The Australian Ice Hockey League, Winter Games New Zealand, and the two nations’ national ice hockey federations have come to an agreement for Australia to play two ice hockey “Tests” as a Winter Games highlight event in August.
The two matches will be played on consecutive nights in Dunedin on New Zealand’s South Island on Saturday the 22nd and Sunday the 23rd of August — the 2nd and 3rd days of the Games.
The assistance of the AIHL and its teams were required when the dates given clashed with the last weekend of the AIHL’s regular season, forcing teams to go without their Australian representative players.
Rather than hobbling clubs by sending regular Australian team players away to New Zealand, the North Stars and Bears agreed to move their final round game eight days forward, allowing a team that is in majority made up of the North Stars boosted by a smattering of Bears to play the Kiwis in a game of great significance.
The New Zealand Winter Games is a biannual event, so an Australia Vs New Zealand rematch may not be out of the question for future games.
Additionally this match opens up the possibilities of AIHL expansion, with at least two rinks in New Zealand and a brand new rink in Perth keen to get their players involved.
Photo by Mark Bradford: The last game between Australia and New Zealand was the closest ever, the Aussies winning 4 goals to 2 in Newcastle's 2008 IIHF Division II World Championships.
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