Club History
BraveHearts Ice Hockey Club Inc. is the result of many years of research into Ice Hockey development, systems and culture. With a close association with the Australian Defence Force divisions, The Emergency Services and All Veterans Events, the decision was made to incorporate similar values that these dedicated people utilise in their daily lives to create a club who is supportive of all of its valued members.
In 2017/2018 the first ANZAC and Remembrance day games were held. These were specifically run as fundraisers for ADF and Emergency Service to assist with members and families of their factions who suffer physical or mental trauma, and donate the funds to the support networks that assist with our front line personnel. It was felt that there was a mutual respect from all participants during these games for the players from differing clubs. This in itself was more than anyone could have dreamed about.
From these games All Veterans Events was created and the fundraising efforts were noted as the start of something more. There was a lot of talk about including an ADF/ES team into the IHWA league. The problem with this is, the skill level differed so much between the individuals, it would be hard to create a club that had enough players to fill spots especially when many worked shifts or were called away for work etc.
So the decision was made to create an all inclusive club that still upheld the beliefs of the ADF/ES but allowed the civilians a place to play hockey in an environment that is both complementary to their wants and offers development to all levels.
From initial discussions prior to the 2018 Winter Season, the aim was to identify the strengths & weaknesses in other club systems and create a club that combined the best of these as much as possible to have a place where players can play the game in a safe, encouraging and developmentally focused surroundings.
The three founding members of the club Adam Blower, Josh Nevermann and Scott Atkins put together a draft plan and started working on the creation of the BraveHearts.
Finally in 2020 after a lot of hard work by all involved, BraveHearts Ice Hockey Club Inc was officially entered into the IHWA divisional leagues and was voted in as a full member club of the state association the following year. And in that same year we were the first club in Australia to put an ADF team into a state run league. Our motto Amor Enim in Ludo means For the Love of the Game, and that is what we intend to teach all our members moving forward in the coming years.