Winter is coming for 12th season of ice hockey league

The New Zealand Ice Hockey League (NZIHL) is lacing up for its 12^th annual season, despite Kiwi sports fans knowing almost nothing about it.

The five-team league that includes teams from Auckland, Dunedin, Queenstown, and Christchurch is quickly growing and is now even capturing worldwide attention.

Import players are flying in from some of the most competitive hockey countries in the world, and support for the league, which starts its season this weekend, continues to grow.

Canadian-born Justin Daigle made the trek to New Zealand three years ago and said the competition is surprisingly challenging.

“I came here without even knowing it was a sport here,” Mr Daigle said. “But it’s been very eye-opening seeing the quality of the hockey here and the quality of the players.”

Mr Daigle played at the highest level of college hockey in America before moving to New Zealand to captain the West Auckland Admirals.

Now, he’s one of the league’s most potent defence-men and leads the charge in player development throughout the country.

“It’s definitely growing,” he said. “It’s my third season, and in the short time I’ve been here, we’ve seen a lot of development in the local players.”

The league is also streamed online to thousands throughout the country.

The managing director of Slapshot Productions, Jez Brown, said the streaming played a large role in growing the league both locally and overseas.

“The streaming benefits everyone in a massive way,” Mr Brown said. “It gives us considerably more notoriety overseas.

“We now attract players from all around the world who have played at a very high level, including people who have been previously drafted in the NHL.”

Mr Brown also said viewing figures reflected the growth the sport has seen in the past five years.

“When we first started, we averaged about 300 viewers per game,” Mr Brown said. “Now, it’s up to 2500 per game, and the highest we had for one game was 5500.”

Although New Zealand has a strong NHL following, Mr Daigle believes ideas about the sport’s brutality stops people from getting into it here.

“I think there is a misconception there as well as far as the whole gruesome nature of the sport and fighting,” Mr Daigle said. “I mean, there is a place for that but I don’t think you see it much here.”

Instead, Mr Daigle said the sport was appealing to fans because of its high skill level and frenetic pace. “It’s a skill game,” he said. “You have to have speed, you have to have skating ability, and you have to have some hockey sense, or hockey IQ as we call it.

“Physical attributes are an afterthought.”

And that’s precisely why it appeals to New Zealanders, Mr Daigle said. “The physical nature of the sport is actually perfect for the Kiwi culture.”

“Rugby is your guys’ big thing and obviously there are a lot of things that sort of translate between the two.”

Now, Mr Brown believes the missing piece to the puzzle is a broadcaster.

“Everything we do is to broadcast standard, which can immediately be shown on television,” he said. “The quality of hockey in New Zealand is very high and as those import players would attest, if this league was in a hockey country, it would be a professional league."

You can listen to the full interview with Justin Daigle and Te Waha Nui's James Pasley below. Video: Sam Hewat