Australia to play two ice hockey Tests against New Zealand
Roar Rookie
By AIHL_IceHockey, 28 May 2009 Ice Pete is a Roar Rookie
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.
Enjoy sports? Enjoy a bargain? All Sports Online has your favourite sporting brands at up to 70% off. Online only, premium quality sporting goods and merchandise at discounted prices. Get a deal now.
The Crowd Says (5) | Page 1 of Comments
Have Your Say
Do you have what it takes to become a sports writer? Write for the roar
Other Sports articles
- Victoria Azarenka vs Maria Sharapova: Australian Open women’s final live scores, blog (89)
- The sporting fallacy of the Olympic ‘Games’ (46)
- Sonny Bill needs to start boxing full time (46)
- Djokovic vs Nadal was great, but do we need six-hour finals? (36)
- Sonny Bill looking sharp for his first real test (29)
- Sonny Bill wins title in first round (25)
- Nadal vs Djokovic: The match for the ages (20)
- London’s Olympic Games have a long way to come (10)
- New champ Williams looking to next fight (5)
- Aust and GB aim to convert 4ths to bronze
- Young pitcher signs big deal with Red Sox (7)
- World Cup Darts heartbreak in Hamburg (3)
- Mayweather and Pacquiao have shamed boxing (13)
- Will Tom Brady’s legacy be affected by one drop? (20)
- London’s Olympic Games have a long way to come (10)
- World Cup Darts heartbreak in Hamburg (3)
- Mayweather and Pacquiao have shamed boxing (13)
- Will Tom Brady’s legacy be affected by one drop? (20)
- Sonny Bill needs to start boxing full time (46)
- Lachlan Murdoch squashing FTA sport for Fox’s benefit (4)
- Sonny Bill Williams vs Clarence Tillman III: Live updates, blog [video] (182)
Simmo said | May 29th 2009 @ 1:26pm | Report comment
How many games per season do the AIHL clubs play?
Sean D said | June 2nd 2009 @ 2:46pm | Report comment
Great for hockey!!!
But is it fair that div1 Australia plays against a lowly NZ??
Hemjay said | June 2nd 2009 @ 3:28pm | Report comment
Australia is only ranked 30 NZ 39 not that great a difference is it?
I don’t follow the game at all and just had a look at the 09 rankings.
Also if you did a lillte more research you will find Australia was dropped to division II while NZ was promoted to Division II after the latest World Championships. So going by these accounts they’re both in the same class now.
Hemjay said | June 2nd 2009 @ 3:40pm | Report comment
After a little more research I have discovered that after a year in Division one Australia failed to even win a game.
Whats even more astounding is that they had a whopping 40 goals scored against them in five games whilst only scoring a mere 7!
Sean D said | June 4th 2009 @ 1:23pm | Report comment
Rankings don’t mean a whole lot once you get onto the ice mate.
Australia won division 2 last year without dropping a game, just because they are inthe same division doesn’t mean they are on the same level at all. Australia will beat them by double figures.