Dunedin Ice Hockey Association

April 2010 Newsletter

From the President

Thanks to all of the club members for their contribution to date in making the 2010 season develop. The new premier league has finished, DIHL is well underway, and all the practices have started and we’re seeing good numbers at most levels. Club teams are starting to play in the southern league rounds, and the Easton Cup is on here next weekend, so there’s plenty of hockey to go around.

Any feedback/comments on the club activities, please email me on president@dunedinicehockey.hellyer.kiwi. Thanks,

Kyle

Internationals

Congratulations to the 2010 Ice Blacks, including Dunedin Thunder goaltender Rick Parry, who recently competed in the Division II World Championships in Estonia. The team beat Israel and China and narrowly lost to Iceland, to finish 4th in the tournament and stay in the division. That’s a fantastic result beating two teams that NZ has never beaten before.

The NZ under 20 team were in Turkey earlier this year playing in the third division. The team included Regan Wilson, Heath Dunlop, as well as new Thunder players Paris Heyd and Robbie Coslett.

The NZ under 18 team were in Mexico last month in the third division. The team included Tom Wilson, Regan Wilson (captain), and 2010 Thunder player Dane Dunlop. The team came back with a big last period in the final game against the hosts to take the gold medal and promotion for 2011.

Congratulations to all the club’s national reps who have displayed tremendous commitment to their sport to make these teams and compete.

Nominations

Rick Parry and Dunedin Thunder defenceman Regan Wilson have been nominated for ASB Otago Sportsman and Junior Sportsperson of the year respectively by the club. Both had fantastic seasons in 2009. Rick Parry dominated the Thunder net, facing far more shots than any other goalie in the NZIHL, and won both Ice Black games during the Division III World Champs, including a shutout against Ireland. Regan Wilson not only captained the NZ U18 team, but also played for the NZ U20 team, a fantastic achievement for a player who was still playing U16s in 2008.

Premier League

Congratulations to the Stars, who won the new Dunedin Premier League, beating the Jets in the final 6-4 on Sunday night. The premier league is a new competition that the club has introduced, but thanks to the commitment of the players, coaches, officials, and Richard Sykes it has run reasonably successfully and we’ll be looking at building on it in 2011.

Southern League Results

The club has entered three teams in the southern region competition. Senior open grade have beaten Gore twice, but lost both times to Queenstown. Midgets won their first match before narrowly losing to Queenstown midgets. And over the weekend Dunedin Peewees beat both Gore and Alexandra by convincing scores. Several Dunedin women players also play for the Southern Women who compete in the SNC competition, and they came close to defeating Gore the other weekend and also lost to Alexandra SNC.

The midgets will be in Gore on May 9th, and both the Open and Peewee teams will be in Gore later in May.

Updated Club Night Schedule

The club has made some amendments to its club night schedule for the rest of the season, pulling out a team that hasn’t made the numbers, and adding in some games for those that have good numbers. The new schedule is available at:

https://dunedinicehockey.hellyer.kiwi/files/documents/clubNightSchedule2010v2.pdf

This replaces the old version which was on the back of the membership booklet.

Owe money to the club?

A number of players have been sent reminders that they owe money to the club for practices, leagues, registration etc. Thank you to those that have made contact or made payment. If the rest could quickly address this issue and ensure that they are fully paid up, the club does not want to have to deny access to the ice to players.

Coming Up:

A reminder that club members can always get an up-to-date schedule of all practices and games by going to the club web site (www.dunedinicehockey.hellyer.kiwi) and looking at the calendar on the right hand side. This is kept up-to-date as practices or games are added and draws released.

Club members can also become a fan of Dunedin Ice Hockey on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dunedin-Ice-Hockey/130911841735

Easton Cup

The club is hosting the SNC Easton Cup competition on 8 – 9 May in Dunedin. Players 16 years+ are invited to form teams and enter. For more information contact Larry Martin on adult@dunedinicehockey.hellyer.kiwi, or download the entry form:

https://dunedinicehockey.hellyer.kiwi/files/documents/EastonCupEntryForm1.pdf

Oldtimers League

Once the DIHL finishes, the club will be running a 2 team oldtimers series, over seven weeks, starting on Tuesday 18 May at 7pm. Males 35 and older and females 30 and over should log back into club hub and add the subsequent fee for the oldtimers winter league to their account to be put in a team. For more information contact Kim Meredith-Jones on oldtimers@dunedinicehockey.hellyer.kiwi.

Dunedin Thunder News

Dunedin Thunder is asking for club members to help with the many activities that need to occur to make their home games a success over four weekends – providing music, goal judges, fundraising, selling merchandise, giveaways to the crowd. They will be hosting a meeting for all interested club members on Monday May 24th at 7.30pm at the rink.

The Dunedin Thunder schedule is now available here: http://www.nzihl.com/schedule.aspx. There are also rumblings that all NZIHL games will be televised this season, but the league needs a couple of major sponsors first. If anyone knows of a business that is looking to be associated with such an exciting sport, please get in touch.

New Club Tops/Socks

The club will shortly be sending out details as to how members will be able to order the new playing uniform, and how to indicate the name and number you’d like on your top. Stay tuned!