Aussie Mens team at training session with McKenna in Lithuania

Any Aussie who doesn’t know anything about ice hockey and has been watching the Olympics are all asking the same thing…Where is Australia?  The year 2010 caps off a 50 year period since the Australian’s first and last Winter Olympics appearance in the 1960 games at Squaw Valley.  Whilst it is great to hear Aussies on the street, office, work sites and in cafes talking about ice hockey with fascination and interest it is also tragic they are unaware that the game has existed in Australia for over 100 years. 

So where is Australia? Well in 2009 the Aussie Mens team travelled to Lithuania to compete in the Division 1 World Championships which is one division below the World/Olympic Pool and the closest we have been to the Olympics in a long time.  Ask any member on that team and it was an eye opener to say the least.  But the great part is that Australia does produce talented ice hockey players and put them through a similar program, league and training regime similar to other European nations or even the Japanese who compete in Division 1 and the Olympics could be a closer possibility than you think.  Key word in that last sentence is “possibility”.  Unfortunately the last two sentences involve lots of financial support and the facilities but these are challenges not problems with the sport.

At Lithuania in front of a 7,000 people crowd

But don’t write off Aussie Ice Hockey just yet.  Have some faith!  The Australian Youth Team won gold for the first time in 2003 at the division 3 world championships knocking off China for the first time ever in a 6-3 win at Mexico City.  5 years prior to that the Australian Youth teams used to lose by ten goal margins to China.  What was the difference?  Was it the depth charts of the team of 1985-1986 born players where a spike of numbers in this age bracket was spurred along by the ”Mighty Ducks” movie…Maybe, but most likely not…or was it the fact that 5 years prior a training camp would last 2 days at a rink somewhere in Australia compared to 2 week training camps held in Canada or Europe which became the norm from 2001. This years Youth team is off to compete in Division 2 again.

The Mens team in Lithuania last year lost to third place Japan 6-0, an Aussie team that was also missing some key players to injury mind you.  See a pattern here?  With the right direction that 6-0 gap can be closed down to 2-0 or 1-0 and with a scoreline like that it then becomes anyones game.  If Australia can find its way to being competitive in that top three of Division 1 then the Olympics and World Pool become a possibility and a scary one at that. 

On top of that the AIHL are making strides every year and the league is getting better and promoted better. Melbourne just got a brand new ice facility so we are moving forward!

But I guess it all starts with the next upcoming Division 2 Wolrd Championships in Mexico City where the Australian Mens team will be looking to reclaim Gold and have another crack at Division 1 again.

So shall we aim for 2018 or 2022, or lets host the game and get automatic qualification…who cares if we get dominated at least people know where Australia is in the ice hockey come Winter Olympics!