Alex Tetreault pulled on the same colours he wore more than a decade ago and took a look around the AIS Arena. He calls it crazy, but even that might not do the rise of the Canberra Brave justice.
The Brave celebrated retro round with a 6-3 win over the Central Coast Rhinos at the AIS Arena on Sunday, handing Canberra an eighth consecutive win and igniting their hopes of a top-two finish in the AIHL.
Canberra reverted to the club's original blue and yellow jerseys to mark the club's retro round, having adopted a black, white and gold colour scheme in 2024, and fans in the stands followed suit.
The Brave were born from the ashes of the Canberra Knights, who folded just weeks before the 2014 season due to increasing costs and dwindling local player numbers.
Club legend Mark Rummukainen led the club's resurrection under the Brave banner, and three titles have followed since. But even through those golden years, the 1200 who regularly packed out the Phillip Swimming and Ice Skating Centre could hardly have imagined this.
"It's awesome, honestly. It's crazy to see the how far the Brave organisation has come since that year," Tetreault said.
"I put that exact jersey on for my first game ever in the first year of the Brave. We actually won against Newcastle, it was a 5-3 win, and I was wearing those exact colours.
"It's awesome to be standing here at the AIS, and I think Canberra has really embraced the hockey culture. It's really exciting to see where it's going to go from here."
Sell-out crowds at the AIS Arena were no flash in the pan once the club abandoned Phillip and moved to the biggest indoor sporting venue in the city. The Brave are still one of the hottest tickets in town.
Phillip's charm was in its primitive nature. In the wooden bench seating, and the race to find a decent vantage point at a rink which had so few of them.
But a Brave game at the AIS Arena is an experience likened to an NHL game. We're talking light shows, seats that won't give you splinters, and, well, enough seats.
Canberra club bosses will tell you it is the best venue for ice hockey in the country. Games are even attracting groups of women for hens parties or book club outings, courtesy of ice hockey's rise in the pop culture sphere.
"Last year we were getting the crowds in, but everyone was still learning the game and realising how exciting and what an awesome community it is," Tetreault said.
"I think it's just going to go from strength to strength."
The Brave opened the weekend with a 6-3 win over the Rhinos at the Erina Ice Arena on the Central Coast on Saturday.
Five different goal scorers had the Brave - who have not lost on the road since May 23 - knocking on the door of a top two spot after continuing their rich vein of form.
"This is the month that we play for. A whole lot of this locker room has been in this position before, and we know what it takes to win," Tetreault said.
"Every game, we're just trying to get a little bit better and keep creeping up so that we can skip that Friday game and go straight to the semi-final."
