Canberra Ice Hockey

Hundreds of Canberrans swapped their t-shirts for jumpers as they entered the Phillip Swimming and Ice Skating Centre on Saturday the 23^rd of March, where a charity ice hockey match was taking place.  The crowd, eager for the game to start, was made up of families, friends and team supporters. They surrounded the ice rink which is home to Canberra’s ice hockey team, the Canberra Knights.

Some of the spectators were dressed in Canberra Knights jerseys, proudly declaring their alliance to their team. In the right corner of the rink, just below the VIP station, were the Canberra Knights’ biggest fans, also known as the ‘hecklers’. As their name suggests, this group was definitely the most vocal crowd throughout the game, screaming out support to their team and arguing with the referee’s decisions when their team wasn’t favoured.

Before the game started, both teams lined up on the ice to listen to Claudia Tetreault sing the National Anthem. The audience stood to observe a minute’s silence which followed, as this particular match was organised to raise funds for an Australian charity, Soldier On, which supports wounded service men and women.

After all formalities were finished, the action started and the crowd erupted. The battle began between the Knights and the Soldier On team, which was composed of former Canberra Knights and other local non-Knight ice hockey players.

The biting chill from the ice rink influenced the crowd to purchase a selection of hot food, including sausage rolls, pies, chips and hot dogs. Those who had nothing warm in their hands were caught salivating over the food of others, wondering when they would get a chance to buy something without missing any of the action.

Normally an ice hockey match includes a fair amount of rough play with players being sent off the ice. But this was a charity game and although there were still dedicated supporters present to show their antics, the two teams were quite friendly and only started to show some rough action in the second quarter.

John Raut, the General Manager of the Canberra Knights and MC for the night was constantly updating the audience with the score and play procedures. With three minutes left of the game, the Knights were winning 6-4.

The final

score wasn’t much different, with the match ending at 6-5 to the Knights. The Soldier On team played well despite the loss, especially considering some of them have been out of practice for 20 odd years.

Soldier On team member Bryan Belbin said he’d heard about the event and wanted to participate, as one of his friends was deployed to Afghanistan a few years ago.  “It was good to get back on the ice again, I haven’t played for nearly eight years now”, the former Canadian player said.

Joel Davis, a member of the audience and a die-hard ice hockey fan says he was pleased with the turn out and the end score.

This years’ ice hockey season does not actually start until April 20 – however, this game still received over four hundred attendees, showing the ice hockey scene in Canberra might be bigger than some think.