- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
To be fair, Australia playing ice hockey in the Winter Olympics isn’t a long way away – it’s a long long way away. Still, not as long as many Aussies might think.
The shiny new twin-rink facility in Docklands, Melbourne is a big step forward on a long path. It’s been dubbed the “Icehouse”, and is the new home of the Winter Olympic Institute.
Hockey is expected to get at least as much ice access as any other winter sport, the main rink being completely encased in glass a strong indicator of that expectation.
After a decade or more of waiting, Victorians have gone from having the worst ice to the best ice facility in Australia. And Australian Ice Hockey League team, the Melbourne Ice, have shaken hands with the rink on their partnership.
So what will it take to get the Australian men’s Ice Hockey team back into the Olympics?
Not more Icehouses, not that I’d protest if more opened. Australia needs a dozen or more suburban rinks, like those in Boondall, Newcastle, and Penrith.
The program needs, of course, money and time. Our 1960 appearance was comparable to Eddie the Eagle in Calgary 1988 in that, while the team wasn’t a farce, they certainly weren’t competitive.
As a yardstick, Norway have one fifth of our population, nearly double the amount of hockey players, and nearly double the amount of ice rinks as us.
With our sports culture and increased national interest, 40 rinks and 7000 players doesn’t seem so far fetched as a 12 year plan.
AOC funding would allow all of best players to participate and cement Australia in Division I. Continued development would be required to take us to the top of Division I, alongside fringe teams such as Germany, Italy, France and Norway. From there, the door is open for Olympic qualification.
Let’s just hope Eddie McGuire has retired by then!