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AAP
AAP

WA:A brutal sport: para ice hockey stars are Hard as Puck

The Garden Island Pirates are the best para ice hockey players in Western Australia - because they're the only team in the state.

Of course, there's no natural ice and only a couple of indoor rinks, and players strap themselves into modified sleds to compete.

They risk some gnarly injuries, and director Isaac Elliott's debut feature documentary about the team is appropriately titled Hard as Puck.

"All of the players have some sort of disability, they're used to injuries and pain," said Elliott, who began making films in 2007 after a motorbike crash left him a paraplegic.

The tale of the Garden Island Pirates is a little bit Cool Runnings with a dose of Rats in the Ranks, he said.

As well as the glory of unlikely victories, there are the familiar challenges of grassroots sport - bureaucracy, infighting and having barely enough players, let alone an opposition to play.

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