The depth of talent in the Tourism Media team never fails to amaze.
Steve, our software developer, was backup goalie last Saturday, for both Canada and USA during the Ice Hockey Classic at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
According to Steve, the call asking him to play came in late Friday night. When he asked what team he was backup for, the organiser said “both”.
“I was told to go to the VIP gate at the Entertainment Centre at 4:30pm and I found out how tight security is there. I did everything except the media stuff with Team Canada and wore their jersey because I was born in Canada. But a USA jersey was handy just in case…” he said.
“In the pre-game warm up I got to talk and warm up with stars like Brent Burns, Nolan Yonkman, David Booth and Zenon Konopka. They scored many times, but I also stopped quite a few which was fun.
My Aussie mate told me that he saw the USA goalie in with the physio between the 2nd and 3rd breaks just to stir me up. I did not play at all, but learned that the USA goalie was dehydrated all game.
Both Tyler Bunz and Garret Sparks had good games and faced too many shots. Canada won 6-3, but it was 3-3 up until the final 5 minutes. The Primeau brothers were the coaches.”
Steve has been playing ice hockey since he was 5 years old. He became a goalie when he was about 9 years old after being stunned by a body check into the boards. He now plays full time in the Brisbane United Ice Hockey League (BUIHL) in one of the six “A grade” teams.
For anyone interested in Hockey – here’s some info about the highly anticipated inaugural 2015 Ice Hockey Classic in June.
Four high-intensity matches in this internationally recognised tournament will be played in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.
As well as showcasing top quality ice hockey, the 2015 Classic will be raising awareness and money for the STOPCONCUSSIONS Foundation in association with Nick Rushworth of Brain Injury Australia. STOPCONCUSSIONS is a not-for-profit concussion and neurotrauma awareness and education platform founded by former European star Kerry Goulet and ex-NHL star Keith Primeau.
(And just for the record, Steve was far from bragging about his achievements. The only way we found out about it was another member of our team happened to be there…)
