Canadian ice assignment

Press, 25 July 1986, Page 26

Canadian ice assignment

Canterbury’s best ice hockey players will get a chance to test their capabilities against overseas opposition when they meet a team of Ontario club players at the Big Apple Rink on August 14.

But while the Ontario team is making a holiday trip around New Zealand with some ice hockey included, the Canterbury team will certainly not be treating the match as a lighthearted romp.

Ontario is the first overseas ice hockey team to play in Christchurch for many years. Its party of 22 will be made up of players ranging in age from 18 to 50, and it will have three matches in Christchurch.

Arriving on August 10, it will have a practice session the next day before playing teams drawn

from the four Christchurch club teams on August 12 and 13. It will play a combined Islanders-AWA Hitachi Redwings side, then a Bruins-Rangers selection. Those teams will comprise players not selected for Canterbury.

From Christchurch, the Ontario team will travel around the South Island, and will have matches in Queenstown. Despite its low profile, ice hockey has long been an established sport in Christchurch. It goes back to at least 1936, when the Erewhon Cup was first presented to the winners of an outdoor competition. It is still contested, and is held at present by the Canterbury association. The opening of the Centaurus rink in the early 1950 s provided a big boost. But in the late

1960 s and early 1970 s initial interest had waned, but the opening of the Big Apple complex, with its international-size playing surface, has helped revive interest In addition to the four senior teams, Canterbury has three junior and two bantam teams, some players as young as six years, involved in weekend competition.

For those unfamiliar with the game, teams consist of six players, a goaltender, two defencemen, two wings and a centre man. Games last for an hour, split into three 20minute periods. The Canterbury squad of 20 for the representative match has an experienced look about it, with several players having competed overseas. It does, however, include young players of promise,

such as the New Zealandborn forwards, Darren Ward and John Dowman, aged 19 and 18 respectively. The 31-year-old goalie, Francois Martell, played in the junior A grade in Toronto, which is the elite competition for the brightest prospects in Canada and the United States with eyes set on a professional career. Dave Banks, the vicepresident of the Canterbury association, played junior A in Washington. The New Zealand-born defence man, Gary Wilson, played for the Blacktown Warriors in Sydney; Jeff McDonnell played for Trent University in Toronto; while the coach, Drew Britz, from Humboldt, Saskatchewan, played junior A ice hockey in the Western

Canadian play-off series before coming to New Zealand.

The full Canterbury team is.— Goalies: Francois Martell, Robin Wilson.

Defence: Dave Banks (assistant captain), Craig Smith, Tim Raateland, John Corbishley, Mike Seelen, Gary Wilson. Forwards: Doug Williamson, Ned Kurbatoff, Norm Hawker, Andrew Maitland, Darren Ward, John Dowman, Gerard Bouwman, Steve Fahey, Allen Berke (assistant captain), Jeff McDonnell, Steve Bowden, Warren Chamberlain (captain).

Reserves: Bruce Mclsaac, Simon Bowden, Dave Le Comte and Darryl De Vries.

Coaches: Drew Britz and Robinson Wilson.