The Ice Men Cometh - Ireland on Ice
Mention Irish sports and ice hockey probably won't be the first thing that comes to mind. But, in April this year, ice hockey's team Ireland returned to Dublin after competing in Division III of the 2010 Ice Hockey World Championships in Luxembourg, as proud winners of the gold medal. Team captain, Mark Morrison, with four goals, was named best forward of the tournament, while Dublin's Kevin Kelly was the competition's best goalkeeper. A fantastic achievement, considering Ireland have only been competing at international level for six years.
Ice hockey's popularity in Ireland has surged in recent years and its rise in prominence owes much to a group of poorly equipped young Dubliners, who took to the ice in the Dolphin's Barn Rialto during the early 1980's. Scraping together equipment as they went along, keen to hone their skills, it wasn't long before their efforts attracted the attention of Canadian medical students, who happened to be ice hockey players, studying at the Royal College of Surgeons.
The Canadians formed a team, the R.C.S Blades, providing the Dubliners with some much needed and highly skilled opposition. The Irish lads learnt swiftly, and by the mid 80's the Dublin Ice Hockey Club was growing in size and confidence, but finding local opposition proved near impossible. The Rialto Barn was the only ice rink in Ireland and the club had to look to Britain for competition.
Unfortunately, however, finances prevented the team from travelling and, as the Rialto rink was below regulation size, inviting teams to play was unthinkable. Disillusioned, members began to leave the team but in 1987, when a second rink, the Silver Skate Ice Rink, opened in Phibsboro it gave Irish ice hockey fresh impetus. Playing out of the new rink, another team, the Phibsboro Flyers, was formed providing the Dublin club, now called the Rialto Rockets, with some local opposition. Then in the early 1990's, due in part to dwindling player lists, the two teams merged to form the Dublin Flyers, to date the longest running team in Irish ice hockey's history.
The Flyers skills improved each year and they eventually began to compete in Scotland, where they found the competition tough. Struggling to find success, their determination kept them going and competing against better sides they improved quickly. In 1995 and 1996 they won the Glenrothes Winter Challenge Cup, and in 1997 they made history by becoming the first team outside Scotland to win the much sought after Scottish Cup.
On the back on the Flyers success, the Irish Ice Hockey Association was formed and, in 1996, the non-profit organization was nominated by Great Britain for inclusion into the sport's governing body, the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). The proposition was seconded by Canada, before the federation's 54 member countries cast their votes in favour of the proposal, earning Ireland its place on the international ice hockey scene.
The association works tirelessly promoting ice hockey in Ireland and their efforts were fundamental in the formation of the male, female and junior national teams; in bringing the 2007 Division III World Championships to the newly opened Dundalk Ice Bowl (Ireland's only Olympic size ice rink and home to team Ireland); in establishing a development programme which encourages anyone interested in ice hockey, male or female, to take part; and in forming the all-Ireland Ice Hockey League.
The league was formed in 2007 and has two divisions; a recreational division and a development division. Despite being relatively small in size with only half-a-dozen or so sides in each, both leagues are sternly competitive. Winners of the 2010 recreational division were the Hawks B, a team founded in 2007 by members of the Latvian community living in Ireland, while the development division was won by the Dublin based Flyers Ice Hockey Club.
The Irish men's senior squad consists of players from north and south of the border and includes members of the Belfast Giants, who currently play in the UK's Elite Ice Hockey League. Team Ireland first took to the ice at international level in 2004, when they competed in Reykjavik in the Division III World Championships, where despite putting up a brave performance they only managed one win, a 15 - 1 victory over Armenia, and finished last in their group.
In 2007, in front of their home crowd they managed to take silver and in 2009 the under 18's won bronze. This year's gold medal comes after years of hard work by the Irish Ice Hockey Association and it assures team Ireland promotion to the World Championship's Division II in the 2011 season, confirming that Irish ice hockey is most definitely here to stay. And it is a fitting tribute to those pioneers of Irish Ice Hockey who first took to the ice in Dublin approximately twenty-five years ago.
© John Rooney 2010
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