MANILA, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Thailand men's national ice hockey team beat Singapore 8-0 at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games ice hockey tournament final here on Sunday, dedicating the gold to veteran Jason Cotsmire who passed away this month.
A total of five national teams featured in the ice hockey event and Thailand topped in the preliminary round with four straight wins.
During the final clash that kicked off on Sunday evening, Thailand scored the opener by head man Papan Thanakroekkiat from firing a long-range shot in the 5th minute and then jumped to 3-0 lead before the end of the first period.
The War Elephants rallied to enlarge the advantage to 5-0 while Team Singapore missed lots of chances on a powerplay in the last few minutes in the second period.
The Thais scored three more in the third period, making the landslide victory to 8-0 to attain the gold medal.
At the medaling ceremony, the athletes of Thailand dedicated the championship to compatriot Jason Cotsmire, who passed away last Sunday from a heart attack during practice.
"We want to dedicate the gold medal to Jason (Cotsmire) and we hope he could see (our achievements)," said Ijas Andrei, the head coach of Thailand national team.
"He is a big inspiration for us," he added.
Cotsmire, born in 1969, made his mark on the ice hockey world when he debuted as starting goalie for Thailand in the 6th Asian Winter Games in China.
Moreover, during his athletic life, he always supported the ice hockey family of Thailand by offering many training courses for kids and youth goaltenders.
A minute's silence in commemoration of Cotsmire was also held during the SEA Games ice hockey events, according to the organizers.
Thailand, currently placed at the 51st in 2019 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) world rankings, participated in the 2022 Winter Olympics ice hockey pre-qualification round held in November but failed to make it.
On the day's bronze medal play-off, the Philippines beat Malaysia 17:1 to secure the third place in the tournament. The hosts' four goals in five minutes in the first period sealed the one-sided game.
Like in the previous edition, only a men's competition was held in SEA Games.
Earlier this year, three nations expressed interest to participate in a women's tournament. However, that was not enough for women's ice hockey to be a medal event due to a team short.
There are three winter Olympic Games events, namely figure skating, speed skating, and ice hockey, in this year's SEA Games. The Southeast Asian winter sports powerhouse Singapore seized four gold medals with one silver and one bronze, becoming the big winner in the category.
The host the Philippines, bagged two silvers and two bronzes in the three tournaments.
