DUNEDIN, New Zealand – Dr Barrie Berkeley had a vision. He wanted to build an ice rink in Dunedin, a city in the southern parts of New Zealand. He was a Canadian who came to Dunedin to lecture at the University of Otago Medical School in the early 1970s.

There was no ice rink in Dunedin at the time and he called a public meeting in 1975. Thirty enthusiasts supported a move to build an ice rink in the city.

Nine years later the Big Chill Ice Rink was formed in a dingy old building. It was the venue for regular ice hockey matches for the next 18 years.

The Dunedin Curling Club took ownership and decided they wanted something better and raised money for the shift to the Dunedin Ice Stadium that is now the premier ice sports facility in New Zealand.

The fund-raising was led by three stalwarts – Neil Gamble, Edwin Harley and Trevor Lewis – and the international size ice hockey and ice skating arena was opened in 2004 and the separate curling rink two years later.

It was the venue for this month’s 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship Division III.

Going to New Zealand is not something common for players. Such a tournament gives the participants experiences they will never forget. But travelling from Europe to New Zealand – and vice-versa for many of the Kiwi teams – has its cost.

Iceland’s team leader Sigurdur Sigurdsson said it cost about US$ 2,500 for each team member to come to New Zealand. The players had to pay half of it and raised the money by selling fish. The 26-hour flight to New Zealand took the team three days.

Bulgarian team leader Iliana Popova said it took three flights and 38 hours for the 26-man strong squad to come to New Zealand. It cost each person €2,700 Euros and this was paid by the Ministry of Physical Education and Sport.

Turkish team leader Cengiz Akyildiz estimated the total cost to bring the team to New Zealand $200,000 and it was paid by the Turkish Ice Hockey Federation.

“Turkey has a very good historical relationship with New Zealand and we were pleased to come here,” he added.

Ian Challis, the manager of New Zealand’s national team, the Ice Blacks, knows the situation well.

“We have to travel to Europe every year and it is a similar sort of trip,” he said. “When we travel to Europe we usually have a training camp in Austria for a week before the tournament and it helps bond the relationships within our team.”

When New Zealand stages international tournaments it gives more public exposure for the sport locally.

“We must keep putting our hand up and tell the International Ice Hockey Federation that we want to host a tournament each year,” Challis said.

Traditionally ice sports like curling and ice hockey had been played outdoors in the South Island for nearly a century on frozen lakes and dams in Central Otago. The most popular was the Idaburn Dam. Now New Zealand has venues to bring international events to down under.

Kai Hietarinta, an IIHF Life Member and long-time President of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association, was the International Ice Hockey Federation’s chairman for the tournament. It was the third tournament the former IIHF Council Member had seen in New Zealand since his first at Auckland in 2004.

‘’New Zealand ice hockey has progressed quite a bit and become a valuable member of the global ice hockey family,” he said.

He is fully aware that rugby is the national sport in New Zealand but is confident that ice hockey can grow.

“I hope that New Zealanders will find a place in your heart for ice hockey because it’s a great sport.”

The Finn is adamant that New Zealand and Australia have an important role to play in the development of hockey in the Southern Hemisphere.

“It is good to bring tournaments to the Southern Hemisphere because we have to develop ice hockey as a global sport and not just in the cold climate countries,” Hietarinta said.

He would like to see the New Zealand government and the local body councils back the development of the sport.

Hietarinta understands that the size of the Dunedin Ice Stadium cannot be compared to the big rinks in Canada and Finland that can hold up to 20,000 spectators.

“This is technically quite nice,” he said. “But there is space for improvement because you need more locker rooms for the visiting teams”

Hietarinta was impressed by the number of volunteers who helped run the tournament.

One of them was Shelley Gerken, the volunteer cook. Her job was to feed the officials and the other volunteers.

“They appreciated getting a hot meal from a friendly face,” she said.

She also did the laundry for the teams and became an assistant medic when an Iceland player injured his wrist.

It was home cooking for the troops when she served Shepherd’s Pie and apple crumble, apricot chicken, vegetable soup and fish pie.

Her daughter Kirstin, 12, also a volunteer, picked up the puck and moved the net for visiting teams when they were practising.

Two members of the Ice Dunedin junior team did these duties each day.

Geoff Cook was another of the 50 volunteers who helped at the championships. His job was the liaison between the teams and the rink staff to make sure that everything was working smoothly.

“Whatever needs doing we will do it,” he said. “That is the Kiwi attitude.”

One of the problems was the amount of protective glass that was broken around the rink.

“That put a bit of stress on us. But we have been able to handle it,” he said. “Everything has to stop while it is repaired.”

Practice makes perfect and Cook’s team hit the record after three days when it took just three minutes to change the glass and clear it up.

There were some issues communicating with the different languages.

“But generally with sign language and a smile you can fix most things,” he explained.

Six tournaments in different tiers were held in the IIHF Ice Hockey U20 World Championship program over the last six weeks and Dunedin was the only venue that held games in the summer months. Being in the Southern Hemisphere, the thermometer hit up to 28°C last week.

The Dunedin Ice Stadium is just a five-minute walk from the city beaches with their rolling surf from the Pacific Ocean.

Players and officials enjoyed surfing the waves in their spare time with dips in the Pacific Ocean at St Kilda Beach. Summery team photos from the beach posted on Facebook are witnesses of the unusual environment the players got in the South Island of New Zealand.

The team leader of the Iceland team, Sigurdur Sigurdsson, said his team spent some of their spare time at the beach surfing.

“We enjoyed the big waves and the white sandy beach,” he said. “The water is too cold for ocean swimming in Iceland.”

It was the first trip to New Zealand for Slovak referee Peter Loksik.

“I enjoyed going to the beach for a swim and seeing the penguins and seals,” he said. “It was the first time I’d seen them in their natural state and not in the zoo. It was special.”

In their spare time the players and officials visited some of the tourist sites in Dunedin like Speight’s Breweries, Cadbury’s Chocolate Factory, the iconic Railway Station, and taken trips on the Taieri Gorge and the Coastal Railway.

Hietarinta was impressed by the natural beauty of the Otago Peninsula when the tournament dinner was held at Natures Wonders Restaurant.

“We take our landscape, space, ocean and wildlife for granted,” publicity officer Teri Higgins said. “To see the reactions of some of the Europeans was really cool. We are getting something we are not familiar with and they are getting something out of it as well.”

An official from Iceland enjoyed the tournament dinner at Natures Wonders on the edge of the Otago Peninsula. He had not seen fur seals because seals in Iceland do not have fur. He had not seen so many seal pups before.

Mathieu Loos, an international referee for the last five years, was one of the linesmen at the championships.

“I have been in some bigger rinks, but this one is a very cold rink,” said Loos, whose daily job is being a farmer in the middle of France. “But the quality of the ice is good.”

Cory Ross, an international linesman from Canada, now lives in Australia.

“It is a good way to promote our sport by holding championships in the Southern Hemisphere,” he said. “The ice surface in Dunedin is great. It is good ice to play on and referee.”

Terrance Hayward was one of the bus drivers who transported the teams to games and practices at the Dunedin Ice Stadium from St Margarets College, a Halls of Residence for the University of Otago.

He talked to a security man from Campus Watch at the university.

“He told me that the players have been really good,” Hayward said. “He wished they were here all the time. They are better than the students.”

Higgins, a PhD student in Media, Film and Communications Studies at the University of Otago, was publicity officer and a member of the organising committee. This was her first time in the role for a major event.

“We started working on the championships six months ago and came up with a promotions and marketing strategy,” she said.

This involved social media, print media and traditional on foot media.

“We did this quite heavily in the six weeks building up to the event,” she said. “There is something cool promoting a sport that is not one of New Zealand’s major sports. It is more challenging and rewarding when you get the seats filled and get people through the door.”

A problem faced by the organising committee was that 30% of Dunedin’s population was away on summer holidays at this time.

“It is also an age group tournament so I am happy with the public support we got,” she said. “We spend so much time in New Zealand focusing on rugby. I enjoy the challenge of getting people excited about a sport they might not have thought much about.”

ALISTAIR MCMURRAN