Still Chugging Along

Oh awesome!! Is it weird to be excited to know about any of the Braves through too many degrees of separation? I kind of am though.

habs fans: i can't believe we're not first in the league

hawks fans: i can't believe we're almost a wild card team

bruins fans: i can't believe we're out of the playoffs

Well it’s a big deal in the way that any league sanctioned by the national sport federation is a big deal, but practically speaking it’s tiny. Hockey’s just not a big sport in Australia at all. I could probably name you at least 5 other sports off the top of my head that I think are bigger in Australian sports than hockey. Back when Ryan Lowe (who played for the Sydney Bears and Canberra Knights) got an emergency goalie position with the Sharks back in November, we got this gem of a line from an Australian sports blog: ‘The more amusing thing is the US reporting the AIHL as a professional hockey league.’

The AIHL’s a semi-pro league with 8 teams (it used to have 9, but the Gold Coast team folded this off-season due to the lack of a rink) that doesn’t pay it’s players, although I think the team pays for their accommodation and transport when they travel for games. In fact, the two Sydney teams require the players to pay an insurance fee to join. So players have to hold down a day job in order to get by, and I suspect it’s similar to the CWHL in that respect (sportsnet did a video about the ladies in the CWHL recently, if you haven’t seen it). If this was asked in terms of my recent posts about the Mustangs’ training camp: they do the whole nine yards of tryouts and training camp where guys get cut. Part of it is because the AIHL is seen as a league that is nurturing Australian hockey, which has led to a lot of angst about having import players and nurturing home-grown talent vs raising the league’s standard. They have a cap of 6 import players, similar to other European leagues. I don’t know if your guy was an import, but if he was chances are he was one of the better players on the team due to the cap. 

To put the talent level of the league into perspective, here’s the resumes of some of the more prolific players in the Mustangs: Pat O’Kane used to play in NCAA DIV-III (NCAA’s 2nd tier). Victor Gibbs Sjodin played with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks, was drafted in the 7th round by the Preds (it was News in Mustangs articles when he was a new import), and played in Sweden’s Allsvenskan (their second tier league). Joey Hughes also played in NCAA DIV-III, and in the SPHL. Hewittsports did a comparison to other leagues, including the Belgian league and The British Victoria Ice Hockey League. Which… I mean, I fully respect anyone who plays hockey at any sort of pro level, and I thought they were really good when I watched their games. But when we talk about North American hockey which is led by the NHL, the AIHL obviously doesn’t really come close. 

Australian hockey in general is well aware of its place within international hockey, in which they know they’re scrabbling for relevancy, not the top positions in the sport like Canada, Sweden, and pretty much anyone in the World Championships. Nathan Walker (if you managed to avoid all the kangaroo jokes last summer, he was the first Australian ever to be drafted, 3rd round by the Caps, and is playing in the AHL) is Australia’s best player, and I think he managed to drag them into DIV-IB in the IIHF world group a few years ago (which confusingly is the 3rd-tier behind Top and DIV-IA), but they’ve been relegated back to DIV-IIA since then. That puts them on par with teams like Britain, Iceland, and Serbia. 

Anyway, in the grand scheme of things the AIHL probably isn’t a big deal, but I had great fun watching them. Tickets were less than $20, and the arenas aren’t very big but that meant I always got good seats. Except for the one time I came late to the derby, and everyone was just looking for a place to stand (if you don’t know what a derby is, its when the home and away team is from the same city. Best atmosphere ever). I also watched my first hockey game there, so it kind of sucked me in and refused to let go. Also apropos of nothing, rather hilariously and because he’s one of my favourite players, one of the alternate captains in the Mustangs is named Patrick O’Kane, who’s from America, and wears #89. Believe me when I say the Mustangs twitter gets SO many Patrick Kane jokes out of that one. 

Alos, if the guy you know played for the Brave… !!!!!! Did he play for them last season? Because if not he probably played for the Knights. I don’t know how much you know about the Brave, but they’re a great story where the Canberra Knights folded 2 off seasons ago due to lack of finances, but the players came together and formed their own team. Then they called themselves the CBR Brave, because the old management refused to let go of the naming rights. And they went on to make the playoffs in their first season last year. I’m pretty much in love with them the same way anyone who follows the AIHL is in love with them. (I root for them whenever the Mustangs aren’t playing.)