300 Game Milestone for Northstars Favourite

Credit: Jess Fuller

The Escadia Newcastle Northstars went down 3-7 to Brisbane Lightning at Hunter Ice Skating Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Following two fierce wins in Queensland the previous weekend, Newcastle were unable to find form with the loss of Yevgeni Skachkov and Santeri Haarala due to suspension.

The hero of the night would be Wehebe Darge, celebrating 300 Australian Ice Hockey League games. He began his career in Adelaide where he played from 2009 – 2016. He played with Canberra Brave from 2017 to 2022. Darge won the Goodall Cup twice with the Brave in 2018 and 2022 and joined the Newcastle Northstars in 2023.

Opening the scoring for Newcastle, Darge got the Northstars on the board in period one, which saw the bench erupt in celebration.

Head Coach Kevin Noble reflected on the result, "We had some poor individual mistakes tonight, and we had some guys have an uncharacteristic game, and you get that kind of result."

"You don't get a night off when you're a Newcastle Northstar, you don't get a night off when you're at the top of the table. Adversity is important for us, but you can't throw games away like that. You're not going to win every game of the season, but we should be disappointed in our effort."

Noble also had eyes on the road ahead, "We have Sydney Bears and Melbourne Ice coming to town, and every team is ready to play in this building, and you have to be perfect. Every team is ready to play, especially when you're at the top of the table."

On Darge's milestone, Noble said, "That's a body of work that doesn't 'just' happen. You don't just show up and play.

There's a lot of work and dedication that goes into playing that long and there's a lot of commitment that comes from his family to allow him to do that. He brings a lot to the game with his good stick, his individual skill around the net, his smarts for the game. These are things we've missed over the last few weeks with him away and it was good to have him back tonight."

Captain Liam Manwarring was equally blunt about the performance, "We just weren't good enough all over the ice tonight, you have to get pucks in behind the defencemen early on and get on the body, and I don't think we did that. Adversity is a thing where you have to overcome it. We had some pre-game with the roster (losing Skachkov and Haarala to suspension), and we didn't overcome that. Now, we have to get back to work on Tuesday."

Manwarring paid tribute to his teammate's milestone, "He's so well known in this country for this sport, he's a natural leader and a natural hockey player. He does so much for our group and you've seen it tonight with the first goal of the game. He gets the boys on his back and is an incredible guy. It's a massive accolade, and playing in this league it's hard to do. It's a lot of seasons, hard work and dedication and I am so proud of him."

The Northstars will play a double header at home on the 6th and 7th of June against Sydney Bears and Melbourne Ice. Both games are already sold out – catch all the action on AIHL.TV.