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Canadian-born dentist Dr Sarah Edney of Power Dental Practice in Hurstville, NSW, rekindled her love of ice hockey when she moved to Australia.
“When I moved to Australia from Canada, I didn’t expect ice hockey to even exist here. I had never heard of any Australian teams so it was nice to discover a small but enthusiastic scene.
“In Canada, everyone skates and there are rinks everywhere. You can even make a rink in your backyard during winter. My mum played ice hockey and encouraged my sister and me to play.
“During my last year of high school, I joined the Team Canada program and played with them for five years. When I was studying at Harvard, I played in the American College League. I also played professionally in Buffalo [in New York] but had retired by the time I left for Australia.
“I packed my skates, hoping I could get on the ice somewhere and maybe do some coaching. A contact from Buffalo knew the coach of the Sydney Sirens and introduced me. Another woman on the Sydney team lived quite close to me in Canada. When she went home for a holiday, she picked up all my ice-hockey gear and brought it over for me. A month after arriving, I was ready to play.
“I play for the Sydney Sirens which is part of the Australian Women’s Ice Hockey League. Each team is based in a capital city. We play on weekends and face every team at home and on their home ground. We travel to all the capital cities throughout the season.
“I’ve been impressed with the Australian standard of competition. In Canada, there’s massive exposure and engagement with the sport. Hockey is everywhere. A lot of players here started with Saturday night disco skating, but they definitely have a passion for the game. Many players in Australia find the sport later in life so the average age of teams is more at the mature end.
“I first played with the Sirens in 2019 and we won the competition. Then COVID stopped everything for a while, but we won again last year. We had a tough start this year with a lot of our players having babies or moving away. We only won three games during the whole season.
“The physicality and the fast pace of ice hockey really appeals to me. I travelled around Canada, the US and Europe with Team Canada and now I get to play in Australia. The ice-hockey community are welcoming and passionate about sharing the sport. I think my love of the game is so strong because other people also love it; that makes it contagious.”
