Inside the length three players have gone to in order to compete at the Ice Hockey National Championships
Three junior sporting stars who have to travel the length of Australia nearly four times each year have been selected to represent their state at the Ice Hockey National Championships despite having limited access to facilities.
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Three junior sporting stars who have to travel the length of Australia nearly four times each year have been selected to represent their state at the Ice Hockey National Championships despite having limited access to facilities.
Sunshine Coast talents Knox Lloyd, Jaxen Carter and Hendrix Ord-Abbatangelo travel to Perth later this month alongside their Ginsberg under-13s teammates to compete against the country’s best players from New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia.
Despite their glowing success, the trio have had to do it the hard way by having to travel up to two hours each way to Brisbane for required training sessions and regular weekend matches for the Brisbane Buccaneers.
Each player travels upwards of 15,420km each year just to play the game.
Following the closure of Gold Coast’s Bundall Ice Hockey rink earlier this year, Brisbane’s Boondall and Acacia Ridge facilities remain the only two in South East Queensland.
“It’s a lot of early mornings and late nights,” Jaxen Carter’s mother Jess said.
“We’re generally up at 3am to get down and on the ice to train or get the games out of the way before getting home anywhere between 5pm and 9pm.
“It’s a huge commitment for us as parents but just as much for the kids too who understand they have to sacrifice hanging out with their school friends or missing important events.”
Unlike other junior sports such as rugby league, union, Aussie rules, cricket and so on, ice hockey doesn’t receive any funding from the government.
“The gear, the fees, the travel and everything else is all expensive but seeing the boys get so excited every time they see each other or are pulling their gloves on makes it worth it,” Carter said.
Queensland Ice Hockey President Tim Lilley, who has been involved in the sport since 1997 and took over as president in late 2023, said the dedication from players, coaches and families outside of Brisbane was to be applauded.
“I myself live on the Sunshine Coast as do many players and coaches so to see the commitment from everyone, including our junior players is very special,” he said.
“We’re always pushing to get greater access to facilities in Queensland whether that’s in the metropolitan areas like Brisbane and the Gold Coast, up North or in regional areas.
“Being a smaller sport it’s such a tight-knit community where everyone helps each other wherever they can so to see players like Knox, Jaxen and Hendrix reach representative honours is another proud boost for our sport.”
Queensland under-13 boys head coach and former Australian player Damian Bright, who grew up playing ice hockey in Victoria before moving to the Sunshine Coast in 2020, said he was excited for the coming days.
“It is a big commitment but what gets me out of bed every time is my love for the game,” he said.
“I love seeing the passion that the kids have as it brings you back to your childhood.“
Bright’s Queensland side will fly out to Perth on July 14 before playing eight matches across the five days.
“My main focus is for the boys to compete and have fun, obviously we want to do well results wise but we want to try and mould good kids first and good hockey players second,” he said.
“We placed in Bronze last year so a medal is what we’re aiming for as a team.”
Before the players gear up to represent their state with pride we caught up with each of them to see how they were feeling.
Hendrix Ord-Abbatangelo
Ord-Abbatangelo, an 11-year-old Buderim Mountain SS student, got into ice hockey via his parents but has only been playing in Queensland for the past 10 months.
“I grew up in Melbourne so I played Aussie rules, basketball and ice hockey for about three years,” he said.
“It’s been great since moving up here, finding a new club, meeting new people and teammates.”
Ord-Abbatangelo said he was excited for the coming days.
“I love that I get to hit people,” he said.
““It’s a really fun sport, I’m excited to travel to Perth and to just wake up every day and play or be with my friends.
“It will be cool to play a lot of hockey but to also make some new friends and play against my old friends from Melbourne.”
Knox Lloyd
Lloyd will gear up in goal for the Queensland side, following in the footsteps of former Australian star and his father Travis Lloyd.
“We went over to America a few years ago where we watched a few games and I really enjoyed it so I wanted to start playing,” the 12-year-old said.
Lloyd, a Meriden State College student, also plays Aussie rules for the Caloundra Panthers.
“I’m excited to play for Queensland, it will be a cool experience.”
Jaxen Carter
The trip to Perth will be Carter’s second straight year representing the Queensland side who was first introduced to the sport after watching The Mighty Ducks.
“I think it was during Covid-19 and my dad and I were watching it together and it looked like such a fun sport,” the 13-year-old said.
“I turned to dad and asked if I could play and he got so excited, he grabbed all of his old hockey gear and told me how he used to play.”
The Kawana Waters State College student said representing his state was a huge honour.
“I was really excited to be back in the Queensland team, hopefully we can win a few games and go well,” he said.
“I understand how mum and dad are always making such a big effort to get me to games and training on time.
“Waking up early and getting home late, most of the time it takes a whole day out of our weekend so I couldn’t be more thankful.”
To supports the boys in their state representative journeys a link to donations can be found here.
Originally published as Inside the length three players have gone to in order to compete at the Ice Hockey National Championships
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