Color of Hockey: Colombia looks to build on IIHF Development Cup title

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

Daniel Fierro said he didn't know what to expect when Colombia's men's national hockey team played in the IIHF Development Cup in Fussen, Germany, in May, its first games outside the Americas.

Weeks later, the Colombian Ice Hockey Federation president is still beaming after Colombia won the six-nation tournament and made history as the Development Cup's first South American participant.

"We learned that Colombia hockey, we're on the right path, we're getting results," Fierro said. "We got to know how the level of European teams on the development side of things is. It was a pretty nice experience for us to learn what we can expect from other parts of the world."

Colombia went 4-0-1 in the tournament, which ran May 4-7, defeating Portugal 16-3, Andorra 8-3, Liechtenstein 3-1, Algeria 11-1 and tying Ireland 3-3.

The Development Cup was established in 2017 for IIHF members unable to compete in the worldwide 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 became an IIHF associate member in September 2019.

The Colombian Ice Hockey Federation has sought to attract government or private investment in a rink by showing what could be by competing against other Latin American and Caribbean countries and territories in similar situations in the Amerigol LATAM Cup ice hockey tournament.

The Colombian men's team won the tournament at the Florida Panthers practice facility in Coral Springs, Florida, in 2018 and 2021, and finished third in the first Amerigol LATAM Spring Classic, hosted by the Dallas Stars in Farmers Branch, Texas, in March.

Sam Uisprapassorn, a coach for Colombia, said the Development Cup victory is a huge step in the drive to grow ice hockey in the country of nearly 50 million.

"It was nice to get us out of the Latin American circuit, not that there's anything wrong with it, but I think it was time to face a new challenge," Uisprapassorn said. "It was also time to get on the IIHF schedule, radar, and we won. You have some serious hockey talent in all those countries, especially Ireland and Lichtenstein."

It was also helpful that Juan Pablo Mondragon Pardo, a delegate from Colombia's Ministry of Sport, traveled to Germany to see the national team in action for the first time.

"He (Pardo) saw it up close and personal and he just looked at me and said, 'This is my new personal project,' said Uisprapassorn, who coaches Chapman University's American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II men's team in Orange, California, and is a member of the NHL Coaches Association's BIPOC Coaches Program.

"He goes, 'I believe in what you guys are doing, I love the sport and I'm here to help you guys out,'" Uisprapassorn said. "I think we're addressing all these different audiences, and it helps us get that much further down the road, whether it's recruiting new players, setting standards for kids coming up and getting exposure around the sport at the government level, which gets us closer to that rink."

It hasn't been easy sustaining a national ice hockey program without a rink, Uisprapassorn said. Most of the players in Colombia are inline hockey players who usually arrive at ice hockey tournaments a few days early to practice and adjust to skating on blades instead of wheels.

And the coaches, who live in the United States, have limited exposure to the players in Colombia, seeing them mostly at tournaments or occasional visits to the country.

Fierro said winning the Development Cup shows that overcoming the obstacles that come with growing the game in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and other regions not usually associated with ice hockey is worth it. He said he's excited for Colombia's next opportunity.

"On the international stage, we have the LATAM Cup coming (Sept. 15-18 in Coral Springs) and we're in talks with [the] IIHF and other countries on when the next Development Cup will take place," he said. "We would like to have a women's division also, to play in this type of tournament. We have a real good women's team. ... and want them to have this opportunity of playing in the Development Cup."