India, Pakistan teams make history with impromptu LATAM Cup scrimmage

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. -- A men’s hockey team representing India scrambled into planes, trains and automobiles mode to get to the Amerigol LATAM Cup on Monday for a game that didn’t happen.

The players largely of Indian heritage who live in Canada drove from the Vancouver area to Seattle to fly to Miami after their Air Canada flights were canceled Sunday due to a potential strike to make their LATAM Cup exhibition game against Mexico, only to learn that Mexican players had travel issues of their own.

The game was postponed.

However, India found a scrimmage partner to play in Pakistan, whose Division III men’s team had just wrapped up an 8-2 win against Peru on an adjacent rink. The teams engaged in a friendly light-checking game.

“A team from Pakistan and a team from India have never played against one another on the ice, and to have it done in Florida at the LATAM Cup makes it that much more special,” said Lali Toor, an India team organizer and co-founder of Apna Hockey, an initiative that provides a network and support for South Asian hockey players in Canada. “It was really cool to see just the relationship, the respect for one another, and the love of the game coming out of both countries.”

India did get to play an exhibition game Monday night, losing 7-4 to a team of Florida select players that features homegrown professional talent like forward Randy Hernandez, a Miami native who played last season for Atlanta of the ECHL. India is scheduled to face Mexico and Armenia on Tuesday.

The 2025 Amerigol LATAM Cup features 62 women’s, men’s and youth teams (with four more exhibition teams) and more than 1,450 players representing 17 countries and territories, including Argentina, Armenia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Greece, Israel, Lebanon, Mexico and Puerto Rico. The tournament, which is being held at the IceDen and Palm Beach Skate Zone in Wellington, Florida, began Sunday and ends Aug. 24.

Toor and India’s players said they were willing to take the extraordinary travel measures to get to Florida to highlight Indian hockey talent in North America and to help advance the sport in India.

India has been a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation since April 1989, and the country has men’s and women’s teams. But the nation of more than 1.4 billion people has only four indoor rinks and 2,554 men’s, women’s and junior players, according to IIHF figures.

“We want to build a relationship with the Ice Hockey Association of India, we want to give back,” Toor said. “We want to grow the game domestically because then maybe, you know, maybe in 20-30 years there's going to be domestic hockey players from India playing at the highest levels, not from North America.”

India’s LATAM Cup roster features former Canadian major junior, NCAA Division I and Canadian college players like captain Tyler Sandhu, his younger brother Jordan Sandhu, Akash Bains, Gary Dhaliwal and Raymond Grewal.

“For all of us, we get to do something for our community,” said Tyler Sandhu, who played for Everett, Tri-City and Red Deer of the Western Hockey League and the University of British Columbia from 2012-13 to 2021-22.

“Hopefully for us, this just keeps growing the game for everybody,” he said. “Seeing different countries, different countries playing, that’s one way to grow the game. Hopefully, kids in seeing other Indian kids not from India playing hockey, watching us here or see this online it gives them a chance to understand that they can be here too.”

Toor said the LATAM Cup team practiced Saturday in Vancouver with Robin Bawa, who became the first NHL player of Indian descent when he debuted with the Washington Capitals against the Philadelphia Flyers on Oct. 6, 1989, in attendance.

“You should have seen the smile on his face,” Toor said “He's the reason why we're here is because he opened that door a long time ago.”

Toor said that door opened wider in June when Abbotsford, the Vancouver Canucks’ American Hockey League affiliate, won the league’s Calder Cup championship under Manny Malhotra and assistant Harry Mahesh, coaches of South Asian descent. The AHL Canucks roster included forwards Arshdeep Bains, the team’s leading scorer (43 points; 11 goals, 32 assists in 50 games) and Jujhar Khaira, who was the third player of Indian descent in the NHL when he debuted with the Edmonton Oilers at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Nov. 28, 2015.

“Abbotsford winning is probably up there in big moments for our community,” Toor said.