The Melbourne Glaciers are an Australian

junior ice hockey Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur (with some exceptions) and operate within regions of each cou ...

team based in

Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung–Taungurung language, Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the St ...

playing in the

Australian Junior Ice Hockey League The Australian Junior Ice Hockey League (AJIHL) is an elite amateur national ice hockey league in Australia, open to players 20 years of age or younger. History The Australian Junior Ice Hockey League was first announced on 18 September 2012 by ...

. They represent one of the two junior ice hockey teams from Victoria currently playing in the

AJIHL The Australian Junior Ice Hockey League (AJIHL) is an elite amateur national ice hockey league in Australia, open to players 20 years of age or younger. History The Australian Junior Ice Hockey League was first announced on 18 September 2012 by ...

, which is the most elite level for ice hockey at a national level for ages between 16 and 20 years old.

History

AJIHL

The Melbourne Red Wings were founded 18 September 2012 following the announcement by

Ice Hockey Australia The Australian Ice Hockey Federation, currently trading as Ice Hockey Australia (IHA), is the official national governing body of ice hockey in Australia and is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. It was first established in 190 ...

of the formation of the

. The team is controlled by the

Victorian Ice Hockey Association The Victorian Ice Hockey Association, currently trading as Ice Hockey Victoria is the governing body of ice hockey in Victoria, Australia. The Victorian Ice Hockey Association is a branch of Ice Hockey Australia. History Ice Hockey Victoria is ...

. On 14 October 2012 it was announced that Warren Porter had signed on as coach for the 2012–13 AJIHL season with Michael Flaherty as his assistant. The first team in club history: ''For the 2012–13 AJIHL season''

AJIHL Expansion

The follow-up season in the

saw a lot of change via expansion and renaming of its existing teams. The Melbourne Red Wings were renamed the Melbourne Glaciers on 22 August 2013. The changes were made in response to the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

s concern about the

using their team names and logos but also recognised the opportunity to create a new history for the teams through creating their own identity. In October 2013 the league expanded to six teams with two teams from

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, the

Sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimorp ...

and the

Pelicans Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before s ...

, joining for the start of the 2013–14 season.

Logo and Uniform

2012-2013 Melbourne Red Wings

In their first year, and the inaugural

season, the Melbourne Red Wings wore a uniform that resembled the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

namesake

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

. The jersey design and uniform bore close resemblance to the Detroit Red Wings design, with the

logo used for shoulder crests.

2013-present

On 22 August 2013 it was announced that the Melbourne Red Wings would change their name to the Melbourne Glaciers, which avoided the close resemblance with the

of the

after the NHL had made complaint about a breach of copyright and it also allowed the team to develop its own brand identity. The renaming to Melbourne Glaciers was carefully chosen to reflect Australia's rich hockey culture. The name Glaciers is a tribute to the

Melbourne Glaciarium The Melbourne Glaciarium (also known as the Glaci) opened in 1906, the second indoor ice skating facility built in Australia after the Adelaide Glaciarium. The Glaci hosted the first game of ice hockey played in Australia and was the home of th ...

, which was the first place that an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

game was played in Australia on Tuesday 17 July 1906. The

was also home to one of the original 4 ice hockey teams in Australia called the Glaciarium, who were founded as part of the formation of the

(VIHA) in 1908. On 13 September 2013, the new Melbourne Glaciers logo design and branding was created by Ross Carpenter and his son, Jack Carpenter, who was largely involved in the creation of the uniform design. The suggestion to use Glaciers as a new name for the Melbourne Red Wings was made by Michael Flaherty and the reasoning behind it was to honor the

, the location of the first game of

game played in Australia. The league made the decision to continue using a predominantly red jersey and provided a limit of 4 colors. The decision to use red as a base colour is thought to honor their patron of the time, Basil Hansen, who first played for the VIHA Red Arrows in 1947. The colors used were charcoal grey, a blue-grey and white to create a palette with glacial coloring. The

was situated on the bank of the Yarra River, facing

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

city which is currently referred to as South Gate. When it was built in 1906 it was the third largest ice arena in the world and seated 2000 patrons, though peak attendance could see up to 5000 patrons in the venue at one time.

Season by season results

Players

Current roster

''For the

2016–17 AJIHL season The 2016–17 AJIHL season is the fifth season of the Australian Junior Ice Hockey League. It will run from 17 December 2016 until a yet to be determined date in 2017, with the formal structure of the league having been changed to incorporate 3 ...

Captains

The first team Captain for the Melbourne Red Wings in the inaugural year for the

was Brendan McDowell, his Alternate Captains were Matt Stringer and Chris Fahy. *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Brendan McDowell (C), Matt Stringer (A), Chris Fahy (A) * 2013–14 Mitch Humphries (C), Jack Carpenter (A), Daniel Szalinski (A) * 2015–16 Caleb Butler (C), Corey Stringer (A), David Foster (A) * 2016–17 Corey Stringer (C), David Foster (A), Taras Cheprakov (A)

Head coaches

The first Head Coach for the Melbourne Red Wings in the inaugural year for the

was Warren Porter. *

Warren Porter * 2013–14 Warren Porter * 2014–15 Douglas Stevenson * 2015–16 Douglas Stevenson * 2016–17 James Galdes * 2018–19 Michael Flaherty * 2019–20 Michael Flaherty

References

{{Melbourne Sports Teams Australian Junior Ice Hockey League Sports clubs and teams in Melbourne Ice hockey teams in Australia 2012 establishments in Australia Ice hockey clubs established in 2012 Sport in the City of Melbourne (LGA)