Color of Hockey: Colombia women take huge step at IIHF Development Cup

William Douglas has been writing The Color of Hockey blog since 2012. Douglas joined NHL.com in 2019 and writes about people of color in the sport. Today, he profiles the Colombia women's national team, which won the first IIHF Women's Development Cup in Kuwait City.

The Colombia women's national team won the inaugural IIHF Women's Development Cup in Kuwait City, going undefeated in the six-nation round-robin tournament that ran Nov. 6-12.
Its championship comes six months after the Colombia men's team won the Development Cup in Fussen, Germany. Colombia, a country without an ice rink, is now 2-0 in tournaments outside of the Americas.
The Colombia women went 5-0 in the tournament, defeating host Kuwait 7-2, Ireland 7-3, Andorra 16-0, United Arab Emirates 14-1 and Luxembourg 4-0.
"This really helps bolster our presence within (Colombia) that this is a true, legitimate that we're to make it," said Sam Uisprapassorn, a Colombia coach. "People are going to say, 'OK, this is not a for-fun sort of exercise that they're doing.' We're taking this seriously, we're working on developing players and improving the presence of the Colombian Ice Hockey Federation on the global stage.

For the Colombia women to play outside of the continent for the first time and win a championship is a huge accomplishment, said Tina Kampa, a defenseman/forward who was an assistant captain in Kuwait City.
"It was interesting to see where other countries that aren't in Latin America are hockey-wise and how we stack up against countries that do have ice rinks," said Kampa, a former Bemidji State University defenseman who was born in Bogota, raised in Minnesota and is director of hockey operations for Dartmouth College's NCAA Division I women's team.
"It was really telling, and I just tell our players all the time that I'm proud of them, the work that they put in," Kampa said. "It's showing that they're very committed to the game and that, given the opportunity of ice, the sky's the limit."
The Development Cup was established in 2017 for IIHF members unable to compete in the international governing body's world championships because they don't meet some of the organization's regulations, such as having a regulation-size ice rink in-country.
Colombia has been an IIHF associate member since 2019.
The Colombian Ice Hockey Federation has sought to attract government or private investment in a rink in-country by performing well against other Latin American and Caribbean countries and territories in similar circumstances in the Amerigol LATAM Cup ice hockey tournaments.
The Florida Panthers have hosted the LATAM Cup at their practice facility in Coral Springs, Florida, since 2018. The Dallas Stars hosted the first Amerigol Spring Classic in March in Famers Branch, Texas. They'll host the tournament in March 2023 in Dallas, adding a women's division.
Like Colombia, participating countries like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Puerto Rico and Venezuela don't have rinks. To compensate, players keep their skills sharp by playing inline hockey.

When they compete in ice tournaments, they arrive days early to practice and adjust from skating on wheels to steel blades.
Colombia finished third at the Florida Panthers IceDen in September behind Chile and a team representing Mexico that won the women's division. But the LATAM Cup was pivotal in preparing Colombia prepare for the Development Cup.
"If you saw the women from LATAM when they stepped on the ice in Kuwait, they looked like completely different players," said Uisprapassorn, who also coaches Chapman University's American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II men's team in Orange, California. "We have to give a lot of props to the LATAM Cup. Had that not been in place, I don't know that we get the result that we just got."
Juan Carlos Otero, president of the Amerigol International Hockey Association, said he's pleased the tournament he founded has become a springboard for countries like Colombia on the global stage.
"They've really taken advantage of having participated in the tournament and looked for other opportunities," Otero said. "The Development Cup, the men's and the women's, has been a great success for them."
Which begs the question: What's next for Colombia hockey?
"We need to fast track building a rink in Colombia," Uisprapassorn said. "It's very evident that the federation is going to really have to focus on that initiative if we want to get into a world championship tournament and make that Priority No. 1 for the next few years."
Photos: Colombian Ice Hockey Federation, Faisal Alloughani