A World Alone
One problem Kiwi junior players face is the necessity to play overseas, especially with scouts not coming to the remote island.
Avondale, NZ — In North America, it’s not rare for an ice hockey career to take you across the country. The options to play in your home continent are nearly endless.
For New Zealand players, staying at home will only stall your career.
Better opportunities in ice hockey equate to choosing a foreign country over spending the summer with your friends.
Over the years, one-on-one development has improved in New Zealand, but the overall quality of teams is stagnant.
“The national ice hockey league is the top level, and there’s some junior teams around the world that can absolutely dominate us. It puts it all into perspective,” West Auckland Admirals captain Justin Daigle said.
The chances of a scout coming to New Zealand are slim, and players understand that.
“Over here it’s more pay-to-play, even though with the [New Zealand Ice Hockey League], it’s not hard, but it’s not too bad,” Alex Regan said. “But if you actually want to make a career out of ice hockey, you have to go overseas.
“No one really thinks about ice hockey too much and then like over there [in Europe], you have chances to go pro. And you always have other countries around you which have good leagues like Hungary, France, or Germany. Over here, we’re a bit more isolated so you can’t really make a career out of it. I think it’s one of the big problems.”
Regan and his twin, Chris, have added multiple continents to their young careers, in both world tournaments and juniors. At the conclusion of the 2019 NZIHL season, they completed their final year in secondary school and left for Charleston, South Carolina to play in the United States Premier Hockey League Elite division.
“I think it’s good having such good imports coming over because that also helps increase our skill level,” Regan said.
Imports come in with a lot of experience to pass along to junior players. Regan credits captain Daigle for teaching him “how to play defence properly.”
“All our imports have told me to just calm down, and given me some tips and tricks on what to do instead of starting to panic at the puck,” Regan said.
Some even provide connections for overseas opportunities.
The Regans were fortunate to meet their scout at the IIHF U18 World Championships in Bulgaria. Alex finished second-most in points for New Zealand and Chris scored a crucial goal in New Zealand’s 4–3 overtime heartbreak to Israel.
If they weren’t found there, Alex thinks it would’ve been harder for them to find better options to play. It’s a rarity for people to watch NZIHL games specifically for one player. World tournaments are the only chance Kiwi players have for continuing their development.
But there’s a catch: opportunities have an age limit.
It takes years of playing overseas to finally get the right shot. Alex admires former Admirals player Jake Ratcliffe, whose career overseas has amassed seven different leagues. Ratcliffe, 22, made history as the first male Kiwi-born player in NCAA ice hockey of any level and finished his sophomore year at Div. III Westfield State University in Massachusetts.
“As you get older, the opportunities slowly go further away unless you carry on and suddenly get really good and then get scouted,” Regan said. “I think it’s a very low chance as you get older.”
They like their chances now.
