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13 April
Australia Win Gold With Perfect 1-0 Win

Australia is Number 1 in Division II Group B

By Peter Lambert, Ice Hockey Correspondent

No longer is ice hockey a novelty in Australia. A magic tournament ended with a fairy-tale ending, as the Mighty Roos Australian Senior Men’s Ice Hockey team closed down the Chinese national team 1 goal to nil in Newcastle, New South Wales Australia. The Aussies were perfect through the tournament, winning each of their five games in regulation time; their last two games in shut-outs, denying their opposition a single goal. Australian goalie Matt Ezzy was awarded ‘Best Goalie of Tournament’ for his feat in winning four games from four played, and allowing only four goals by him throughout the tournament.

China started out strong but almost immediately shortened their bench to their top six players. The Aussies held off the early assault, and then scored on their first opportunity.

Melbourne’s Lliam Webster poked his own rebound through the goal pads of China’s Yu Yang, with assists going to Andrew White and tournament MVP Greg Oddy.

From that point the Chinese never seemed like they had what they needed to win. Both teams hit the posts but the Aussies also won in that phantom category; 5 to 1 in the almost-goals.

Captain Anthony Wilson hold aloft the tournament winners plate as
IIHF Official Dr Hans Dobida presents him with his gold medal.

The Australian win means many thing, but the significance of happening on the Centenary of ice hockey in Australia, and the Centenary of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and on home soil made it a very special occasion for the capacity crowd. With volunteers and players included, rink management estimated an unprecedented 1200 people in the rink to witness the victory.

Veteran defenceman Tyler Lovering came out of retirement when he heard about the bid to host the tournament in Australia. Now he has a World Championship Gold Medal in his collection.

‘I had to work really hard to get back into the Australian team.

‘It’s been 10 years that I’ve played on this team.

‘We have a fantastic team of guys, I couldn’t be more proud.’

Team Manager Ross Noga was justifiably elated as he packed his players aboard their bus to head off and celebrate the milestone achievement.

‘100 years of ice hockey in Australia, 100 years of ice hockey of IIHF, you can’t beat this.

‘Here in Newcastle, in front of the home crowd. The crowd was fantastic with the hair colour, painted faces, the “Aussie Aussie Aussie” chants, the flags, it doesn’t get any better.’

The Australian team will break up after their celebrations on Monday, but with little chance for much rest as the Australian Ice Hockey League starts this coming weekend. All players in the Aussie squad belong to one of the eight clubs and may be back in training as soon as Tuesday.

The Australian ice hockey community is already buzzing with the challenge of competing with Division I countries. The task is a mammoth one but not one person involved will believe that it is impossible.

12 April
China and Australia to Play for Gold, Promotion

The Australian Mens Ice Hockey Team, the Mighty Roos, need only take China to extra time to win gold in the 2008 World Division II Championships being held in Newcastle, NSW. The Mighty Roos and goalie Matt Ezzy shut out the Icelanders with a commanding 3-0 win at Hunter Ice Skating Stadium on Saturday night.

Australia have the advantage going into the fifth and final day of the tournament, with 4 regulation-time wins versus China’s 2 regulation and 2 shoot-out wins. China, two points behind Australia, must defeat Australia in regular time to win the Gold. The Australians will take the gold by winning outright, winning in extra time or even losing in extra time.

Earlier today the Mexicans couldn’t match the superior speed of the Spanish and lost 4-2. The Chinese looked in trouble again in their game, when the New Zealand Ice Blacks struck early with two goals. The Chinese managed one goal before the end of the 1st period to take the pressure off, and eventually out-skated and out-played the New Zealanders who often struggled to make clean passes and take the puck out from their end. The Chinese put 5 goals by the ice Blacks goalies in the final two periods for a comfortable 6-2 win.

Australian Alternate Captain Greg Oddy top scored versus Iceland with two goals, defender Aaron Clayworth getting the final goal in the last minute of the game.

After the game, a visibly jubilant Oddy praised his teammates and coaching staff for following their plan throughout.

‘We knew the Icelanders would be physical and we talked with the coach about being disciplined, and playing our game.’

When asked about the gold medal and promotion game versus China, Oddy hesitated.

‘You know, we truly haven’t thought about it.

‘It sounds cliché but we have been taking them one game at a time.’

Oddy, Ezzy and the Mighty Roos will have an ice rink filled to capacity behind them tomorrow night, knowing that they need only the one more win or extra-time game to earn a gold medal and passage into the enormous challenge of Division I International Ice Hockey.

Tickets still remain for tomorrows earlier games between Iceland and Mexico, and New Zealand and Spain.

10 April
Australia Undefeated In Quest for Gold

The Australian Mens Ice Hockey Team, the Mighty Roos, are now undefeated in regulation time in the 2008 World Division II Championships being held in Newcastle, NSW.

After three massive days of ice hockey, the Australians are the only team on maximum points, the Chinese undefeated but behind Australia by two points after having to go all the way to shootout to win their first two games. Spain’s win over Iceland spread the points out across the teams still in contention for 1st and 2nd place at the tournament.

It hasn’t been easy for the Australians. On Wednesday night the team needed to produce a ‘character game’ to run down Spain’s lead in the third period. This the Aussies did, defeating the Spanish 5 goals to 3. On Thursday a night it looked like the Kiwis had taken a magic pill as the team most considered the weakest forced the team most consider the strongest to a nerve-wracking 2-all score at the end of the 2nd period. The Australians finished the last period almost exclusively in the New Zealand end, and put the game out of reach with two crucial goals in the third period.

Australia must now face Iceland in front of a capacity crowd on Saturday night, followed by another sell-out versus China on Sunday.

Australian Captain Anthony Wilson of Sydney says his team takes nothing for granted.

‘We’ve seen a little of the Icelanders training and playing but we try to avoid watching other teams.

‘We just have to play our style of game and see if they can match it.’

The game versus Iceland on Saturday night begins at 8pm. Tickets are still available for the earlier games; Mexico versus Spain at 1.00 pm and New Zealand versus China at 4.30 pm.

9 April
Australia Take Lead with ‘Character Win’

After four years of bitter disappointments, the Australians have produced a win-from-behind with character not evident in recent World Championships, defeating the Spanish 5 -3 at Hunter Ice Skating Stadium, Warners Bay.

The Spanish team displayed the same speed and tenaciousness that upset favourites China on Day 1 by going all the way to overtime and penalty shootout before China could get their win. They had the Aussies seeing Deja Vu when two crazy goals broke the confidence of a heavily penalised Australian team and silenced the near-capacity crowd.

Australian team captain Anthony Wilson explained the importance of the win after the game.

‘That was a huge character win.

‘That’s never happened before, the second game’s always been our bogey game.

‘When we’ve been under that much pressure before we’ve folded or had some kind of bad luck, but not tonight.’

The crowd was visibly tense before the start of the 3rd and last period, with the Aussies down 3-2 and 20 minutes remaining. The Aussies started to skate and pass the puck with authority; the resulting possession had Spain taking penalties and allowing constant shots on the Spanish goalie. Eventually the damn broke when Queenslander Mike Gough put a rebound over the diving Spanish goalie to equalise the game. The Australians then applied the pressure, Melbourne’s Lliam Webster scoring twice more with a man advantage after the Spanish got into penalty trouble.

In the two earlier games, Iceland took China to their second shootout but the Chinese defeated them to win 5-4, and the Mexicans were too good for the New Zealanders, beating them 2-0.

Tomorrow night the Australians will defend their unbeaten streak against the New Zealanders, who are desperate to avoid relegation now they are without a point from two games. A highlight of tomorrow night will be the New Zealand team, the Ice Blacks, performing their version of the Haka before the starting face-off.

Before the Australia versus New Zealand game, the Chinese will play the Mexicans at 1.00 pm, and the Spanish will challenge the tournament surprise team Iceland at 4.30 pm.

7 April
Australia Ice Mexico

Australia's campaign to secure "Gold" at the World Ice Hockey Championships got-off to the perfect start yesterday, up in the Hunter. Initially the game was close, with the Mexicans skating hard and their goaltending spectacular. It looked as though the first period might end
scoreless, but the Aussies broke the shackles with two goals late in the
period. In the 2nd period the superior size and strength of the Australians
took its toll on the smaller and younger Mexicans, and some hard hits had
the Mexicans looking around nervously whenever they got near the puck.

There were four goals scored in the 2nd period, all by Australia. Adelaide star Greg Oddy and Melbourne anchor Lliam Webster both dominated, with Webster earning three points, and Oddy scoring a hat trick of goals. MVP for Australia was hard-hitting defenceman Andrew White from Sydney. Newcastle goalie Matt Ezzy was left alone for large portions of the game but came up with some great saves when the Mexicans got their chances late in the game.

Australian Coach McKenna said after the game that he was happy with his
team's effort but still expected a little more for the game versus Spain on
Wednesday night.

'We showed what our advantage in conditioning and strength and size can do.

'We are all looking forward to the Spain game, they are a good team, but we
feel if we start well and punish them like we did the Mexican team tonight,
that we can beat the Spanish.'

The World Championship Division II Group B nearly began with an upset, earlier in the day, as the Spanish team not expected to beat China took the Division I relegated team right to the edge. The Chinese fought back after an early 1-0 lead for Spain, but Spain clawed back with a persistent fore-check and determined skating. Spain had to do it a few times over as they tried to stop taking penalties and keep the pressure on China. That pressure paid off when the Chinese were penalised with a penalty shot, and the Spanish scored to take the game to overtime, and then on to shoot out.

The Chinese eventually won the shootout giving them a 5-4 victory but the 2 points they have taken for the extra-time win may not be enough should Spain or Australia win the rest of their games outright.

In Game 2 of the day, the New Zealanders matched up with the Icelanders. The men from the sparsely-populated North Sea island nation were too big and strong for Tasman Sea islanders, and wore the Kiwis down after a close start to the game. The Icelanders shut down the game after the 2nd period, and held their 5-2 lead until the game's completion.

2008 Australian National Senior Team Announced

Today, IHA National Senior Team Head Coach, Steve McKenna, announced from Newcastle the 23 players that will represent Australia at the upcoming IIHF 2008 World Division II Group B Ice Hockey Championships in Newcastle.

After 5 very intense practices and last night's inter-squad game, Coach McKenna was able to conduct his final evaluation of the 28 players and has put together a very formidable squad. McKenna stated:-. “The team can now take the next step in their preparations over the remaining days leading up to the Championship, to ensure we are firing on all cylinders.”

The team plays against the Australian Ice Hockey League All-stars on Wednesday the 03rd April 2008 at the Penrith Ice Palace to fine-tune the squad before facing Mexico on Monday evening on the 07th April 2008 at Hunter Ice Skating Stadium.

Team Manager Ross Noga added:- “This is the best team that I’ve seen over the years and we clearly have Gold in our sight”.

Stuart Denman
Joseph Hughes
Anthony Wilson (Captain)
Robert Starke
Joshua Harding
Thomas Powell
Casey Minson
Aaron Clayworth
Greg Oddy (Asst. Captain)
Chris Sekura (Asst. Captain)
Mark Rummukanen
Michael Gough
Murray Wand
Brad Vigon
Andrew White
Brett Thomas
Scott Stephenson
Matthew Ezzy
Adrian Esposito
Lliam Webster
Tyler Lovering
Vladimir Rubes
Olivier Martin

 

Australia’s Top Players Battle for World Championship Positions

The Aussie elite begin the long-hard battle to make the National Senior team, in what will be one of the countries most important hockey events ever. Australia first played the great game in 1908 and like the IIHF, is celebrating their 100 year Centennial. The year, however, will be highlighted by Australia hosting the 2008 World Championships Division II, Group B. In his second year, at the helm of the Australian team, former NHL player Steve McKenna is quietly confident of that elusive Gold. McKenna made his debut with the Los Angeles Kings in 1996 and played for both the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins. His big-time experience brought the players to a new level in 2007 and the team is expected to go the next step in 2008. The majority of the team will be selected from the Australian Ice Hockey League. “The competition for all positions will be intense”, said Team Manager Ross Noga. On defense, the Aussies look solid with players like Ice Dogs veteran Anthony Wilson, Canberra’s Aaron Clayworth and exciting newcomer Robert Starke from Newcastle. Upfront, play-makers Mark Rummukainen (Brisbane) and National Champions (Bears) forward Vlad Rubes will be setting-up the likes of the Av’s Greg Oddy and Tommy Powell from Melbourne. Between the pipes, the big battle heats-up with Newcastle’s Matt Ezzy, Melbourne’s Stu Denman and rookie Olivier Martin. Invited to try-out for the 2008 squad are as follows:

POS	Name	State	Team
Gk	STUART DENMAN	VIC	Melbourne Ice
D	TYLER LOVERING	NSW	Sydney Bears
D	ANTHONY WILSON	NSW	West Sydney Ice Dogs
D	ROBERT STARKE	NSW	Newcastle Northstars
D	JOSHUA HARDING	SA	Adelaide Avalanche
F	SCOTT STEPHENSON	NSW	West Sydney Ice Dogs
D	SEAN OULTRAM	NSW	Newcastle Northstars
F	CASSIAN DELSAR	SA	West Sydney Ice Dogs
D	AARON CLAYWORTH	WA	Canberra Knights
F	GREG ODDY	SA	Adelaide Avalanche
F	CHRIS SEKURA	NSW	West Sydney Ice Dogs
D	MARK RUMMAIKANEN	ACT	Brisbane Blue Tongues
F	MICHAEL GOUGH	QLD	Brisbane Blue Tongues
F	MURRAY WAND	NSW	Sydney Bears
F	JAMES KEANE	SA	Adelaide Avalanche
F	BRAD VIGON	VIC	Melbourne Ice
D	ANDREW WHITE	NSW	West Sydney Ice Dogs
F	TODD STEPHENSON	NSW	West Sydney Ice Dogs
F	ADRIAN ESPOSITO	NSW	Sydney Bears
Gk	MATTHEW EZZY	NSW	Newcastle Northstars
F	THOMAS POWELL	VIC	Melbourne Ice
F	LLIAM WEBSTER	VIC	Melbourne Ice
F	BRETT THOMAS	NSW	West Sydney Ice Dogs
F	VLADIMIR RUBES	NSW	Sydney Bears
Gk	OLIVIER MARTIN	SA	Adelaide Avalanche
F	CASEY MINSON	NSW	Newcastle Northstars
D	DYLAN MOORE	VIC	Melbourne Ice
F	JOEY HUGHES	VIC	Melbourne Ice
	OFFICIALS
	HEAD COACH- STEVE MCKENNA
	ASST COACH- ROBERT KNESAUREK
	TEAM LEADER- KEVIN BROWN
	TEAM MANAGER- ROSS NOGA
	MEDIC & PHYSIO- FRED STEVENSON
	EQUIPMENT MANAGER- RAY SHEFFIELD

Camp dates- March 28- April 4th

Championships April 7- 13th.