Territory Stingers to host Hockey One outfit Brisbane Blaze in September

NT hockey will show why their Territory Stingers should be in the big league when they take on Hockey One franchise Brisbane Blaze later this year.

NT’s top-tier hockey team Territory Stingers will host Hockey One franchise Brisbane Blaze in a major campaign piece to show the national competition why the Top End should have a team back in the big league.

The Stingers were dumped from the national competition when the governing body conducted a rebrand in 2019 changing it from the Australian Hockey League to Hockey One league.

A number of Territory-raised hockey stars including some playing with other Hockey One franchises are set to be called on to help send a strong message as to why the Stingers should return to the national competition.

And the Blaze are set to bring in a strong team as they will be two weeks out from the Hockey One season when they take on the Stingers on September 22 and 24 at Marrara.

Stingers men’s utility Jaiden McGregor, who missed the golden chance to pursue a career in hockey when the Territory team was removed from the national competition, recalls how it was challenging to receive the news as an up and comer.

“It was hard because especially when you are 17, 18, that’s when you got a lot of energy and passion behind it,” McGregor said.

Stingers men’s utility Jaiden McGregor. Picture: Hockey NT

“It was definitely hard to still kind of keep coming to training at club level when you know you can’t push yourself any further so I think a few of us got stagnant in that sense.

“But honestly it is just good to see the potential of it coming back here.”

McGregor said bringing a team back on the national stage was something for Hockey Australia to strongly consider.

“I think it is something that should be at the forefront of their minds when they are thinking about what it mean to have the Northern Territory back in the Hockey One competition,” he said.

“It’s really important.”

Going forward, the top men’s and women’s teams will be known as the Stingers after the Pearls nickname received the scrap.

The Territory Stingers were last in action against a Hockey One team last year when it took on the Perth Thundersticks.

Stingers men‘s head coach and Hockey NT CEO Jason Butcher

Stingers men‘s head coach and Hockey NT CEO Jason Butcher said the return of this level of hockey was set to boost the game in the region.

“I have always believed if you don’t have the aspirational piece then there is nothing for kids and parents to aspire to, people won’t get better, it doesn’t drip feed down,” Butcher said.

“You got to raise the top of the tent for everything to flourish inside it.

“When I returned 18 months ago knowing that we didn’t have the Stingers and knowing that we didn’t have the 21’s, you could just feel it, people didn’t know what they were doing anymore.

“So we have been fighting to get our seat at the table back again.

“Going to 21’s, improving our performances at the 18’s, having more Territory kids verses imports in all of our junior state teams, improving our academy support and everything they get there.

“Our belief is this is our birthright and we got to fight for it.

Butcher said that meant collaborating and uniting several factors.

Everything, sponsors, money, government support, improving our playing base, memberships, everything,” he said.

“We need a base for that to grow on but we also need to put this up here so we have got something to aspire to so everything inside that flourishes.”

The Territory has a rich history of producing some of the country’s best hockey players including Kookaburras captain Jeremy Hayward.

Des Abbott, Joel Carroll, Leon Hayward, Brooke Peris and Elizabeth Duguid are other notable stars from the Territory.