Take The Number 69: Meet Eric

Welcome to Take the Number 69, a blog by Eric Brook charting his ice hockey journey from being introduced to the sport, volunteering with the Australian men and women’s ice hockey leagues, learning to skate and now playing in the “beer leagues”. Before his journey begins, take a moment to get to know Eric, and hear the story of how Ice Hockey took a hold of his heart.

 

My hockey journey started via the use of social media in early 2014 and has continued to open doors to new experiences ever since.

Holidaying in snowy “Portlandia” (also know as Portland) I was invited to a hockey game by a local friend.

Not that I knew this at the time but an 8-2 win by the local Portland Winterhawks in the Western Hockey League against the Moose Jaw Warriors would be the first game of many that I have watched live.

Two further live games that weekend including a behind the scenes tour of an NHL standard arena saw me keen to check out hockey in Australia when I returned home.

While the Winterhawks continued their season, the 2014 Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) season was just beginning.

After looking online, I found that I was located halfway between the two Sydney AIHL teams.

My first AIHL level game was the 2014 pre-season Wilson Cup final between Sydney Ice Dogs and Newcastle Northstars at Sydney Ice Arena.

This was quickly followed by my first AIHL game at the same venue between Sydney Bears and
Adelaide Adrenaline.

With the Ice Dogs on the road interstate for the first month, I found myself to be a regular at Bears games.

I soon found out that I was often the sole source of game information coming from the rink and became an information source from the Bears den.

I was also starting to find friends amongst Bears fans and the online AIHL community.

Soon, I was finding that I could actually interact with players before and after games.

Bears backup goalie and league fan favourite Luke Read was instrumental in helping me work out what size jersey I needed to show my support for the Bears.

After a game, he let me try on his jersey to see how well it fit.

Let’s just say that a goalie padded up Luke Read is similar in size to a non-playing Eric Brook.

A pre-booked mid-season trip to Europe, England and Canada (after the NHL season ended!) saw me try to follow the AIHL action from overseas.

As I would find out in the following seasons, northern hemisphere fans love the AIHL because of how the seasons fall.

The timings are quite kind to English people as they can enjoy Australian hockey in the morning.

Returning to Australia, I found myself seeking and offering more involvement with the Bears to assist the very small pool of game day volunteers.

My first time as an AIHL social media person was against the Northstars on the road to Newcastle with a couple of games to go in the season.
The off season for me was about building a community amongst people interacting with the Bears on social media.

Australian fans often need to be educated about hockey in ways that North American fans can take for granted.

The message was clear – the Bears were upping their game off the ice for 2015 in terms of social media.

The 2015 and 2016 seasons saw me travel around the country following the Bears in action.

Over this two year period, I did not miss a single game in pre-season or the regular season.

Apart from social media, I also helped out in many other tasks in game day operations and broadcasting.

I had good relationships with other teams and other fans regardless where I went around the country.

Like my initial hockey experience, my foray into hockey broadcasting was a case of me throwing myself in and getting involved.

In 2015 and the first half of 2016, I was juggling social media and colour commentary duties at the same time on Bears Hockey Radio for home games.

Later in 2016, I moved through necessity to play-by-play commentary duties for home games & continuing social media for away games.

In 2017, I filled a gap at the last minute and became commentator and camera operator combined for the Sydney Sirens in the Australian Women’s Ice Hockey League (AWIHL).

My first game in this capacity was against the Melbourne Ice in Victoria, which ended up leading to me broadcasting the AWIHL Finals a couple of months later where the Sirens finished the season as undefeated champions.

That weekend was a highlight, with four games played ranging from blowouts to a shootout in the gold medal game.

Personal and family issues meant sadly stepping back from the AIHL in 2017.

I am staying involved somewhat in the sport generally thanks to a new website and a desire to leap over the boards and step onto the ice as a player but that’s a story for another time.

 

Next week, Eric shares his experiences of learning to skate, and acquiring the skills he needed to play the game he loves.