It was a proud moment this week for junior CBR Brave ice hockey players who, for the first time, are wearing a jersey in the style of their heroes playing in the national league.
The under-11 team members were handed their jerseys by some of the senior Brave players, ahead of competing in the colours in a tournament in Newcastle in early July.
Ice Hockey ACT president Adrian Miller said the jerseys were a way to link the younger players with their senior counterparts playing in the Australian Ice Hockey League - and to inspire them to follow suit.
"This is the first a very young team has worn a Brave jersey, so the Brave-style of jersey " he said.
"The idea is to get a bit of affiliation with the senior team or the AIHL team."
Six senior Brave members helped to hand out the jerseys at the Phillip ice skating rink on Tuesday night.
"Kids remember these things for a very long time versus just playing in some random jersey," Mr Miller said.
"The [CBR Brave] guys who came down, four of them came up through the exact same junior program and the other two have come though NSW.
"We're just trying to make the younger guys realise there is an option to play once you get to the 18 and up age bracket. If you really want to, you can play in the national league."
And the junior players were excited to be emulating their heroes.
Among them is Thomas Ord, 10, who is in Canberra from Ottawa, his family working with the Canadian High commission
"The uniform is cool, I really like the colours and I like how my last name is on the back," he said.
"I makes me inspired to like play for the Braves, to be on the Braves team and I'm really grateful to be here today."
There are three sets of brothers in both the CBR Brave and the junior team - Casey and Bayley Kubara, Rikki and Kai Mietinnen, and Charlie and Henry York in the senior ranks and Mason and Tom Ferrari, Charlie and Freddie Morris and Ted and Jack Iggulden in the juniors.
Ted Iggulden, 8, reckoned it was "very annoying" playing with his older brother Jack,10, who said it was "sometimes annoying, sometimes fun".
One thing they did agree on was that the new uniforms had given them a boost.
"I feel like my capabilities can go a lot further," Jack said
"I feel like I'm already professional," Ted added.
The Ferrari brothers - Mason, 11, and Tom, 9, - were also pretty chuffed with the new jerseys.
And they feel it will give them some added zip in Newcastle, according to goalie Tom.
"I reckon we'll do good in the tournament. I'm not sure how many pucks I'm going to save but I hope it's quite a couple," he said.
Mr Miller said he hoped the kids had fun at the tournament and it helped to persuade them to stick to the sport.
"We're slowly working on the quantity and quality of the juniors we've got so there's a bit of a critical mass by the time we get to a new rink," he said.
A new ice sports facility called Canberra Arena, partly funded by the ACT government, is due to open in Tuggeranong in 2025.
The new facility will feature two international-standard ice sheets for figure skating, broomball, speed skating and ice hockey, as well as dedicated curling sheets - the first of its kind in Australia.
"It's going to be a real community hub. It's going to be awesome," Mr Miller said.
And young players like the Iggulden brothers will continue to be inspired by current national champions, the CBR Brave.
"When I saw their first game, which wasn't that long ago, I was surprised they didn't fall over. Like a couple of the players only fell over once. And usually when I get bashed against the wall, I fall straight over," Ted said.
Jack couldn't believe "how fast the game was".
"They play at that extreme pace where I don't think anyone else could keep up with unless they were playing proper ice hockey, like professional," he said.
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.
