Mustangs
The Mustangs were built on the notion of learning and development, not from just the players but the committee, coaches and volunteers as well. The idea was to get more Victorians playing in the highest league in Australia, the AIHL. After 18 months of preparation and a lot of hard work behind the scenes, The Mustangs had developed an idea and made it a reality. In 2010 at our inaugural tryout in March, sixty players would step on the ice for an open tryout. Here, the coaches would sift through potential players and pick a roster of 28 including five development players.
The coaching staff made up of Steve Laforet and Doug Stevenson would apply some new and old strategies to these young players. Steve is the current National Junior team coach of Australia and has represented Victoria in three state championships as a coach. He moved from Canada 7 years ago after playing semi professional hockey there. Doug is a Victorian legend playing many years in British International Hockey League but now calls the Blackhawks his home in Ice Hockey Victoria. Both Laffs and Dougie will bring a new/old style of hockey for these boys to learn.
The team was chosen and many local heroes would play major roles. Shane Hardy and Steve Belic of the IHV Braves would gain leadership roles and The Mustangs would also add 2 imports to the list setting the bar high. Scott Corbett also from Canada would receive a leadership role and more of a coaching role as well. Scott would coach Anderson and Bennett of the IHV Tigers to a premiership that year. The Mustangs players are represented in all Ice Hockey Victoria clubs and participate in Development council as well.
Mustang players participated in six games last year ended their exhibition season 4-2. Their highlight was beating Adelaide in Adelaide and Newcastle at home. Both these teams are experienced teams within the AIHL. Our expectation this year is to compete against these teams again with the same results.
We are a very young team with an average age of 21 years so we are not setting goals to high. For the moment our reality is that in years to come we will aim for the Goodall but for now, the Mustangs are about learning and developing players so they can represent Victoria and Australia on the highest of podiums.