South Island Royals play B.C. Major Midget hockey, but follow Aussie rules
When most people associate Australia with hockey, it’s with the field version.
Amid that — and the rugby and cricket — there is a small, but dedicated pro ice hockey league.
It is through that Southern Hemisphere route that the South Island Royals of the B.C. Major Midget Hockey League found their new head coach, Adam Geric.
Geric, who is just 27, and his Royals opened the regular season with a 6-2 loss against the Fraser Valley West Hawks on Saturday in Lake Cowichan. The teams meet again today at noon at Saveon-Foods Memorial Centre.
These Royals are playing under Aussie rules.
The former Saanich Braves Junior B and Saskatoon Blades WHL player played two seasons for the Gold Coast Blue Tongues. But the team, located in the 2018 Commonwealth Games host city, folded. So Geric continued his career with the Newcastle North Stars, recording 23 points in 27 games during the 2013 season.
Because his mother, Julie, was born and raised in Sydney, Geric has deep family roots Down Under and is eligible to play for Australia. He recorded an assist in five games as Australia placed fourth at the 2014 IIHF Division II World Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. It’s not Canada versus Russia in the World Cup semifinals or the Olympic gold medal won by his old Peninsula Panthers Junior B nemesis Jamie Benn. But still, how many players get to say they played for a national team?
Dave Bidini wrote a book titled The Tropic of Hockey, where he chronicled the ice version of the game as it is played in unexpected places. Geric lived it. He describes his playing time Down Under as a great experience, yet unusual. “It’s different,” he said. “You get some very good calibre players — guys with [North American minor-pro] ECHL and AHL pro experience and some good home-grown Aussies — but then it dips down a bit. There is a big range from the first and second lines to the third and fourth lines.”
The Aussies are world powers in rugby and cricket, and punch well above their weight in the Summer Olympics. Much of that culture has rubbed off on Geric, who is also a strength and conditioning coach, and has influenced his coaching philosophy.
“I’m a big work ethic and discipline guy. I believe the skills will come,” said Geric, who earned a bachelor degree in exercise science and business from Griffith University in Queensland.
Among his Royals charges this season are the talented brother tandems of Ryan and Sean Strange and Brandon and Tory McClintick.
Saturday’s South Island goals were scored by Brandon McClintick and Alex Benger. Expected to provide the offence this season are Brandon McClintick, Ryan Strange, James Vince and Jonah Ragsdale. The top blueliners look to be Sean Strange, a WHL draft pick of Kamloops, and Benger.
The GM for South Island is again Ron Lindsay.
The B.C. Major Midget Hockey League is an elite development circuit and has an alumni list that includes NHLers Ryan Nugent Hopkins of the Edmonton Oilers, Jake Virtanen of the Vancouver Canucks, Sam Reinhart of the Buffalo Sabres and top New York Islanders-prospect Mathew Barzal.
Joining the Royals in the 11-team B.C. Major Midget League are the North Island Silvertips, based in Nanaimo.
Each team plays 40 regularseason games, running through March 4-5.