – Former New Jersey Devil right wing Troy Crowder has come a long way since his days as one of the NHL’s most feared enforcers. Last week he came 15,000 kilometres to be precise.

Crowder, whose on-ice scraps with top heavyweight Bob Probert of the Detroit Red Wings became the stuff of legend, made the journey to Bangkok, Thailand – along with some 400 hockey players from around the globe – to contest the “Land of Smiles” international ice hockey tournament.

While ice sport and the balmy Thai climate may seem an unlikely combination, hockey has blossomed in this steamy Southeast Asian nation.

“When I first heard about the tournament, I didn’t even think Bangkok had an arena,” said the 39-year-old Crowder, who was recruited by former junior teammate Brent Bywater to play for the North Bay Fighting Muskies. “The ice is really soft and it took some time to get used to, but it’s been a lot of fun playing here.”

Thirty teams from North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia participated in the tournament, organized by local company Jamcomb Sports from Oct. 24-27.

Crowder didn’t disappoint after assuming the goal scorer’s role.

The six-foot-four, 240-pounder showed off his soft hands by scoring two shootout goals to lead his team to the semifinals.

The Fighting Muskies were eventually eliminated by a high-scoring United Arab Emirates team stacked with Belorussians, which eventually went on to win the competition.

Nonetheless, the experience was extraordinary, Crowder said, one he’ll never forget. He’s vowed to start recruiting as soon as he returns to his home in Sudbury, Ont., and return with a stronger team in 2008.

Crowder’s attendance continued a burgeoning NHL tradition in Bangkok after U.S. Olympian Neil Broten brought a team that won the tournament in 2001.

The Bangkok Flying Farangs team – “farang” being the Thai word for foreigner – has hosted the tourney since 1995. Despite many obstacles, the sport has steadily developed and the Thai capital has become Southeast Asia’s hockey hub.

The recreational Thai-World Hockey League entered its fifth season in September, boasting a blend of former Canadian junior and U.S. collegiate players, alongside skaters from Thailand, Finland, Sweden, the Czech Republic, and Germany.

The TWHL’s marquee draw is former Sweden player Reine Rauhala, who once shared a dressing room with NHL stars such as Mats Sundin, Peter Forsberg and Markus Naslund in the early 1990s.

Hockey has also captured the imagination of the locals. Despite a lack of government sponsorship and interest, Thailand deploys its national team to compete in international play – though sometimes the result is a devastating blowout.

Unranked by the International Ice Hockey Federation, Thailand squared off against world No. 11 Kazakhstan last February at the Asian Winter Games, leaving the ice on the losing end of a 52-1 scoreline as the tournament favourite Kazakhs mercilessly out-shot the Thais 97-7.

Thai-American goaltender Jason Cotsmire, originally from Long Island, N.Y., played half that game.

“I was thinking, ‘what did I get myself into?”‘ he said. “We were oversized and overmatched. It was more of a practice than a game.”

But like most Thai players, Cotsmire took the defeat in his stride, and the lessons learned with a smile.

“It was an once-in-a-lifetime experience. How many guys can say they played at that calibre?”

As well as entertaining the bemused locals, the Flying Farangs raise money each year for charitable causes, including some of Bangkok’s most disadvantaged children.

One of the team’s proudest moments came in response to the Indian Ocean tsunami that ravaged the country in 2004, when Bangkok’s hockey players teamed up with the NHL to raise more than US$40,000 for tsunami survivors with a charity game.

https://thehockeynews.com/news/article/former-nhl-enforcer-crowder-turns-goal-scorer-in-unlikeliest-of-hockey-venues

Flying Farangs Make NHL.COM

Through trials and tribulations, Thai hockey persists
Bill Meltzer | NHL.com correspondent

Most people in the west are unaware that organized ice hockey even exists in Thailand. Unfortunately, few in the Far East are aware of it, either. In a country of 62 million people, there are only about 200 natives who play hockey – 80 adult men, 100 boys and 20 women.
But hockey in Thailand actually has three decades worth of history, and a Thai national team represents the country at Asian-based hockey tournaments. The vast majority of the hockey community in Thailand is comprised of expatriates from Canada, the United States, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Czech Republic, Japan and other countries.
As with most non-traditional hockey countries, hockey equipment is tough (and expensive) to come by in Thailand. The tropical Thai climate also seems inhospitable to the sport, but there are several ice rinks available, foggy but functional.

Seek and you shall find hockey

There are currently three rinks in Thailand. It takes some effort to seek out hockey at the facilities, but you’ll find it at two of them. Today, there’s an Olympic-sized ice rink, called the World Ice Skating Center, located on the seventh floor of the Thai World Trade Center Complex in Bangkok. It is the biggest rink in Southeast Asia. But the facility places a low priority on hosting ice hockey. The sport’s development has never been atop the agenda of the Bangkok-based Thai Ice Skating Association. It’s primarily figure skating, not hockey that rinks are built for and stay in existence.

As a result, most hockey games and clinics are centered in the other two facilities. Most tournaments take place at the reopened Imperial Samrong Rink in Bangkok and the Bully Sky Ice rink in the city of Chiangmai. The full-sized Chiangmai rink is on the fifth floor of the Kad Suan Kaew Shopping Complex adjacent to a large hotel. The Bangkok facility is located at the Imperial World Samrong Shopping Complex, about 30 minutes outside the downtown area.

Thai hockey is in the same situation as other countries when it comes to providing equipment for local and foreign players. Most of it is either donated by visiting players or obtained via fundraising efforts by the expatriate community.

A veteran Thai player, Sakchai “Jeab” Chinanuvatana, imports equipment from North America and Europe and supplies the gear to as many other players as possible. The problem is that it’s a costly business to operate within Thailand, and the equipment is simply too expensive for most native Thais to be able to afford. As a result, most youth hockey participants in the country are from well-to-do families. The lower income youth players typically obtain second-hand equipment.

Showing the same “when there’s a will, there’s a way” spirit exhibited in many developing hockey countries, it’s not uncommon for Thai players to tape broken sticks together and play with ill-fitting gloves— or no gloves at all. Whatever it takes to play the game, the Thai players will gladly do.

Two years ago, the International Ice Hockey Federation hosted an Asian hockey development camp in Chiangmai. Along with Thai players, attendees from Taiwan, India, Singapore and Thailand braved oppressive heat outside and sweltering conditions inside the Bully Sky ice rink for the chance to learn from players from countries with IIHF World Championship experience.

Demonstrator Stephan Speck, a New Zealander, got an education of his own when he saw that some of the players did not even own a complete hockey uniform, but went all out in the sessions. “I was surprised to see some of the players wearing jeans. One player was wearing his turban under his helmet,” he told the IIHF Ice Times.

Added fellow instructor Stephan McClutcheon; “I came away with a feeling that every individual at the camp had gotten at least 50 percent better. It was definitely a worthwhile trip, and I hope that all the players at the camp continue to carry on with their hockey.”

Flying Farangs and Thai World Hockey League

Without the assistance and leadership of the expatriate hockey community in Thailand, it’s unlikely that the sport would still exist on an organized level in the country.

In 1994, the Flying Farangs club was first organized by a group of expatriate hockey players who were coaching some of the Thai hockey teams. Farang is the Thai word for foreigner.

A Canadian player, Craig O’Brien, founded the Farangs. A mechanical engineer by day, O’Brien organized a group of foreigners from diverse backgrounds sharing a common love for playing the game. Upon his return home, other Farang members took over the leadership mantle. In more recent years, defenseman Kevin Hall has spearheaded the team’s fund-raising efforts.
The Flying Farangs have become the keystone of Thai hockey to most of the global hockey community. A team jersey hangs in an exhibit on global hockey at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

In 1999, the Bangkok Hockey league was established, consisting of five teams. The next year, the league expanded to 10 teams – nine featuring Thai players and one club of expatriates vying for the championships. When the Samrong Ice Rink closed in 2002, the league was temporarily disbanded. The Flying Farangs, however, continued to press on, sending teams to tournaments in Asia. Teams from Thailand have played in tournaments held in Hong Kong, Manila, Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai, and Ulaanbaatar.

Each October, in conjunction with Jancomb Sports Ltd., the Flying Farangs co-host an international fund-raising hockey tournament dubbed the OK Cup. Now entering its 13th year, the 2007 tournament will take place from Oct. 24-27 at the Samrong Rink. The tourney has the dual purpose of supporting the development of Thai hockey and raising money for needy children at the Human Development Center operated by Father Joseph Maier in Klongtoey.

Participating teams have come from as far away as Canada, Finland, Russia and the Czech Republic, but the regular foreign squads are from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei, Beijing and Tokyo. Thailand is represented by the Flying Farangs and three or four all-Thai teams such as Canstar, the Grizzly Bears and the Rockets. At the end of the tournament, all of the players from every team mix together at a big “thank you” party.

In addition to the hockey event, the Flying Farangs host a charity golf tournament each August at a country club in the tourist haven of Pattaya. Now in its fourth year, the tournament proceeds are donated to the Thai Fund Foundation and to the further development of the Thai hockey program. In addition to the time spent on the links, participants can usually be found enjoying the Pattaya nightlife.

When the Samrong rink in Bangkok reopened, the Farangs quickly moved back into their old haunt. The team scrimmages there on Wednesday nights and its member also participate in the Thai World Ice Hockey League on Sunday evenings at the same venue.

The TWIHL is entering its fourth year of operations with five teams. In the modern circuit, there is even mixture of Thai and farang players on each squad. In addition to the native Thai players, you’ll find Canadians, Americans, Swedes, Finns, Germans, Japanese and Australians.

The skill level of the players varies widely. There are some former semi-professional players, but there are also novices who simply want to play. The circuit’s primary goal is to promote the sport as a fun way for people of all nationalities to bond and engage in friendly competition.

To date, the most skilled native player Thai hockey has produced is forward Vanchalerm “Top” Rattapong, and even he has never played outside of Asia. Rattapong works for a local modeling agency and his combination of flashy stickhandling and stylish appearance led him to be dubbed the Jaromir Jagr of Thailand by the farang players.

The multi-cultural makeup of the teams is intended to help advance the skill level of the Thai participants. Because goaltending is largely an individual position, there are three Thai goalies and three farang goalies in the league who rotate each week to play for different teams. This year, the league has added a support fund for players, intended to help subsidize the costs of equipment and ice time, especially for Thais who want to participate in the game.

The joy of competition

Earlier this year, Thailand participated in the Asian Winter Games in Changchun, China. The hockey tournament field was utterly lopsided. Participants ranged from Kazakhstan (a country that has produced NHL players, has played in the Olympics and at the elite level of IIHF World Championship competitions and, at worst, is a top Division I team) to the Division II caliber host nation to borderline Division III caliber United Arab Emirates down to the comparatively novice Thai and Hong Kong teams.

The Thais were coached by an American, Michael Rolanti. A former college player at RPI, Rolanti operates a chain of English language schools in the Thai capital.

The Thai players were extremely excited to pull on a national team sweater, even though they knew full well they had no chance of winning the hockey tournament and the Kazakhs were a shoo-in to win. Simply taking to the ice against a team like Kazakhstan was an honor.

Team Thailand played hard in every game, and lost by a respectable 4-0 score to the United Arab Emirates. But it was the game against Kazakhstan that drew attention overseas. The Thai team, plucky and courageous as it was, was simply out of its league.
Kazakhstan scored 52 goals in the game, seven of which came off the stick of left winger Oleg Eremeev, a professional player who has competed at the World Junior Championships and Division I World Championships. The Kazakhs out-shot the Thais 97-7, with six of the Thai shots coming in the third period. Nevertheless, the Thai players skated for 60 minutes as though the score were 0-0.

“I think it was a good game for us, because we never gave up,” Rolanti told The Toronto Sun.

While such words may sound trite – and perhaps even comical – those familiar with Thai hockey understood that simply not getting discouraged and continuing to play hard was the Thai team’s primary ambition. Scoring even a single goal would be a victory in its own right.

Seven minutes into the third period, the Thais shot wildly at the net, and the puck caromed right into the slot. Thai forward Arthit Thamwongsin just about lept out of his skates to pounce on the loose puck and ferociously slam the puck into the net past startled Kazakh goaltender Sergey Ogureshnikov.

Ogureshnikov is a top goaltender in the Kazakh league for Kazzinc Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk and has played in the World Championships at both the elite and Division I levels. To the Thais, scoring a goal on Ogureshnikov was almost like scoring on Martin Brodeur, because he represented competition at hockey’s top levels. Several minutes later, the Thais generated a breakaway opportunity, but Ogureshnikov made an easy stop.

Despite the epic rout, the Thais left with a positive feeling. The excitement of the lone goal was what they took away from the game, along with the experience of having played a well-established international opponent. It left the players hungry for more.

Recognition for work on, off ice

Bill Meltzer | NHL.com correspondent


Thai hockey occasionally drifts into the consciousness of the rest of the hockey world. In the early 1990s an on-ice appearance by former NHL player, 1980 Olympic gold medalist and Stanley Cup winner Neal Broten at a fund-raising tournament drew mild attention from overseas. More recently, Thai hockey was featured on an Asian sports television show, and print stories in Asia, Europe and North America.

Most notably, the NHL joined with the Thai hockey community two years ago in the wake of the deadly tsunami of December 2004. A fund-raising game organized by the Flying Farangs and Thai World Ice Hockey League nearly drew 800 onlookers to a rink not designed for spectator-driven hockey (the building was filled to capacity) and raised $50,000 (U.S.) in relief funds.

The NHL donated $2,600 for each goal scored in the game. Billed as “Canada vs. The World,” the match featured an all-Canadian squad took on a team of players from the United States, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Japan and Thailand. The World team won by a 7-6 score. In addition to the NHL donation, about $5,000 was raised through gate receipts at the door.

”We’ve played a lot of hockey here for more than 10 years, but this is the team’s proudest moment,” Flying Farangs defenseman Kevin Hall said to the Associated Press.