Posted: Oct 12, 2016
This summer I had the pleasure of playing the sport I love with two of my best friends. Connor McLaughlin, Beau Taylor and myself, Scott Swiston, played from April to September in the little known Australian Ice Hockey League or AIHL. An eight team league where participants compete for the Goodall Cup, the third oldest active hockey trophy only preceded by the Stanley Cup and the Allen Cup.
We played for the Newcastle Northstars, located two hours north of Sydney. Lucky for us, the city bordered the ocean and housed many beautiful beaches. Even better is one of our sponsors was a surf instructor who would regularly take us out and try to teach us the best he could. We're still terrible surfers but we were just happy to escape with no shark attacks.
Our team was strong in the regular season and were able to finish in third position, putting us in the grand final weekend which hosts just four teams. It is a gruelling weekend to determine the champion as it is decided in just two games. The semi-final we matched up with the Perth Thunder where we won in overtime to advance to the final vs the Canberra Brave who beat the Melbourne Ice in an extra frame as well.
As there are only four imports allowed on each team, the fact we had the strongest local group showed through in the final. After getting up by two goals, we were able to fight off the pushback allowing the three of us to be engraved on the Goodall Cup together. The original cup resides in Toronto at the Hockey Hall of Fame, and for another year it will sit in front of a Newcastle Northstars jersey.
The international experience was amazing and the organization as a whole adopted us as their own. I can't thank the people of Newcastle enough for the opportunity and I know this was a summer the three of us will never forget. All that remains now is to win a championship for the Augustnana Vikings to complete a perfect year of hockey.
-submitted by Scott Swiston, 5th year BMgt, Co-Captain - Vikings Hockey