Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Darcy
Waldegrave from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
And it's very good morning too. The general manager of
Ice Hockey New Zealand. It's name is Paris Heide. He's
overseeing the fun and games in Queenstown. Started last night,
runs through today and tomorrow. It is a three v
three competition. Paris, welcome to the show. I'm presuming it
is exactly how it sounds, three hot on three it is.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Indeed, it's three on three ice hockey format. We generally
play with overtime to create more scoring chances, so we've
built a whole tournament around it.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
So have you done this before? Is this the first up?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Those are the first up for New Zealand. There's been
some tests overseas in a couple of leagues starting up
recently in the US, but no first for New Zealand
Ice Hockey differently much.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Change as far as the format. I'm presuming you don't
make these three play for as long as the regular.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Game, right, No, No general games sixty minutes and the
clock stops every stoppage and play. These games are eighteen
minutes and there's no clock stops so they're much shorter.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Do you have guys on the side then roll on
or girls on the side that can roll on in?
Because that's still the physicality involved in hockey is enormous.
They can't play the whole lot, can they? Surely?
Speaker 3 (01:14):
No? Definitely not with only three players on the ice. No,
there's nine players for a team and a goalie, so
they've got three four lines there.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Where do the players all come from? You've got six
teams involved too, Are they the guys that all play
in the league.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Yeah, so we've got six teams, one from Queenstown, one
from the Need, then one from christ Church. We've got
two Auckland teams and then we've got a third Auckland
team that is predominantly under twenty so most of our
undertween national team players.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
So what's on the line? Do they win like a
top hat and all the money they can eat or
what are they competing here?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
For sure they wish that was the case. No, there's
a trophy in the US and championship hats. Definitely.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
When you put on an event like this, the structure
around it has it been difficult being complex, I suppose,
especially when you look at the money side of things,
and bringing all these teams in from all over the
motto to play in Queenstown.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Not cheap, no, but nothing scheap we do these days.
And I think it's a format that there's a lot
of potential. It's new, but like a lot of sports
have been testing and trialing, most commonly probably look at
rugby sevens or T twenty cricket. It's a shorter format
for the game and just appeals to new audience or
something you want to test when.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
The new audience is plainly did you want to get
them to the rink itself? But do you put this
out as it online? Can we follow it any other
way besides getting too qt yep.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
So obviously in tend in person they will be streamed
live on YouTube. So if you look up news on
Ice Hockey League, all the games will be streamed on
there and commentator and then we'll be posting scores online
as well through social media platforms and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Let's look at favoritism. Is there somebody that should nudge
in front in your mind anyway, presuming it's going to
be Queenstown because they had pretty successful seasons over the
last decade or so, haven't.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
They well, if I say Queenstown, will that hopefully more
people will turn up. But no, it's interesting. It's a
different format, so it's sort of hard to tell because
there are different strategies involved in different skill sets to
the front. So a team that might trulyferently be strong
five on five you might get different teams come to
the fullfront and three on three, so hard to say. Really,
were just hoping for a lot of good games, high scoring,
(03:17):
a lot of excitement.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Is there anything markedly different besides the amount of players
on the ring? Still you're still learning how this operates.
Have you noticed anything so far within the tournament that
maybe has surprised you?
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Around the game, it is quite strategic, more so than
you'd think. It's three on three, so there's more space
out there, but there's a lot on one on one onsignment,
so if anyone misses an assignment, it becomes quite obvious
with the amount of space and creates a lot of
scoring chances and breakaways. So sort of like we expected
it too, But no, it's been great to see so far.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
As far as promotion of the sport, paris hide enormously
important that you get this out there in front of people.
What else are you doing as far as promotions concerned. Look,
you spend all your money on hotels and air tickets,
probably haven't got any change. But how's Ice Hockey and
Z promoting this?
Speaker 3 (04:06):
You know, we've been through the radio obviously, interviews like this,
and then through social media platforms as well, and a
lot of word of mouth and posters around town. Queen
Sound's been a big supporter of hockey as a local
community with the Sempede so where it gets out and
there's a lot of good hockey fans in QUEENSTOWND, which
is why we decided to come here first.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
It's a game growing. Are you getting more and more
people who want to actually get involved with this? I'm
sure it's a slow burn, but are you noticing an
increase in numbers?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
We are. We've seen a lot since COVID. Actually I'm
not sure what the trigger of the air was, but
we have seen year on the year there's more and
more support coming out to local teams. And we're about
three or four weeks into the season this year and
most of our teams are seeing record crowds. So it's
been fantastic to see.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
You've got a platform. Why should people take up hockey?
What's in it for them?
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Fantastic sport. It's fast, it's not overly physical at the
social level, but there's a lot of skill involved and
I think it's very rewarding as an individual once you
take it up. And we've got actually one of the
biggest growth areas for the sport on overall has been
the adult social side of hockey as well as the youth.
So that's been really positive, seeing people coming to it
(05:13):
in their twenties and thirties and falling in love with
the game. So you're a lot about these going on
around all the centers.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Now, I don't want to rain when you're Praye, Sorry,
don't want to rain in your prey Paris. When I
look at that game, I think of the equipment involved
and the cost the outlay. But if you are interested
in starting off, you climb to a local club. They
can help you out with stuff like that.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, definitely, especially across all the youth grades and learn
to play with the under twelves and under fifteens. All
the clubs have equipment that you can hire. We try
and lower that entry points, as you say, as much
as possible, so all the clubs provide equipment to hire
and a lot of them will do the same for
adults in some respects.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Sounds like a cracking event. Get amongst, enjoy the next
two days Paris High GM of New Zealand Ice Hockey
A pleasure to have you on.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Look after yourself, Yeah, thank you for more from the
All Sport Breakfast with Darcy Watergrave. Listen live to News
Talk Said on Saturday mornings, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.