Craig will be the one to lead New Zealand on the ice when they travel to Spain for the 2018 IIHF Division 2B World Championship this April.

With the Ice Blacks coaching staff aiming to win and gain promotion to the next tier in international ice hockey within the next two years, the captain is a key part of making that happen. Head coach Anatoly Khorozov believes that Craig has the necessary maturity required to wear the ‘C’ and has shown an ability to lead by example both on and off the ice.

At last year’s IIHF tournament held in Auckland, Craig wore the ‘A’ as one of the alternate captains for the Ice Blacks. In that tournament New Zealand finished second with a 4-1 record on their home ice, just one game behind winners China. With previous captain Bert Haines retiring, he’s a natural fit to take over the role and continue the promising effort the team has shown in recent outings.

At the 2017 Winter Games in Queenstown, New Zealand played a three-game test series against Trans-Tasman rivals Australia. NZ took out the first game 4-1 which some labelled as a ‘shock’ being only their second victory in their previous 16 encounters. They lost the second, and then narrowly missed out on taking the decider thanks to everyone’s favourite way of deciding a contest, the shootout.

While a 2-1 test series loss isn’t the outcome many Kiwi sports fans would want when facing an Australian team, it does show that the gap between the two nations is closing and perhaps the Ice Blacks could be competitive in the IIHF’s Division 2 – Group A.

Nick Craig is no stranger to leading a team however, he’s also part of the West Auckland Admirals leadership group during the NZIHL season.

When captain Justin Daigle went down with an unfortunate eye injury last season that required surgery, the team appointed Craig to take over the captaincy for the remaining games of the 2017 season. He took on that responsibility by guiding the Admirals through to the NZIHL Finals, where the team ultimately lost to three-time defending champions, the Skycity Stampede. The second place finish was the team’s best result since 2010.

The saying goes ‘never trust a man with two first names’ but in this instance, Nick Craig has proven that he’s up to the task of handling the Ice Blacks captaincy. We reached out to Craig with a few questions to find out a bit more about the new captain.

What does it mean to you to wear the ‘C’ for New Zealand?

It means a tremendous amount to me. (There’s) a huge amount of honour and pride to be captain of this team. I remember how it felt putting the black jersey on for the Ice Blacks the first time and it’s that feeling again – just with that additional spark of motivation keeping my grin ear-to-ear.

When you look at other captains in the hockey world, who inspires you to be a better leader?

I can’t go past my predecessor with this question – Bert Haines is an absolute legend in the hockey community and has done so much for New Zealand hockey and the Ice Blacks. When I was made aware of my captaincy, you can bet who I called first for some advice. The way Bert portrays himself and how hard he worked on and off the ice is a testament to his leadership abilities. It won’t be the only time I seek advise from him throughout this 2018 journey.

Throughout your years of playing hockey, who do you think has helped shape you into the player you are today and influenced your ability to be a leader?

Csaba Kersco-Magos Snr must have an honourable mention for pulling myself and Nick Henderson out of the SNC league in our first year and into the Admirals family to begin our journeys. There were many nights of basic skating lessons over the summer before we were ready to graduate though – not to mention a number of other Ice Blacks Csaba has developed also.

A special mention goes out to the Ravens in-line hockey club in New Plymouth. Coaches and members who helped me in my younger days when I had no ice to jump on in my hometown.

In terms of leadership, the Admirals and Ice Blacks teams as a whole – all the coaches, managers, players, fans etc. have contributed and helped me get to where I am today. And, similarly to a previous question above, after a 2017 Ice Blacks season being Bert Haines’ assistant captain and room-mate, I learnt an incredible amount from him.

How do you rate New Zealand’s chances at the World Championship in April?

There can be no room for second guessing or allow any doubt to creep in when competing on the world stage. I believe we have a great team heading into this year’s World Champs and strongly believe we will take gold.

There is a lot of work to get done in the lead up to Latvia and even more work to be done whilst in Latvia at training camp. Hell, I wouldn’t be much of a captain writing to you now if I thought our chances were “slim”. Now the team has been announced, we are all in full swing on the road to gold this year in Spain.

As the new Ice Blacks captain going into the training camp in Latvia, what is one thing you want to establish that will help the team be better?

I don’t want to change anything heading into camp. We have a leadership group established within the team. The coaching staff have a vision and our role is to support them.

Most of the guys know how I operate, if anything I would only want to establish the team’s goals and expectations as set out by the coaches and ensure everyone is on board to go to work. I am fairly straight up and open to anyone’s opinions or ideas so things could change. I don’t believe leadership means you have to make all the decisions – it’s a team after all.

(Main photo: Mike Froger)

The 2018 New Zealand national men’s ice hockey team is as follows.

Goalies: Daniel Lee, Csaba Kercso-Magos.

Defence: Nick Craig, Oliver Hay, Stefan Amston, Kahu Joyce, Gareth McLeish, Tristan Darling, Andrew Hay, Cameron Trew (non-traveling reserve).

Forwards: Matthew Schneider, Jake Ratcliffe, Alex Polozov, Andrew Cox, Paris Heyd, Nick Henderson, Dale Harrop, Callum Burns, Frazer Ellis, Jordan Challis, Taylor Rooney, Shaun Harrison, Connor Harrison, Jeremy Chai (non-traveling reserve).

This roster comes from the 36-player strong training squad that was announced back in October. A few notable omissions include Stampede goaltender Aston Brookes, Red Devils defenceman Mason Kennedy, and the Swarm’s Michael Attwell. Brookes and Kennedy were unavailable due to other commitments, while Attwell remains sidelined with an injury that will require surgery.

The tournament will be the first for Khorozov as head coach, prior to this year he served as assistant coach under Maru Rout.

He shared his thoughts on the selection process by saying, “It’s always tough to make the cuts and yes, sometimes those decisions make some people unhappy. Sometimes, circumstances do that for me and injuries or other commitments take some players off the list. But that’s my job to assemble the best team possible and so I have to make those calls.”

Prior to arriving in Spain, the team will travel together to Latvia for a brief training camp, as did their under-20 counterparts back in January.

The Ice Blacks first game of the tournament is against rivals Mexico on April 15 at midnight NZDT, followed by Israel the next day also at midnight. The team will have a rest day before playing Luxembourg on April 18 at 2:30am, then DPR Korea at the same time on April 20. Finally, New Zealand will wrap up round robin play against hosts Spain with arguably the more friendly start time of 6am – perfect for fans back home that want to start their Saturday (April 21) with some international ice hockey.

When Puck Yeah interviewed Khorozov back in October, he stated the team’s ultimate goal was to move up a division in the IIHF rankings within two seasons. That would see New Zealand face much tougher opposition, a true test of where the nation currently stands in the hockey world. Right now, the next division up (IIHF Division 2 – Group A) features Belgium, China, Iceland, the Netherlands, Serbia, plus Trans-Tasman neighbours Australia.

But before that can become a reality, this group of players have to conquer their current division first.

In regards to what lies ahead for the Ice Blacks, Khorozov stated, “We have played all these teams numerous times in the past, so we’re familiar with all of them. Luxembourg was quite awhile ago…but all other teams are our regular opponents. I believe that we should aim for the gold medal as we should be competitive with all of them.”

New Zealand has proved they can compete with their opposition by claiming silver in last year’s World Championships in Auckland. Now it’s time to turn that confidence and belief into results.

(Main photo: Winter Games NZ)

They weren’t going into it unprepared. Prior to arriving in Bulgaria, first-year head coach Justin Daigle had the team working through line combinations with a few days of training camp in Latvia – culminating in warm-up games against local hockey clubs from Tukums and Riga which Daigle and his coaching staff used as an opportunity to film and highlight aspects of the team’s play that can be improved.

From the video updates posted on the ‘New Zealand U20 Ice Hockey National Team’ Facebook group it looked like the team were coming into the tournament feeling good about their preparations and the week ahead of them.

Game 1: NZ vs Bulgaria

In their first game of the tournament New Zealand faced Bulgaria with an excited home crowd in attendance ready to cheer on the Bulgarians. Those fans were quickly silenced when NZ alternate captain Felipe Aguirre-Landshoeft put a soft shot past Bulgaria’s Ivan Stoynov for a 1-0 lead thirteen minutes into the first period – but two goals fifteen seconds apart put the home team ahead as the intermission approached.

New Zealand would go on to lose 5-3, however it was arguably their most competitive outing of the five games as they were never truly out of the contest. Several players showed promise including forward Luke Hill who tallied two goals, one of which was shorthanded, and goalie Taylor Goodall who stopped a few strong scoring chances that could have seen the final score higher than it was.

I will admit that due to the time differences between Auckland and Sofia, this was the only game I was able to watch completely – in fact I was making GIFs of highlight plays from that game and posting them to Puck Yeah’s Twitter as they happened. All the other games were at 3:30am and when you’re writing about hockey on a part-time basis around your sports TV day job, sometimes sleep prevails.

Aside from a powerplay that failed to punish the Bulgarians for a few lazy penalties, including one too many men infraction, the signs were there that this young team could be competitive and bounce back – I liked what I saw.

Game 2: NZ vs Australia

While the Australians aren’t considered New Zealand’s biggest rival when it comes to hockey, in the general sporting landscape they are and any loss to them always stings – going down 6-3 here is no exception.

Again NZ showed by opening the scoring that they don’t have trouble “starting the game on time” as Mike Babcock would put it, this time at the hands of captain Shaun Brown and assisted by Aguirre-Landshoeft.

The score sheet alone would suggest that this game followed a similar script to game 1 with Australia taking the lead as the first period wound down, only to have NZ come close to tying the score as Ryan Martinoli made it 4-3 halfway through the third. Australia answered backed with two more to close it out.

Game 3: NZ vs Iceland

This is where the campaign started to come undone for New Zealand as they took a heavy 13-3 loss. Iceland were ahead 6-0 eight minutes into the second period before NZ forward Matheson Graham scored his first of the tournament. The powerplay also continued to struggle aside from Mak Rawiri’s effort assisted by Martinoli and Hill.

Honestly I don’t have much else to say about this game – I don’t want to pile on. I’ve been on the receiving end of games like this and it’s not fun.

Side note: I really wanted to make use of advanced stats for this article, where I would calculate each player’s Game Score to determine who had the best performances per game, however it appears the IIHF don’t believe in #fancystats – they don’t track blocked shots, let alone Corsi differential. So some of this information comes purely from the official game sheet but the names that do pop up were largely the standout performers for New Zealand.

Game 4: NZ vs China

China are very impressive. I remember watching their 2015 Under-20 side in Dunedin, NZ and being blown away by the skill and speed of their players, it was definitely at a level higher than most within the IIHF’s third division – they were promoted that year.

New Zealand would loss 11-2, at one point China jumped ahead with ten unanswered goals. I think we can skip this one.

Game 5: NZ vs Israel

As the most dominant team of the tournament Israel had clinched the gold medal placing before playing this fifth game, but they proceeded to shutout New Zealand 5-0 and gain promotion to Division 2 – Group B.

Considering the score line of their previous two games, the Junior Ice Blacks did well to focus whatever energy they had left on this final game and try turn things around within the tight timeframe of a IIHF World Championship.

However as a result of their 0-5 record, New Zealand were relegated to the IIHF Under-20 Division 3 qualification group. The 2018 tournament is underway next week where the winner of South Africa, Chinese Taipei, or debutants Turkmenistan will take the spot in 2019’s Division 3 World Championship made vacant by said relegation.

By the end of the week, the team’s special teams were a 9.68 PP% and 62.07 PK% – a tournament worst in both categories.

The bright side in all of this was the play of team MVP Luke Hill; finishing the week with 3 goals, 2 assists.

His shorthanded goal in the opening game against Bulgaria was a highlight worth watching on repeat. The backhand to forehand deke is a relatively simple move but the way Hill pulls it off to fool the goaltender shouldn’t be taken for granted. He could become an offensive weapon for the Canterbury Red Devils in years to come – a scary thought considering they also have Chris Eaden.

A couple of factors do work against this side: cost and time.

In the weeks leading up to the tournament the coaching staff aren’t afforded more time to spend in training camp as days are lost with the long travel – the obvious jet lag included. The inefficiency of New Zealand’s powerplay and penalty-kill would suggest that more ice time was needed to properly establish the right chemistry and have those units clicking.

The sheer cost of traveling such distances can sometimes mean players don’t even make it on the plane, therefore the best players aren’t always available. This is an issue that has impacted New Zealand’s national ice hockey teams, no matter what age group or gender, for years.

Keep in mind that in New Zealand, ice hockey is completely amateur and receives no funding from High Performance Sport NZ. With the help of many generous volunteers and local communities, the New Zealand Ice Hockey Federation do well to send their teams overseas every year.

I can’t imagine New Zealand stays in the qualification group for too long, perhaps only 2019. This result alone isn’t a reflection on the players or coaching staff – the sample size is too small to make such a strong judgement and having witnessed the potential of both parties, it’s only a matter of time before fans see more positive results if they can manage to address the issues that are holding them back.

And if it makes you feel any better, Australia didn’t do that great either.

(All photos by Josh Fraser)

New Zealand looked to silence the raucous home crowd with the first goal, but they probably weren’t expecting it to come so softly for alternate captain Felipe Aguirre-Landshoeft.

Bulgaria answered back five minutes later on their second power play of the night with George Hopkins sitting in the box for slashing, Miroslav Vasilev setting up the game-tying goal from behind the net.

And…just 15 seconds later, Bulgaria score again to take a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.

The second period started how the first ended, Bulgaria all over New Zealand in their own zone and forcing a mistake, leading to this steal-and-snipe play by Dilkov.

The New Jersey native currently plays for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the American Hockey League and will provide a strong scoring presence for the USA team that will play against Canada this June in Auckland, Wellington, and Queenstown.

As a player who has previously come down to Australia for this tour, organiser Kerry Goulet was excited to have T.J. involved again, calling him “an unbelievable hockey player.” Brennan’s stats and accomplishments can definitely back that up. In 2014 and 2016 he won the Eddie Shore Award as the best defenceman in the league. For that 2015-16 season with the Toronto Marlies, he was scoring close to a point per game pace with 25 goals and 43 assists in 69 games – that led the team in scoring while also being tied for third in league scoring, a rare feat for a player of his position.

Brennan is considered to be an elite offensive defenceman at the AHL level and was recently announced in the 2018 AHL All-Star Classic rosters for the fifth consecutive year.

As the AHL affiliate to the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms are currently second in the Atlantic Division with a 23-12-5 record. Brennan is in the final year of his current two-year deal with the Flyers. At age 28, with his offensive skills from the blueline he could still provide a much-needed scoring boost to many NHL/AHL teams looking to bolster their lineup either at the Feburary 26 trade deadline or for the 2018-19 season.

In an interview with RadioSport Breakfast yesterday Kerry Goulet revealed that David Hanson (from Slapshot fame) will be the coach for the American team. The remainder of the USA and Canada team rosters for the 2018 Ice Hockey Classic are scheduled to be announced within the next couple of weeks.

Puck Yeah is a weekly hockey podcast produced in New Zealand. Subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud, or with your favourite podcatcher to get every episode free.

(Photos sourced from Phantomshockey.com)

New Zealand’s national men’s hockey team, the Ice Blacks, have recently seen assistant coach Anatoly Khorozov take over the reins as head coach from Maru Rout. His first assignment is the IIHF Division 2 – Group B World Championship in Spain this April, where NZ face old rivals Mexico, along with Spain, Israel, DPR Korea, plus the recently promoted Luxembourg.

A strong extended training squad was announced back in October and the traveling team will be named next month. After finishing with silver last year and remaining in the same division, anything less than winning gold and earning a promotion to Division 2 – Group A will be seen as a disappointment.

New Zealand Under-20s

New Zealand’s under-20 men’s national team (more affectionately known as the ‘Junior Ice Blacks’) has also seen a coaching change with Justin Daigle now running the bench.

While playing for the West Auckland Admirals as a crucial part of their blueline, Daigle has been transitioning further into coaching roles. In 2017 he served as assistant coach for the Junior Ice Blacks at the IIHF Division 3 World Championship held in Dunedin, working with fellow coaches Matt Sanford, Perry Wilson and Anatoly Khorozov, who has now moved into the head coaching position with the Ice Blacks.

Next month’s Division 3 tournament in Bulgaria is his first big test – coaching an under-20s squad full of promising junior players (including Moses Bygate-Smith, Ryan Martinoli, and Ben Harford) to reach their goal: winning the gold medal game.

The last time the Junior Ice Blacks made it to Division 2 was back in 2009. Unfortunately the team were unable to compete that year due to the financial constraints that can come with traveling around the world for these tournaments, subsequently New Zealand has remained in the third division ever since. They will need to come out on top over Australia, Bulgaria, China, Iceland and Israel if they were to be promoted – considering recent strong showings by some of those nations, it’s a hard task but it’s certainly not a challenge that Daigle and his team will shy away from.

Side note: The only IIHF tournament New Zealand will host this year is the Men’s Under-18 Division 3 – Group B World Championship at the Queenstown Ice Arena in April.

Ice Fernz

In March New Zealand’s national women’s team, the Ice Fernz, will be travelling to Spain for the IIHF Division 2 – Group B tournament where they will be up against Iceland, Turkey, Romania, Chinese Taipei, plus the host country. Led by captain/scientist Helen Murray with former Botany Swarm head coach Andreas Kaisser calling the shots from the bench, the Ice Fernz will be looking to improve upon their bronze medal placing at last year’s tournament in Iceland.

Also in March, the Women’s Under-18 development side will be in Kuala Lumpur for the 2018 IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia. Having won the tournament in their first attempt last year, they will be back to defend their gold medal status in the top division against Thailand, Singapore, and Chinese Taipei U18.

The 2018 NZIHL Season

The Skycity Stampede were on a roll this past NZIHL season as they secured their third championship in a row – joining the Canterbury Red Devils as the only other club to accomplish such a feat. However, the 2017 title may need to come with an asterisk after news broke last month that Mitchell and Lachlan Frear were suspended for two years by the Sports Tribunal of New Zealand after they were found guilty of naively buying the banned substance clenbuterol online.

With the suspension backdated to January 1st 2017 this includes the 2017 NZIHL season in which the Frear brothers were part of Queenstown’s championship-winning team. Under the NZIHL rulebook section 10.11 states “All competitive results achieved during the period of Ineligibility, including retroactive Ineligibility, shall be Disqualified.”

Puck Yeah consulted with the New Zealand Ice Hockey Federation on this subject and we were told that the fate of this matter rests on whether or not the league’s four other teams would request a review of the situation. In a recent podcast Puck Yeah debated if this would happen but ultimately we believe that the teams are going to let this go and move on. After all, it was a silly mistake that has seen some tough lessons learnt, plus two players don’t make the team – the Stampede would have been a competitive side with or without the suspended Frear brothers.

So, that brings us to the 2018 season. Ultimately I don’t see the Stampede finishing as champions again, but it could be a year where counting out any team is a risky move.

The West Auckland Admirals have gone from strength to strength over the past couple of years and will be looking to avenge their Birgel Cup finals defeat. The Botany Swarm have shaken up their front office and coaching staff in a move that could reinstall a winning culture that saw the East Auckland side previously dominate the league. The Dunedin Thunder were the dark horse of the 2017 season and continue to improve as they aim to go one step further and secure a finals berth, meanwhile the Canterbury Red Devils need to recover from a lacklustre campaign that saw them at the bottom of the table for the first time since 2005, the NZIHL’s inaugural season.

Mix in the league’s involvement with the 2018 Ice Hockey League, next season is hopefully one that will pack out the local arenas as New Zealand’s top hockey clubs battle it out for the Birgel Cup and the Toa Kauhanga Riri Tio challenge trophy.

Ice Hockey Classic

Last month the 2018 Ice Hockey Classic was announced, generating a positive buzz on social media for the USA vs Canada exhibition series that sees a three-game tour played in Auckland, Queenstown and Wellington. The latter is set to be an outdoor spectacle at Westpac Stadium similar to what is seen with the NHL’s Winter Classic.

As the curtain raiser for the main event in Auckland there will be a regular season NZIHL game played between the West Auckland Admirals and Botany Swarm. The prospect of playing at Spark Arena to a crowd of prospective new fans is thrilling for those involved – including Botany Swarm head coach Ian Wannamaker who sees this as a great stage to demonstrate the fierce cross-town rivalry his team has with the Admirals, “I would expect there to be some sort of fireworks, if not actual fireworks, definitely a lot of fierce competition on the ice. No one will want to lose and both teams will play very hard and want to not only win but to show the NZ fans who is the top Auckland based club.”

The Ice Blacks will play at the Westpac Stadium outdoor game against a NZIHL All-Stars squad made up of import players from all five teams across the league. It’s a smart initiative by TEG Live and the NZIHF to team up and help give the country’s top-tier clubs, plus the national side, a welcome increase in exposure. Who knows, this may inspire more youth across the country to lace up a pair of skates and grab a stick? Either way, it’s a must-see event for any sporting fan.

The Continuing Rise of Grace Harrison

This is one of my favourite ongoing stories in New Zealand hockey, perhaps NZ sport in general.

Typically goalie Grace Harrison flies under the radar but the coaching staff at St. Lawrence University aren’t afraid to sing her praises. Saints head coach Chris Wells told reporter Carlos Verde that despite coming in as the team’s third-string netminder, it didn’t take her long to earn the starting role, saying “She chipped away, worked hard, and by mid-January (in her first year) she was our starting goalie and really carried the bulk of playing time.”

By the end of her rookie season Harrison finished with a 7-7-6 record, posting a 2.14 goals against average and a .916 save percentage. Harrison pushed that performance to the next level as a sophomore – for the 2016-17 season she was named as part of the Second-Team All-ECAC Hockey team while also being nominated as a ECAC Hockey Goaltender of the Year finalist. As her play advanced, so did her numbers with an incredible 23-6-4 record, 1.62 GAA and a .923 save percentage to go along with her record-breaking nine shutouts – the most by any goalie in the Saints program.

Now well into her third season, Grace Harrison remains a key part of the St. Lawrence roster and this weekend came back from the holiday break with a two-game series against Lindenwood at the Honda Center – home of the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks.

Starting in the second game, Harrison backstopped the Saints to a 3-2 overtime win that improves the 10th-ranked Saints to 10-7-3. Standing in the same crease that is typically home to John Gibson or Ryan Miller will be an experience to savour for this young athlete, but there’s still plenty of hockey to be played before the season wraps up in March.

2018 is going to be an action-packed year for New Zealand ice hockey. What are you most looking forward to?

(Main photo: Mike Froger)

Auckland’s Spark Arena plays host to the first leg of the tour, with the USA and Canada teams touted to feature current NHL players, veterans, and promising young talent. As a curtain raiser to the main event, the Botany Swarm and West Auckland Admirals will play each other in an official NZIHL game that counts towards the league’s standings.

Spark Arena is home to the NZ Breakers of the Australian National Basketball League with a capacity of around 8,500 for their home games. The arena also plays host to international recording artists when they come to Auckland – most recently Canadian RnB superstar The Weeknd performed his hits to a sold-out crowd.

Playing at such a venue is a brand new prospect for the cross-town hockey clubs as they get the chance to showcase their fiercely competitive rivalry to a wider audience than what would normally fit within their home rinks at Paradice Avondale and Paradice Botany Downs.

Admirals captain Justin Daigle told PUCK YEAH that he is excited and honoured to be part of the 2018 Classic, “This is a huge deal for the entirety of the sport in New Zealand…For us it’s an opportunity to showcase the game we all love to play and really raise the profile and public awareness of hockey.”

He expects that these games will likely attract a new audience to the NZIHL. “As I often say, I’m yet to introduce the sport to a Kiwi who hasn’t fallen in love with it so hopefully this will serve as a catalyst towards new fans and players,” said Daigle.

Newly appointed Botany Swarm head coach Ian Wannamaker shares the passion of his West Auckland counterpart, “You don’t want to miss out on an amazing opportunity to see the fastest game on the planet in your backyard, seeing some of the best athletes in the world compete, and also see how competitive and exciting the local league is. You simply just have to be there.”

With 19 players from the Admirals and Swarm currently in the national team’s wider training squad, that round of the NZIHL season will be split over two weekends to allow their players who also represent the Ice Blacks to travel to Wellington and compete against a NZIHL All-Star team for the outdoor game at Westpac Stadium on June 23rd.

That All-Star team will be made up of import players from the five NZIHL teams, along with a few Kiwi players added to the lineup if needed. Considering the calibre of talent the league is now attracting in what is typically the off-season for ice hockey in North America, expect the Ice Blacks v NZIHL All-Stars game to be one full of action (and perhaps plenty of goalscoring) prior to the main event.

Ice Blacks head coach Anatoly Khorozov is elated that his team will be part of the historic game in Wellington, saying he sees it as a great experience for the players, “I think a lot of players, if not all, will naturally be nervous but will also be very excited. I’d hope nerves will disappear after a few shifts and they will show the crowd that New Zealand has some ice hockey talent too.”

Khorozov hopes the Ice Hockey Classic will be a way of introducing more fans to the national men’s team that compete in annual IIHF World Championship events, the latest held in Auckland earlier this year. “I also hope this event will help Wellington with their ice arena project as more people will be excited to have the game in their city.”

While the rosters for the American and Canadian teams are yet to be announced, Justin Daigle believes no matter who is coming, the outdoor game at Westpac Stadium will be a special event for New Zealand sports fans, “At the end of the day, the players on the ice are secondary to the atmosphere and environment that hockey provides let alone a venue as amazing as an outdoor rink. There’s something about the outdoor games that makes it feel a little closer to the roots and origins of the sport.”

Tickets for the 2018 Ice Hockey Classic with USA v Canada are currently on sale via Ticketmaster for Auckland and Ticketek for Wellington and Queenstown.

(All NZIHL and Ice Blacks photos by Mike Froger – All other photos supplied by TEG Live.)

The pair have played a crucial part in the recent success of the Skycity Stampede in the New Zealand Ice Hockey League. Their suspensions have been backdated to January 1 2017, which includes the Stampede’s third consecutive NZIHL championship win. Neither player will be available to compete again until December 31 2018.

The Frear brothers were identified in an investigation by Drug Free Sport New Zealand with Mitchell found to have purchased a 10ml bottle of clenbuterol spray in October 2014, while Lachlan had made two purchases of the same product in November 2014 and January 2015.

During that investigation, both had admitted in writing to purchasing the product but denied any use of the substance due to never receiving their orders, and claimed that neither held any intention of cheating to gain an unfair advantage.

From their decision, the Sports Tribunal have stated that Mitchell and Lachlan Frear had not researched the substance for further information, or checked with team staff and players, DFSNZ, or seek medical advice from a doctor prior to purchasing clenbuterol.

In a statement New Zealand Ice Hockey Federation (NZIHF) President Günther Birgel has said:

“The NZIHF strongly supports DFSNZ and is a signatory to World Anti-Doping Agency. All players who represent New Zealand sign a contract agreeing not to use illegal or body enhancing substances.

In this case both young players have been naïve in believing that the product purchased was a fat burning product only. Both young men deeply regret not having checked with relevant experts prior to their purchasing decision and have accepted the decision of the Sports Tribunal of New Zealand.

This will serve as a sharp lesson for all of our athletes. From a NZIHF stance, I hope that this will be the only time that our sport is involved in this issue. This matter serves as a reminder to all participants in ice hockey in New Zealand to be vigilant when considering any such substance.”

Birgel went on to confirm that both players have committed to assisting the NZIHF in player education about making ice hockey drug free in New Zealand, along with an increased education requirement at all levels of the sport in 2018.

Stampede team manager Ross Burns told Puck Yeah that he respects the decision made by the Sports Tribunal and won’t be making any further comment on the matter.

(Main photo: Mitchell Frear playing for the Skycity Stampede / Source: Facebook)

The story of how the Seals came to be is a fine example of the Kiwi do-it-yourself attitude in action; and with over a hundred players now coming through their makeshift rink, this beer league hockey club is onto something special.

Their current home is Frosty Spot, an indoor ice skating rink in Lower Hutt. The setup for hockey practice is an interesting one that looks more like a game of pond hockey somehow popped up inside an industrial warehouse – but for a temporary solution, it works.

A year ago Rob Blitz, the owner of Frosty Spot, put forward the idea of having ice hockey in his rink and from there, numbers have steadily increased. It began with nine players, although none of them played goalie so the goals were flipped to create a smaller net and discourage players from shooting the puck high.

Combining word of mouth and social media, the club grew to around twenty, including a goalie, with Blitz padding up and learning how to play in-goal to fill the other net. For scrimmages the club splits up into different squads to play non-contact 3-on-3 hockey with substitutions.

Their biggest hockey night to date saw 46 players, including five goalies, show up to play.

From the photo above you might notice the boards are much lower than your typical hockey rink. To make it work, there is a special rule the Seals have in place to punish anyone that flips the puck out of the playing surface. It’s not two minutes for delay of game – instead the infringing player is required to do ten push-ups on the spot while play continues. Also, a new skater isn’t allowed to come off the bench and replace that player until they finish said push-ups.

Another quirk of this club, there is no Zamboni. The players groom the ice themselves by dry scraping and dumping the resulting snow into wheel barrows, this is followed up by applying a thin layer of water that must freeze before they continue. That snow then helps cool down the post-game beers that have become a tradition like many other beer league teams around the world.

Since a Zamboni is too large for the ice surface itself, Frosty Spot are currently exploring different ways to groom the ice more effectively. One such way is with a mower…that’s right, a modified lawn mower.

To help strengthen the team’s roster, assistant coach Zark Zeung recruited a few players from the Wellington Penguins inline hockey team.

Seals forward Cam Belworthy is one such recruit, who only took up the sport in May last year and has shown incredible dedication towards improving his game in such a short amount of time. Much like the Seals team itself, this tournament is a first for Belworthy and he’s excited to see what the future holds for the game in Wellington.

“Playing in this tournament means a lot to me, because it’s a sport I’ve been wanting to play since I was a kid watching the Mighty Ducks movies, so you could say it’s fulfilling a dream.

I’m super lucky to be a part of something that is practically unheard of in Wellington. I hope that this team is a catalyst of ice hockey being an established sport down here.” – Cam Belworthy.

After establishing a roster of players, the team needed to create an identity to set them apart for the Holiday Classic tournament.

Zeung spent many hours going over design concepts for uniforms and logos with the team. He provided Puck Yeah with some insight into the whole process and shared a few of those original concepts – click on each image for a closer look.

“Ideas were thrown around for a few weeks, designs were submitted by players. I had put forward a few that got a lot of feedback and from there on I progressed further with my concepts. Next was seeing what colour was available and changing the design. It went from removing the existing Beehive and Seal logo to adding something else that represents Windy Wellington.

The Vegas Golden Knights had a nice simple design and all I had to do was add our logo to it but switch up the colours so it’s slightly off. Being a Wellington team the gold helps and fits in with the logo. No one in the beer league choose grey so it made things easier. ” – Zark Zeung.

The logo itself is sharp and feels very much like a Wellington team even without the symbolic Beehive (the home to New Zealand’s government). The simple yet striking look works well for this particular hockey team. The tornado characterises the windy nature of Wellington – if you haven’t experienced a windy landing at Wellington airport, well you don’t want to – and the aggressive seal doesn’t fall into the trap that some hockey team logos do by being too cartoonish.

It’s fitting that the team’s uniform is modelled after the Vegas Golden Knights, the NHL’s latest expansion franchise. Who knows what the Wellington Seals could mean for the sport’s growth in the capital? With the extensive process of building the Wellington Ice Arena well under way – the latest public update stated they’re awaiting an estimate on construction costs – perhaps this is the beginning of the NZIHL’s sixth team for when the national league inevitably expands to include a third team in the North Island.

The Seals are writing a unique history for themselves and if the hockey club continues to attract more players, it’s highly likely that Wellington will send two teams to the 2018 Holiday Classic. If so, they might just prove to us all that New Zealand’s capital is the newest Hockeytown on the block.

Qualifying rounds for the inaugural Holiday Classic begin this week, with the puck dropping on the Seals’ first game at 7am Friday from the Botany Forum (Paradice Botany Downs). The main event takes place Saturday and Sunday with games spread across the Avondale Square Gardens (Paradice Avondale) and Botany. The full tournament schedule is available at the BHL website.

All photos supplied by Zark Zeung/Wellington Seals

The latest is Winnipeg Jets prospect Mikhail Berdin, who currently plays for the Sioux Falls Stampede in the USHL.

Berdin makes the most of it and really owns the celebration, one that will definitely see him highlighted on sport shows around the world today.

Martin Brodeur might have some competition on his hands – but his goalie goal against the Montreal Canadiens during the 1997 Stanley Cup playoffs remains the gold standard.