Venus came to the Canterbury Red Devils as a late replacement for the injured Ukrainian star Viktor Zakharov and besides being the top goal scorer for the Devils, his leadership and experience were a valuable asset to a youthful team rebuilding through a tough year in the NZIHL.

I spoke with Ross before the final weekend of hockey in Christchurch and he was only too happy to share a few thoughts on his hockey experiences and the short season he has had here in New Zealand.

So Ross, you must be pretty excited about Team Great Britain’s promotion?
Yeah, I was watching it all on TV, the final game against Hungary was amazing. I know pretty much everyone in the team, I played with them previously, grew up with a lot of them. It was very exciting, such a huge accomplishment and great for British hockey. We’ll see how it goes from here!

Of course you were a member of the team in 2016…
Yes, I made the England team two years ago, we played in Croatia and we just fell short of gold gaining the silver medal. The following year they won the gold medal and got promoted to 1A and this year they got promoted again to the elite division playing against the likes of Canada and the USA. I certainly hope I make the British team this year! I just fell short the last couple of years – having a taste of it makes me want to get there again.

What brought you down to the other end of the world?
Well, the season back there finished at the end of April, then I was in the 28-man squad for the British team camp for a week, playing a couple of exhibition games. I got cut after that – 5 people got cut to make the team that goes away.

So then I had about a month and I went to my summer job, and then Dean Tonks contacted James Archer and Ciaran Long who played here two years ago, then James Archer contacted a guy on my team and he knew I had been looking at playing in Australia. So when the opportunity came up to play here I thought ‘why not?’

Dean Tonks seems to have connections everywhere!
Yeah, he knows a lot of people back home where he used to play and the hockey world there is small, so you can imagine, like in NZ, people in hockey kind of know everyone, or know someone who knows someone. Of course hockey in the UK is bigger than in New Zealand, but especially at the higher levels, the professional level, people know who everyone is so it’s easy to link up.

So when did you actually arrive?
Well I think I arrived on a Monday and we had our first game on the following Saturday – I was over the Jet lag by then!

Yeah, it was good. I met the boys on Tuesday, they welcomed me with open arms and I fitted in right away really. I knew Jaxson Lane previously – I played in an International Ice Hockey Federation camp with him when I was like 15. But I didn’t even know he was in the Devils before I came – he messaged me when I signed.

How do the New Zealand rinks compare with rinks back home?
Well, it’s a bit like here. All the rinks are different, some are Olympic size, but none of them are as small as this (Alpine Ice). My home rink in Coventry is quite small, Manchester is quite small, and the rest are Olympic, or near Olympic size.

The Coventry rink holds about 3,000 spectators but other rinks hold more, like the Sheffield rink holds about 9,000 and Nottingham about 2,000 – so there are some big stadiums.

So I guess you had to get used to pretty small crowds here too.
Yeah, that’s been a bit of a change! But you have to get used to pretty small dressing rooms too – they’re very small. I’ve never seen anything like the ones here in Christchurch and you have to go upstairs to change. There is one rink I remember as a kid in England where you had to do the same so I guess people will believe me when I get back home.

What were your impressions of the standard of play here?
Well I didn’t really know what to expect. Obviously you have some idea of what you think it will be like – and it was better than I thought it would be to be honest. I think all the players are quite good – individual skills wise, but I think – in terms of a team game – I think it could be a bit better.

The players have the ability, they’re good players, but it’s just like having hockey sense, a level of understanding – I think that’s the big difference.  Maybe from a young age that team understanding is not taught as much as in the UK or bigger hockey nations.

How would you imagine that could change?
I think coaching, and from a young age. In England I guess I got lucky, I started playing professionally when I was 16 and that’s when I really learnt that side of the game. I had developed individually but it wasn’t until I played for a professional team that I developed that side of the game.

Like, it’s the same really in England, the coaches for younger players are usually parents, they’re not really experienced hockey people, whereas obviously in North America they have that professional coaching from a young age. But over here, and in England as well they don’t have that level of coaching.

From what you say, it’s easy to understand the importance of having Dean Tonks on board here.
Yeah he’s doing a really good job. I’ve got to know him pretty well, and I’ve actually been down for sessions with him a few times, for the high school ones and he does a really good job. I think he brings that level of understanding, that level of coaching – because of his experience – that maybe the younger players have never had before and you’ll start to see in the future the results of that and that’s pretty exciting.

A lot of the players have gone offshore for experience too.
Yeah I think that’s brilliant. It’s the same in the UK, they go and play in Canada or Sweden because it’s a better level of hockey, there is better coaching, so if more players do that it can only be good for them.

It comes down to getting the opportunity, getting the chance to do that, because the  reputation of hockey in NZ, and England too, is not great so it’s more difficult to get into better leagues.

What sort of structure does the Coventry Blaze have?
Obviously we have the Elite team which I play for, there’s a team in the third division and then there are several junior teams like the under-20s. But one of the problems in the UK is the top league is great, but there is such a big gap to the level below it – so it’s hard for players to move up.

There was a league that was in between that was a semi-professional league and it wasn’t too different from the top league and players could move up and down. But that league went bust leaving a big gap.

Is there many import players in Britain?
You have to realise that I’m coming from a league where in my team there are 14 imports and that’s another reason it makes it harder for British players to make the jump to the Elite league.

Last year, in the Blaze, I was one of three British players plus a backup goalie, the rest were North American and it’s the same on every top team – there aren’t many spots for local players. So even viewing from the English league perspective, the imports are important because raising the level makes the local players better, and give the supporters something better to watch.

Opinion is divided in England because a lot of people want that level of hockey, but a lot of people want the number of imports lowered because British players aren’t getting a chance. I think the import rules are pretty good here in the NZIHL and four imports for a game is a good number.

How does that high number of imports affect selection for the British team?
Well, there are 12 teams in the Elite league, so the national team is drawn from the small number of British players in that league. Obviously some teams have more local players, six or seven which gives quite a pool of players to choose from, but I would say the level of imports is too high.

So getting back to your experience with the Devils, what would you say about the team?
As I said it’s just a great group of guys, but it’s never fun when you are losing and obviously we’ve lost a lot this year, but it’s fun to come to the rink regardless.

I played with a lot of different guys. We changed up a lot because the season hasn’t really gone as expected, so we had to try different things and injuries come into consideration as well. I’ve played most with Chris Eaden and Tonks and we’ve had pretty good chemistry.

I think they’ve got the building blocks to take the team forward. Obviously this year, from my point of view, I can see the team is maybe in this rebuilding phase but as a whole the club looks like it’s in a strong position – moving forward I think it’ll be good.

Do you feel there is enough competition for spots in the team?
Well from my experience I think that competition is really healthy for a team, and individually I know from my own experience I would not have become the player I am without strong competition – someone gunning for my spot – that’s what you need to make you work harder, push harder.

Obviously that might be an issue here but there isn’t much you can do about that unless more people are coming through the junior program.

What advice would you give those younger NZ players?
Well if I were to say one thing to the younger players on the team I would say ‘be coachable.’ Whatever the coach decides, go along with it, and work hard and make the most of every opportunity you are given – I think that’s the most important thing.

All NZIHL photos by Josh Fraser.

Justin’s wife, Marine, is French and Justin has worked in the wine industry for many years, so it seems inevitable that he will eventually head back to France to further both his hockey career and his future in the international wine trade.

Fortunately for Canterbury fans, Justin has assured me he is here for a few more seasons yet. I recently interviewed Justin at Red Devils training.

How and where did hockey start for you?
I started playing inline hockey when I was about 6 years old at the old Skate Zone over in Addington, near the Horncastle Arena. It was a great place – there was a skateboard park with a half-pipe and two rinks, one for public skating and one for hockey. When it was at its prime it was packed out for Saturday and Sunday public sessions, but that’s all gone now.

That’s a real shame because I think inline contributed a lot to hockey in Canterbury in the past.
Yeah, that’s where a lot of people started off.  I knew all those guys like Adam (Soffer) and Squeak (Anton Purver) and I used to play inline with Chris (Eaden) before I played ice hockey. After the rink got sold there was no place to skate and we used to train in basketball courts and gymnasiums – places like that. I did that for a few years but at that time I was already playing both ice and inline.

What do you think playing inline contributed to your game?
I think it’s good starting with inline when you are young because it helps you build up your hands, and puck movement, stuff like that. Inline skaters are good at puck handling but not so good at skating on ice – it took me a while to get used to it.

So when did you start ice hockey then?
My first year of ice hockey was in 2004 when I was 12 years old, in the last year of under-13s playing in the Pee Wee league. The first year was pretty positive and after a year I went up to under-16s playing contact hockey. I got into the under-13 rep team in my first years and have played for Canterbury age groups the whole way up.

There were a lot of changes in Canterbury as you were coming through, I guess the Junior contact league had already gone. What pathway was available to you after midgets?
I was in the Canterbury under-19 junior rep team and we played as one of the teams in the senior premier contact league. We would play a game a week against senior teams and we’d be training all year for the one national tournament. After my time, they (under-19s) went to a national under-20s league which is much better. I think it’s better for teams to travel around during the season playing regular games against each of the other provincial teams. My first year in the Devils was when I was 17 in the 2010 season when I was still playing juniors.

Have you played for the Devils every year since then?
No I’ve had some breaks – I played three seasons for the Devils and then had a couple of years off. In the first year I moved to Wellington and I met my wife who is French, so we went to France for a year, just travelling around and then we came back to Canterbury for the next season. I hadn’t played for those two seasons, so I was playing pretty much third or fourth line, just getting my legs back – I was a bit rusty. I wasn’t getting a lot of game time, but it was good training. Then we went back to Europe.

Did you go to play hockey there?
We went back to spend a year over there to be close to my wife’s family for a bit, and while we were there I started contacting a few teams. One of the import players (Gabe Yeung) from the Red Devils’ 2012 championship team had been a player-coach in Belgium and he put me in contact with the president of that team.

I wasn’t expecting much out of it, but after about a week he contacted me in France and asked me to play and coach their second-tier national league team (the Charleroi Red Roosters in the Belgian National League). I had never coached before and I told him that, but the guy they had lined up had pulled out.

So, for that season, I was playing and coaching the team as well as coaching the under-19 team and the hockey school for the kids.

Your player stats certainly look good for that year (21 points in 13 games). What was the level of hockey like?
It’s a little bit underneath the NZIHL because the league is sort of developing players for the top Netherlands/Belgium league. It’s still a good competitive league, travelling around the country all season.

I see you had your best season for the Devils when you came back, gaining almost a point a game. 
Yeah it definitely helped. I think it was just instead of having an off-season, I was training and playing all the way through, so when I came back I was ready to go – I was game ready.

When I was in Belgium, I was coaching or training Monday to Thursday probably three hours a night and then on Friday, Saturday or Sundays it was travelling to games or playing home games. They hooked me up with a salary and an apartment because hockey was my full-time job.

You mentioned earlier you played in France as well, when did that happen?
Yes, I played in Marseilles (Massilia Hockey Club) in the south of France in 2016-2017, they’re in Division 2, so that’s the third-tier league in France, which is a higher level than the NZIHL and it’s a lot more professional. I didn’t get paid, but there was free equipment and everything was paid for you.

How did you get involved with that team?
Well, I knew we were going to be living in Marseilles because Marine was studying there. We arrived late in their season; finishing up the season here and then having our wedding which the whole team attended.

We arrived literally a week before their season started. But I contacted the coach and he asked me to come down for a try-out and after a couple of weeks he offered me a spot on the team, and then we got the international transfer underway and I only missed the first few games.

How did you go in that league?
Well it was a higher level and I came in late and I was fighting for my spot and I found myself on the third or fourth line for most of the season but all the training and the professional environment helped. I didn’t get the same game time as I had in Belgium, but it was more professional.

The head coach (Luc Jr Tardif) was a 10-year veteran of the French National team which plays in the top international division and they normally rank about tenth to twelfth. His father is the president of the French Ice Hockey Association – I’d like to get back there in the future, but I’m not sure when yet. We’re back here for a few years now.

Were you back here for the season last year?
Last season I was contemplating coming back, I wasn’t going to make it for the full season, so in the end I decided to have a bit of time off – I had just finished four seasons in a row so I hadn’t had a summer in two years. So I took the season off and we went to Asia to travel around – we got back in December last year.

Has your position and role in the Red Devils changed much over the years?
My position hasn’t changed much – I’ve always been a forward and I usually play on the left wing, but my role has definitely changed.

When I was younger, before I went overseas I was pretty consistently playing third line – I was getting good game time – I wasn’t on the bench. But now, since I came back, I’m looked at more as a veteran of the team so I can bring more to the game and give some advice, when they ask, to young players on the team.

How about your future?
When we go back to France I’m hoping to get back into a club there and hope to work my way up a little bit. But at the moment I have just started studying a business diploma, that will take a couple of years. I’ve worked in the wine industry for quite a while since I finished high school so I’m hoping to get a job in the international wine trade in France – I‘ve got a few contacts already.

Well it hasn’t been a great year if we look at results, but results are not the only thing to consider with a developing team.  What are the positives you see in the Devils camp this year?
Actually, for me it’s been a bit of a shock this year because previously I was part of a Devils team that was always winning. I was away last year and to come back this year and be in this situation is a new experience for me.

It’s a tough year, but now it’s time to focus on the youth in the team – bringing up some of the younger guys. Obviously imports help but it takes a few years to build up some good young talent and have a strong core to the team.

Is it difficult having new imports every year?
Yes and no. It’s not always easy to get imports to come back, but it’s good to freshen it up and have new faces – guys to look up to. Everyone gives different input so it’s just learning more about the game and they are the best guys to learn from because they come from professional leagues.

At the same time it is good when you get return players, like Robert Banks staying on, becoming residents and counting as local players.

Any thoughts on the future of hockey in Canterbury?
I think the future looks pretty bright. At the moment it’s sort of a difficult period for the Devils, but every team goes through it from time to time.

The pathways for young players are a lot better now – better than when I was in the junior program – because the midget and junior teams are travelling around the country playing very competitive games and they’re getting a lot more training time on the ice and Canterbury’s got very good coaches like Dean Tonks pushing pretty much every level and that’s good.

All photos by Josh Fraser

He says “goalies are a weird breed” and I guess the kind of dedication and conviction he expresses towards his craft might be considered weird by lesser beings. It gave me the impression that he’s the kind of guy who would master catching flies with chop sticks if he thought it would add to his skills – but not with the intention of maiming the flies, rather, in a watchful meditative manner.

Anyway, for this report I thought it would be better to minimize my contribution and let Jonas do the talking.

You are a Kiwi, but your background is very interesting…
Yes, I was born in Canada but I always put Lithuania first because I’m pretty proud of that background – my entire blood line is Lithuanian right up until my dad married.  Actually my mum was born in Poland and my dad is Lithuanian but he was born in Canada. So, I have a Kiwi, Canadian and a Polish passport. I lived in Canada for 10 years then moved to Christchurch where I lived until I went to university in Dunedin.

Did you play hockey in Canada?
No, I don’t come from a player background. My mum has a photo of me when I was probably around three years old in full player gear when we lived in Canada, but I have no recollection of playing ice hockey and it would have been when the hockey is just getting out and having fun. I played a bit of road hockey but just as a kid.

So when did ice hockey start for you?
I only started playing in 2013 I’m still very inexperienced in terms of skating.  I have a very good brother (Matas) who taught me quite a bit and he’s the one who got me into hockey, he’s actually playing for the Botany Swarm at the moment, he still hasn’t scored on me this season so I’m happy!

He got me down to stick and puck in Dunedin and I actually didn’t enjoy it that much cause I couldn’t really skate. There was an off-season where my brother was taking me out on the ice and we’d do an hour or two of skating but he’d have a whole bunch of drills for me to do as well. I’d say my brother was my biggest influence. We lived together in Dunedin, every training every game we’d be debriefing – we’d play NHL games too.

So, where did playing in goal start? Did your brother get you in the net in the garage so he could practice shooting?
Well it didn’t start like that – he wanted me to be a player but I was out there (at the Dunedin rink) one time and there was a stag do and the groom to be wanted to have a go at goal, so some of the Thunder boys put him up in gear and put him in front of the net and started taking shots at him. I don’t know why I just stood there and thought to myself “I want to give that a go!”

It definitely started with me learning about the job by myself. When I started I had a bit of help from one or two of the goalies down there but other than that it was me just researching for hours and hours – going home reading up on the techniques. On all the little points I might be missing I watched NHL games and just tried to imitate that.

I only had one season in the beer league (the social league in Dunedin) I kind of got shoved in by my brother before going into the Thunder. Janos Kaszala was in charge – an amazing coach. I didn’t think of trialling, but I played a drop-in game and the assistant coach said to give it a go.

When did you get goalie coaching?
When I started I didn’t know about Lyndal Heineman. She’s a goalie coach and she settled in Dunedin in around my second year with Thunder – that’s when my coaching really kicked in – she was absolutely great. Before that it was just researching, watching, getting all sorts of conflicting advice, so I had to like, develop my own style.

Would you say you had a particular style of keeping?
I don’t know. I‘ve thought about this myself a few times and I look at other goalies and can usually pinpoint a style, but I’m probably a butterfly with a little bit of hybrid. I’m not full butterfly, in blocking I react a lot more and I have some pretty weird movements – what I mean is it comes from the way I think about the use of both hands and what the situation is. Also, my hips are built in a way (that) they don’t like hockey, I’ll probably have to replace them at 40, where instead of doing a normal reach off to the side I have to check my leg and rotate it – just little weird things like that. I have looked at all techniques. I guess it depends on the personality really.

In what ways do you think a goalie’s view of a game is different?
Well you know I’m still part of the team, but it is kinda the loneliest place on the ice.

I mean when I’m out there I am kind of trusting in myself, having everything locked down. A lot of it is just doing the right thing at the right time – talking to the team, not just the defensemen, it’s pretty much everyone yelling even when the play’s at the other end letting the defensemen know what’s going on behind them, something like that.

Or if I know where the puck is I just yell to let the guys know. When the play is a long way away I try to read what is going to happen. I kind of anticipate the play when it’s in the neutral zone – looking at who is where and what sort of play might happen out of that, but when it comes down to an individual coming at you I try not to anticipate, but just react.

How do you manage the emotions out there?
Some goalies like to get angry, some goalies slump, I just like to keep chugging along. Living in the moment, short memory, that’s what it is – three seconds then back to the game.

If I make a good save I don’t like to cheer about it, it’s just a save, I live it up later when I’m watching the replay. And if it’s a goal that goes in I sort of understand at the time if it’s my fault or out of my control, but at the same time I kind of ignore it – I have a reset button as well, that happens in the stoppage of play. I just take a drink of water, squirt a bit on my face, you’ll see me doing that all the time. It’s my reset.

How much is technique and how much is instinct?
Well… A lot of it comes down to training. That’s sort of your main game and then when the weird stuff happens, crazy bounces, then its instinctive play – like a glove behind the back or a feeling that the puck’s around here I might as well reach for it. That kind of thing is 100% instinct – flopping around like an octopus.

I was gunning for Marc-Andre Fleury in the Stanley Cup Finals. He is a butterfly goalie sort of through and through. I’ve looked at him through the years and his technique is just impeccable, unbelievable, he can just go whichever way he wants – I think that’s what every goalie dreams of being able to do.

Where do you think you are now as a goalie?
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to say I’m at a peak in my goalie skills, it may sound silly but I’ve always got in the back of my mind the goal of playing in the NHL because I may as well aim for something that is way out of my reach rather than hit a point where I say I’m done.

I tend to just want to play and improve until I can’t any more. Just looking at the next step for me – it helps keep me focussed. At this point it’s getting game time under (current Red Devils head coach) Anatoly Khorozov as well – that’s just a new level for me.

Is playing for the Devils different from the Thunder?
Yeah I think it’s quite different, obviously both teams are very skilful.  It’s really hard to say how they differ but I guess every team is unique.

It felt really good playing against the Thunder and taking both pre-season and both opening season games against them! Playing for them for three seasons might have had a subconscious influence because I know the players but of course those wins were a team effort. It did feel good stopping Paris Heyd’s shot in the winning overtime game.

How do you prepare for games?
There is no actual goalie coach on the team, but as well as team on and off ice training there is specific training on top of that for goalies.

I always watch the games afterwards and it takes a long time. I watch everything that’s not a goal or is a goal and I slow it right down and essentially go frame by frame and just see what I am doing in each frame to see if there is anything worth worrying about.

Also, Finley Forbes (Red Devils backup goalie) is bringing down a GoPro camera which he puts behind the net. We both practice in the same net and we are starting to view the footage together and critique each other’s style of play and that works better than trying to critique your own play.

Can you remember a specific moment that stands out for you?
Probably the most memorable moment was playing for Thunder against the Swarm in Dunedin.

It was a tied game that went to a shootout, I got a lot of advice about Swarm players – how they would likely shoot, I actually just blotted that stuff out.

My parents were down to watch and I was incredibly nervous. I just went into my net and stopped the first one which happened to be where I had been told it would be, heard the cheering, I put my head down and blurred everything out – I didn’t want anything coming in – and then I made the second stop and that was all that we needed.

I looked over and my dad was up banging on the glass. He would have been that excited when the Leafs won the Stanley Cup the last time in 1967, but I don’t know if he’s been that excited since.

Does your father play?
My dad used to play, he played really decent level hockey, my brother knows more about that than me. His old Cooper gloves are still in the garage – the ones that go half way up your forearm.

Do you think you will you stay on in Christchurch?
I can’t say how long I’ll be in Canterbury. Unfortunately, you have to go where there is work. I will go back to Dunedin in the summer but I will definitely be looking for work when I come back next year.

Jonas completed a BSc a couple of years ago in Dunedin and while he has a strong interest in conservation, he is open to any career opportunities. With the clear difficulties experienced by the Devils and other teams around the NZIHL in retaining players, finding ways to assist players into jobs would seem to be a positive strategic move.

All photos by Josh Fraser

Jaxson is a loyal Cantabrian but he didn’t start playing hockey in the region.  He told me his earliest hockey was played further south, “My family moved to Queenstown when I was four and came back when I was 10-11, and so I know the Queenstown boys pretty well.”

Back in Canterbury at age 11, he came into the under-13 squad and, like many others who have represented Canterbury and New Zealand, he played for the St. Andrews College team for four years. Then he moved to Boys High School where he needed to get a release from the Canterbury Red Devils to play in a convincing win in the High School league final.

Jaxson is just 24 and this is his tenth season in the Red Devils group. “I was 15 when I joined and in my first year I was in the development squad and Keith (Payne) was the coach, and then Janos (Kaszala) took over, and Anatoly (Khorozov). Over the years I have progressively got more ice time, more responsibility as well, and for most of that time I played at centre,” he recalled.

A highlight for Jaxson has been the opportunity to play offshore.  He is grateful for the opportunity he had to play ice hockey in Hungary. “I had two trips over to Hungary to play hockey in Budapest. Kaszala took me and Bradley Apps and we were there for three months and came back for exams at school. We played in the Hungarian under-18 league.”

Jaxson remembers, “I went back again the following year for the whole winter to a different team and did my New Zealand schooling through correspondence.”

“The under-18 and under-20 teams there were closely linked so we trained with guys who played up and down.” He added, “There was a lot more training on the ice, every day or second day, and game time. It was a great experience. I was going to go back, but I had a big knock and concussion problems stopped me.”

Comparing hockey here with that in Hungary he says, “Skill levels were higher and the physicality of the game is a lot lower, here it’s more North American style – like the rugby.”

Jaxson talked about the big changes for the Devils this year, describing Canterbury as “pretty much a new team.” He noted that he is one of the last local players of his age remaining in the Canterbury Red Devils squad. A quick bit of research reveals that, over the past year or two, seven players in their early-20s have gone offshore or to other parts of New Zealand, and there are now eight players who are under the age of 20, some of whom are still eligible for under-18 selection.

He has also had to contend with injury from last year. “I had hip surgery in October and got back on the ice in February. I was about 50/50 coming into the pre-season, but I have bounced back from that all right.” When pushed, Jaxson concurred that he would probably still be playing in a decade if his body holds up with the physical demands of the game.

The changes in personnel in the Devils have generated new responsibilities and challenges for Jaxson. “This year Anatoly moved me to defence. It’s the first time I have played defence, and it’s a different perspective. I get to see more of the game and I also get more ice time as well, and I get to chance to play with our new import players. I’m enjoying it so far.”

Team ‘big brother’ Chris Eaden, has a lot in common with Jaxson. They are both St. Andrews College old boys, they have both represented Canterbury for at least the past decade, and they share a house together – with that Jaxson lays claim to half-ownership of Eaden’s dog Beauden.

They are also at least as competitive as each other – when asked who might win a speed challenge on the ice, Jaxson says “I think I could give him a run for his money now, he’s getting a bit older!”  However, he concedes, “I don’t think I’d catch him in the gym. Gym is a top priority and I have been training with Chris since he started his gym (Eaden Project) in a garage while he was at university – I’d never win there.”

“We never played hockey in England but we used to watch all the top professional games. We lived about an hour outside of Oxford and it was a further hour on to the Ice Rink. My dad always loved the sport, he has never played, but he got all of us to go to our first game and after that we continued following for years,” said Dallimore. That team the family followed was the Bracknell Bees, which at that time was a top Division 1 team in the British National League (BNL), which is now known as the British Elite League.

So it is no surprise that as soon as they arrived in Christchurch and found they were a stone’s throw from a rink, all three boys got heavily involved in all the development, high school and club hockey they could.

Being the youngest, Liam was able to take greater advantage of what Canterbury had to offer and at 22 he has already played five seasons with the Red Devils, along with representing New Zealand in the under-18 and 20 teams.

Like most up and coming players in New Zealand, Liam has taken his opportunities to gain overseas hockey experience. With a lot of help from Canterbury Ice Hockey Association’s head coach Dean Tonks he was able to go back home for a couple of seasons.

“When I was fifteen, I went back to the UK to play a season for my hometown team the Oxford City Stars, and I played for the under-16 and under-18 teams. A couple of years later I went back and played for the Guilford Flames and that was Division 1.”  Liam remembers, “I was coached by Milos Melicherik at the Flames and he had a big impact on my game.” Melicherik had played in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and German leagues before becoming a star player and coach for the Flames.

A further opportunity to go overseas came in 2016 when he went to Germany.  “We had a American guy here two years ago playing in the Red Devils called Matt Puntureri, he was in contact with the team over there and he was going to play in the senior team and he heard they wanted a player for the junior team and asked someone to go, and I put my hand up,” explains Dallimore.

On being in a European hockey environment Liam says, “Playing in Germany was way different. Not as much a physical style – more space, more skills, and just the awareness of the whole game.” He got to train with the senior team as well, “I was training 4 or 5 times a week with games on the weekend – the senior guys were amazing in terms of what they gave.”

Liam went back to Germany the following year and has some advice for young aspiring players here: “I would definitely recommend trying to go overseas – it’s a different style, a lot more time on the ice, and you get to improve because coaches there always focus on development.” At the same time Liam acknowledges he has had great coaches all along the way at home as well, “I had Janos Kaszala at under-15, Anatoly Khorozov at under-16 and for Red Devils, Jonathan Albright was my first under-16 national coach, Stacy Rout for the under-18 national coach, and of course Dean Tonks – if you want to go overseas to play hockey talk to Dean he will point you in the right direction. He set everything up for me.”

This is Liam’s sixth season with the Red Devils and like all young players he aspires to represent NZ at the highest level and play for the Ice Blacks.

A major concern for Liam is his size. “I’m a skinny guy and I have tried to do everything to put on weight and it doesn’t help that I had glandular fever a few years ago. I also had a season ending injury last year.  If I want to make it I need to be bigger.”  To this end he stated, “I go to Chris Eaden’s gym (The Eaden Project) and that’s how I’m putting on a bit of weight – he’s my personal trainer and I’d recommend him to everyone.”

In closing our chat, Liam mentioned again how important his father has been for his hockey career, “My dad is the main person for my hockey and he’s a good mate too. It’s a sport he loves and he always supports me.”

He also gave a very upbeat assessment of his current team and their prospects, “Everything is an improvement over last year – what we have this year is everyone’s positive, we are rebuilding. We’ve lost a lot of players and we have a lot of very talented young players. So our core group has to make sure everyone’s keeping a level head. We’ve got the right management and coaching to make it all work.”

Main photo: Mike Froger

Rob’s hockey journey is a great example of a player’s pathway toward a professional career in the vastly complex and extremely competitive network of clubs and leagues that constitute North American ice hockey.  It is a story of high achievement, but also about life learning and making the most of the opportunities while seeing the positives in those experiences.

Rob is a native of Erie, Pennsylvania and his father was both a hockey player and coach. From the age of three Rob was out skating on the frozen pond across the street or at the local rink, before playing his first hockey game at age four.

His father would drive Rob down to Pittsburgh three nights a week for hockey – a trip that took two hours each way. Rob made the move to Pittsburgh for high school when he was thirteen and was picked up as a peewee for the Pittsburgh Hornets, a premiere team now closely affiliated with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and after one year he moved to the rival club, the Pittsburgh Predators.

From Pittsburgh he moved up to Boston where he was recruited by the Walpole Express, based twenty-minutes south of Boston, playing in the Eastern Junior Hockey League.  However, he soon moved up to Thorold in Ontario to play in the GOLHL because they played “a wide open style of hockey with a lot of skating and free-flowing hockey.” Unfortunately a serious shoulder injury cut his season short there.

He next played hockey at Mercyhurst University where he had watched the team his father coached when he was growing up.  The team played in the American College Hockey Association’s (ACHA) Division 1 and was seen as a stepping stone to a professional career.  However, a serious concussion after 6 or 7 games meant six months out for recovery.  “It was a real blow because at that point I was sure I was going to play competitive pro hockey,” said Banks.

In 2013 he gave pro hockey one last shot. Rob knew the coach of the Knoxville Ice Bears in the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) and after playing a couple of exhibition games with them he was invited to camp, but unfortunately he sustained a third major injury in 4-5 years.

At this point he decided to further his education at the university in Tennessee where his grandfather lived and where football and basketball were far more popular than hockey – the school played in the ACHA’s third division.  Banks says “It was pretty much bottom of the ladder hockey but a lot of fun”. Games started late on Friday and Saturday nights at 10:30pm, where the arena would be packed with 700 to 800 loud and often inebriated fans.

From early on in his playing career, Rob had also been involved in coaching.  His first experience came in Boston when Rob Boleta, the general manager of his junior team, had a few players help with his weekly hockey clinics.  Following their afternoon training they would travel around the Boston area and down to Rhode Island to coach at different locations for a few hours. When he moved back to Erie from Boston during the summer, he worked at an ice rink where he started a clinic for 6-7 kids and saw them develop over six years with most of the first group now playing tier 1 hockey or better.

Rob didn’t coach a team until his mid 20s when he took on a middle school team of 10-13 year olds and he says that was a bit of a wakeup call. “You start to understand what it was like for coaches when you were growing up. How to get a point across to these kids without being too hard or too nice – they just want to chase the puck around,” Banks explained.

When he went back to Erie after graduating from university in Tennessee, he worked for Brian Ramm at High Gear Hockey which is a premier provider of ice hockey and ice skating skill courses in NorthWest Pennsylvania. Robert says that the coaching side of things has “made me a smarter hockey player because when you’re instructing kids you start to pick up on things that you can use in your game”.

In 2016 Rob and Hana, who was graduating that year, decided it was time for some overseas travel. Remembering a great team hockey trip to Germany in 2011 he decided to send resumes to various companies there – when a job came up in Munich mid-July they were off.  While there he met an old hockey friend who introduced him to his brother’s hockey team in Moosberg where he began skating with the team twice a week.

It was there that he met and played on the same line as current Red Devils stalwarts Anton Purver and Liam Dallimore.  Anton was involved in coaching one of the junior teams and he suggested that Robert come down to NZ and play hockey.  After a brief stint back home in Erie, he and Hana made the move to Christchurch and now that they are settled here he says with enthusiasm, “I’m really excited that I was able to stay and am able to stay for years to come in Canterbury!”

Rob feels the difference between America and New Zealand comes down to opportunity.  He wonders what a player like Anton, who didn’t get into hockey until he was 15 might have achieved give the opportunities that exist in the USA.  He added that he has been impressed with what guys like Dean Tonks are doing here in Christchurch and other centers to develop younger players, and he is enthusiastic about any opportunity to contribute towards the growth of the sport.  Rob says all players should study the game and recommends not just simply watching professional hockey like the NHL, but picking one player and watching and learning from that player.

Rob is one of a growing pool of overseas players who are a priceless asset to New Zealand ice hockey.  He brings varied experience and knowledge from playing in the premier leagues of North America as well as in teaching young players the intricate skills required to play the game at the highest level.  Now settling in Christchurch, he brings an opportunity for the young players of Canterbury to learn from his journey.

Main photo: Josh Fraser

Al has made enduring contributions to Canterbury and New Zealand ice hockey over the past twenty years both as a player and a coach, but he was at pains to emphasise that his story “is more about the people who have supported me from when I was young rather than about me.”

Hockey really got started for Al when his family moved to Canada in 1988. Al was 10 years old and he remembers how influential his grandfather was at that time. A terrific athlete in his own right competing in long distance running, cycling and skiing events, he would build an ice hockey rink in the back yard of his Manitoba home every year where Al and his older brother Harley, and later his younger brother Joe, spent winters taking turns in and out of goal, competing until the sun went down.

His first year of organised hockey came at school in Niverville, just outside of Winnipeg, where he played in the Bantam grade. From there he progressed to Midgets and Junior C hockey and remembers enjoying the times his teams travelled to other parts of Canada and the USA, mentioning the best hockey he played was when he tried out for the Waywayseecappo Wolverines a junior A team in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League where a lot of NHL players start out.

A major turning point in Al’s hockey career (and his life) was meeting and working for his friend Larry Bumstead, whom is the director of North Western Hockey, a development program for young players now owned by the Winnipeg Jets organisation. Larry had played exhibition games with the Jets before setting up the camp.

Today Al is still involved with the Jets, “I pick up summer contracts with them every two years or so when I go back, and have been on the road with them all over the States and Canada. So when I go back I work for the Winnipeg Jets organisation,” said Ashwell.

When Al graduated in 1997, he decided to follow his brother Harley back to Canterbury and the next episode in his career came with a chance meeting in Queenstown. When he and Harley were at the Queenstown skate rink they asked a local about ice hockey in New Zealand – that local was none other than Graham Glass.

Two months later they were both on the Canterbury Junior team heading for Auckland where they would make their mark as hard-hitters on what they called the ‘havoc’ line with Hamish McCormack. Al’s fondest memories are of Harley ‘putting two guys over the boards’ and both Harley and he combining to pacify Auckland’s star player Eugene Nesterov with successive checks. Needless to say, Canterbury won the tournament.

This was the beginning of a long association with Canterbury ice hockey. It has not only been as a player that he has excelled, but also as a coach and mentor. In 2003 and 2004 he was the head coach of the Canterbury junior rep team that won successive gold medals at national tournaments.

Al appointed a young Hayden Argyle as captain of that team and still maintains Hayden is the best New Zealand-born player he has met. His young brother Joe was in that team and Al also remembers many of the other fine young players including Adam Soffer and Gareth Livingstone, along with team manager Alan Curnow (father of Nick and Ollie) who gave him great support and advice.

In 2005 and 2006, the first two seasons of the NZIHL, Al played for the fledging Red Devils and in those same years he was selected for the Ice Blacks. “I have a lot of respect for Dave Lecomte who took a chance on me in representing NZ for those two years,” said Ashwell.

Between 2007 and 2016 Al took a lower profile in the NZ ice hockey world while completing a degree in journalism at Canterbury University, plus a teaching degree. He also played rugby with brother Harley for the Darfield Club in Mid-Canterbury, notching up 120 games, but somewhere during that decade he still found time to coach the St Andrews High School and senior non-checking hockey teams.

Last year Big Al once again became a member of the Canterbury Red Devils and at age 39 standing 6-feet-4 tall, he is still a formidable figure on the ice. This year he has switched to a more defensive role and is more than content to use the depth of his experience and game savvy to contribute to the team, putting everything into each game.

Al believes the current Red Devils management is as good as any team he has been involved with and expresses optimism about the team’s prospects this year.

Before Al had to leave for his team meeting he wanted to reiterate how important certain people have been in his career. He mentioned Canterbury stalwart organiser Allison Reid as ‘one of the best ice hockey people I’ve met’. He also acknowledged long-serving senior referee and former CIHA president Jerome Raateland as a great guy and mentor. There were many others, but by this time team leader Dave Fraser was in the café rounding up his players and the big man had to go.

Main photo: Josh Fraser

We started by reminiscing about Canterbury contact hockey a decade ago, when there were extremely competitive high school and junior club leagues producing a rich vein of talented players, with some of them, like Adam Soffer, Dale Harrop, Ryan Ruddle, Paris Hyde, Nik Stefanissin and Steven Vlok, still playing in the NZIHL today.

Anton laments the collapse of both the junior and senior contact leagues in Canterbury at that time because it denied younger players the same opportunities to reach their full potential.  “It is no coincidence that, with the exception of Chris Eaden, there is a five-year age gap between myself and the younger players in the current Red Devils squad because that is when everything folded,” he said.

Purver has been a Red Devil for twelve years getting his start in the 2008 season after spending a year in the team’s wider training group.  He didn’t truly start playing hockey until he was 15 years old – a few years later than most.  But his passion ensured he was on the ice for every training session and game he could be on the ice for.  When he was 17 he went to Toronto for 6 months and while he didn’t play for a team there, he played at least six pick-up games a week, occasionally managing to sneak into senior games.

As a real student of the game, Purver has always asked questions and gleaned as much knowledge as possible from his own and other coaches as well as senior and import players. “I had to kind of figure out ways to get ahead and for me it was gaining knowledge about the game,” he explained.

From the beginning Purver was down at the rink watching and learning from senior contact games.  He has also studied coaching, which led to a six month stint in Germany, helping a junior team there.

Purver is perhaps a little too modest about his contribution to the team.  He is a real team player and as the Red Devils’ third line centre, he talks more about his role in fore-checking and getting deep into the corners and forcing turnovers.  “I’m not out there with the objective of scoring goals, if I get injured going into the corner it’s just part of my job helping the team,” he stated.  And it is just that kind of help that gave Anton two assists in the recent pre-season games against the Dunedin Thunder.

Purver is very enthusiastic about the team this year, saying “It all starts from the top, with good management and strong vocal communication.” He noted that there is renewed confidence among the players as well, “That’s the difference to last year – the confidence the players have in each other and for the team to be able to score goals even from being behind.”

At thirty, Anton Purver is as competitive as ever, but he does have an eye to the future. He talked of “getting involved in the coaching side of hockey”, improving his golf game (shot 79 at his last outing!), finishing his business course and continuing developing his venture into web design.

Main photo: Chris Morgan

After encountering some stiff defensive play from his dog Beauden, I was
able to talk to Chris at his strength and conditioning gym ‘The Eaden Project’
which he established four years ago. The gym was a natural outcome of his
dedication to, and understanding of, the importance of individual physical
development and fitness, and his story provides plenty of inspiration for young
players looking to reach the top-level in ice hockey.

He started playing hockey when he was eight years old but was overlooked for
regional and national team selection until he was 16. For Chris, this was not a
deterrent, but a compelling reason to perfect his preparedness for the game.
As Chris says “talent alone won’t get you there. Hard work and doing things
over and over until you get them right” is what is required. “Getting to the gym
at an early age and doing the right kind of training saw my game escalate.”

Eaden is returning for the 2018 NZIHL season with greater passion than
ever after an energizing sabbatical over the summer months. With the Stanley
Cup Playoffs on and the season looming he’s itching to get back on the ice. For the coming season Chris says there is a lot to be excited about, “This year’s team is an exciting mix of young players with terrific imports. I’m one of the oldest players on the team now!”

He is just as enthusiastic about the Devils set up this year with a strong
professional management and coaching group that provides clear direction
and goals for the team. Interestingly, Chris likens the team to a family where
there is a natural flow of advice, understanding and expectation as well as a
shared sense of purpose.

By the time our conversation had ended, big Beauden was sitting on the sofa
next to me – clearly I had become an accepted part of the team, and Chris had
almost signed me up for a fitness program at the Eaden Project.

Main photo: Jemma Wells.