Ms JODIE HARRISON (Charlestown)— Three Warners Bay High School students, Jikoda Cooper, Sam Garas and Tom Garas, were recently selected for the NSW State ice hockey team to compete in the 2022 Kurt DeFris National Championship.

Held in Newcastle been 28 July and 31 July, this annual tournament sees the best under fifteen ice hockey players in the country come together to compete for gold.

All three boys play for the Newcastle Northstars, whose 2022 season has been phenomenal—just before the tournament kicked off, the Northstars were sitting at a close second on the leader board behind the Canberra Brave.

In great news for our State, the tournament finished with New South Wales defeating Western Australia 7–3 to claim the gold medal at the Northstars' home ground, Hunter Ice Skating Stadium. New South Wales had earlier defeated Queensland in their semifinal.

New South Wales' Gustav Remler-Jensen finished as the tournament's top scorer with 17 goals and three assists from six games, and the home state side led in the goaltending statistics with Justin Baxter posting a 0.914 save percentage and a 1.38 goals against average.

Congratulations on your outstanding achievement, boys!

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