MANILA, Philippines — Hockey Philippines announced on Monday that they have appointed Czech coach Vaclav Dravek as the head coach of the national ice hockey team, replacing Juhani Ijäs.
The federation also announced that they had parted ways from goaltending coach Braedan Turco.
“Hockey Philippines expresses its sincere gratitude to our head coach, Juhani Ijäs for three years of dedicated leadership and guidance, as well as [goaltending coach] Braedan Turco. We wish them all the best in their future endeavors,” Hockey Philippines said in a statement.
“We also warmly welcome our new head coach, Václav Drávek from the Czech Republic, who will be leading our teams, as we strive for new heights in Philippine hockey,” they added.
As head coach of the men’s and women’s teams since 2022, Ijäs led the men’s team to a promotion to the IIHF division 3B from division 4 in 2023, with more recent bronze and silver medals at the recent SEA Games in Thailand. He also led the women’s national team to a gold medal at the 2025 IIHF Women’s Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates.