PHILIPPINES failed to replicate its dramatic victory over Thailand two years ago, suffering a 10-1 beatdown on Friday night in the 30th Southeast Asian Games ice hockey competitions at SM MOA Skating Rink.
With its first loss in four games, the Philippines now heads to the knockout semis as the No. 2 seed and will face Singapore on Saturday.
Thailand, on the other hand, completed a clean sweep of the preliminaries and will meet Malaysia in the semis.
In a rematch of the gold medal duel in Kuala Lumpur 2017, the Thais sent a clear message that they want redemption, engaging in a highly-physical affair that saw players from both teams penalized for a combined 62 minutes.
Despite the physicality, Thailand was able to repeatedly get the puck into the net, with Papan Thanakroekkiat scoring the opening goal at the 4:15 mark before Chanokchon Limpinphet followed 45 seconds later in what would be a 3-0 first period.
Carlo Tenedero got the Philippines on the scoreboard at the 27th minute off an assist from Carl Michael Montano, but the opposition responded with four more goals in the next 13 minutes to pad the lead to 7-1.
Showing no mercy, Thailand scored three more conversions, the last of which from Patrick Forstner at the 53:59 mark to put the exclamation point to the domination.
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