Ice Hockey Australia

Victoria Undefeated in IHA’s 2008 National Ginsberg 13 & Under Championship

Before a packed house of screaming fans, player size differential meant nothing when Victoria’s 13 & Under Ginsberg Squad faced off against power house New South Wales in IHA’s 2008 National 13 & Under Ginsberg Championship final Gold Medal game.

Lukas Kemppainen struck early in the game when he found himself all alone at the corner of the net and slid the puck under New South Wales goaltender Stafan Mirus for Victoria’s first goal. After three goal posts, Kevin Madden replied for New South Wales with 2:13 left in the first period to tie the score 1 - 1.

With 2:55 remaining in a closely contested second period, Caleb Butler gave Victoria the lead 2 – 1 with an end-to-end rush and firing the puck over Mirus’ right shoulder. New South Wales failed to counter through out the second despite a number of attacks on Victoria’s netminder Fraser Ohlson.

At 11:51 of the third Kevin Madden scored his second of the game to tie the game 2 – 2. Three minutes later Madden scored his third to give New South Wales a 3 – 2 lead and momentum for what was believed to be enough for a Gold Medal win. However, the usual Victorian persistence paid off when Corey Stringer found the net unassisted with 6:05 remaining to even the score. Two minutes later, Caleb Butler struck again, unleashing a drive to the net and beating Mirus to the top shelf giving Victoria a 4 – 3 lead. Immediately after the face off, New South Wales massed a pressing attack on Ohlson causing Victoria to ice the puck with less than a minute remaining. New South Wales, taking advantage of the face off in Victoria’s end, pulled Mirus for the extra attacker. With New South Wales pressing, Kemppainen found the puck over Victoria’s blue line and wasted no time firing it into an empty net, giving Victoria a 5 – 3 win and Gold Medal honours for 2008.

In the Bronze Medal game South Australia defeated Western Australia 4 – 0 with goals from Kayne Fedor, Keegan Stone, Josephine Otto and Kendric McCarrol. Matt Wilson and Nathan Shigrov equally shared the South Australia’s net duties and the shutout.

Although Western Australia was unable to record a win at the Championship, it was not due to lack of effort. It was largely due to a rink closure at the end of the 2007 season causing reduced player numbers and ice times for trainings. The construction of a new modern ice facility is currently underway and will see the return of Western Australia in top form at all levels for years to come.

For stats and photos, click here.

New South Wales Brown State Team Gold Medal Winners in IHA’s 2008 National Brown Trophy Championship

New South Wales Brown State Team got serious after two straight losses cruising through IHA’s 2008 National Brown Trophy Championship’s semi and final games and Gold Medal honours for the third consecutive time.

Leading up to the finals round, South Australia was in the hunt against power house Victoria to finish the round robin undefeated and capture first place thereby setting up their semi-final game against 4th place Western Australia. The placing would compel the other semi-final game between 2nd place Victoria and 3rd place New South Wales with the winner facing South Australia and the losing team facing the losing team between South Australia and Western Australia. However, it was not meant to be as rookie sensation, 16 year old Jamie Bourke led Victoria to a 3 – 0 win over South Australia and first place for the Championship.

In the determining highly penalized first semi-final game, New South Wales, veteran captain Scotty Stephenson led the charge against South Australia with two consecutive goals in the second period to give New South Wales a 3 – 1 lead. Nick Abba completed the scoring with two more in the third and a final 5 – 3 win. Nick Clark’s single and Mitch Villani’s two were South Australia’s three goals. Victoria easily took out a very young Western Australian team 9 – 0. The finals would see Victoria against New South Wales and South Australia against Western Australia. Fifth place team the Australian Capital Territory went winless for the championship.

In the Bronze Medal game South Australia blanked Western Australia 3 – 0 with two of the goals coming from Dean Peterson.

In what was expected to be a closely contested contest for gold medal honours between Victoria and New South Wales, captains Scotty Stephenson and Adrian Esposito led the charge with two goals each to handily defeat Victoria 6 – 1 and Gold Medal honours for 2008. Tommy Powell was Victoria’s sole goal scorer.

The Championship witnessed some exceptional talented 1991 born rookie players with the likes of Victoria’s Jamie Bourke & Matty Anderson, South Australia’s Wehebe Darge (Leading Championship Points Player), Western Australia’s Michael Smart (Best Goaltender) & Kyle Dowling and Australian Capital Territorian’s Chris McPhail & Eric Sewell.