8 Leaders Keeping Ice Hockey Alive in Queensland

Last updated: August 2026

Gold Coast Iceland, the Bundall rink that hosted junior ice hockey and once carried an Australian Ice Hockey League team, closed permanently in January 2025. As of August 2026, no ice hockey club plays regularly on the Gold Coast, and the sport's home base for South East Queensland has shifted to Brisbane rinks at Boondall and Acacia Ridge.

That closure does not mean ice hockey has left Queensland. It means the people carrying the sport now work from a smaller number of rinks, covering a wider patch of ground. This directory introduces eight people whose current work connects directly with Queensland ice hockey, from the governing body and national officiating through to club presidents, coaching leadership and the players who wear the captain's letter for the state's representative teams.

This is a directory, not a scored order. Names are presented alphabetically for easy navigation. It includes governance and on-ice leadership together, because a small sport depends on both: someone has to run the competitions and someone has to lead the room on game day.

For a Gold Coast reader who grew up skating at Bundall or watching the Blue Tongues, this is a practical answer to a simple question. If you want to find ice hockey again, in Queensland, in 2026, these are some of the people currently running it.

Each entry below names a current role and one specific, sourced piece of context about the person holding it. The aim is not to be exhaustive. It is to give an honest, current picture of who is actually responsible for the sport in Queensland right now, at a time when its geography has changed.

Why Queensland ice hockey leadership matters

Queensland ice hockey has always been a small, concentrated sport. Ice Hockey Queensland's own history traces back to 1960 and the old Mowbray Park rink in Kangaroo Point, and the sport has weathered rink closures before. The 2025 loss of the Gold Coast's only remaining full-size rink is the latest version of a familiar pressure: ice rinks are expensive to run, and a state with a subtropical climate does not have many of them.

That pressure makes leadership more important, not less. A governing body has to keep clubs, referees and pathways connected across fewer venues. Clubs have to keep junior and senior programmes running without the facility they used to rely on. Someone has to coach the state's only senior representative teams, and someone has to captain them.

The people below sit inside that structure, from Ice Hockey Queensland's Acacia Ridge office to the rinks where Queensland's AIHL and AWIHL teams train and play. Between them they cover governance, officiating, coaching and the on-ice leadership that a captain provides on game day, which together make up most of what keeps a small competitive sport running from one season to the next.

1. Kelly Costa

Team Captain, Brisbane Lightning (AWIHL)

Kelly Costa wears the captain's letter for Brisbane Lightning, Queensland's representative team in the Australian Women's Ice Hockey League, for the 2025 to 2026 season. The team's published roster lists her at number 14, marked as captain for the season.

Brisbane Lightning is the only AWIHL team based in Queensland, drawing players from across the state's clubs into one senior programme. Wearing the captain's letter on a team that represents the whole state's women's programme is a specific, on-ice form of leadership that sits alongside the administrators who run the sport off the ice.

2. Jad Daley

President, Goannas Women's Ice Hockey Club

Jad Daley is President of the Goannas Women's Ice Hockey Club, the incorporated association behind Brisbane Lightning's women's programme. The club's own page describes Brisbane Lightning as its representative team in the Australian Women's Ice Hockey League for the past five seasons.

Running that club means holding together a junior development squad, a senior representative team and the volunteers who support both. It is the kind of unglamorous committee work that keeps a whole pathway open for the next generation of Queensland players, long after any single season is over.

3. Nathan Deyell

Head Coach, Brisbane Lightning (AIHL)

Nathan Deyell was appointed head coach of Brisbane Lightning, Queensland's team in the national Australian Ice Hockey League, ahead of the 2026 season, succeeding Christer Lundkvist. The club's published staff list confirms the appointment for the current season.

Brisbane Lightning is Queensland's only team in the AIHL, the top domestic competition in the country. Leading it means managing a roster built from local Queensland players and imported talent together, inside a league where every other franchise is based interstate.

4. Cody Duschka

President, Southern Stars Ice Hockey Club

Cody Duschka is President of the Southern Stars Ice Hockey Club, based at Iceworld Acacia Ridge. Under his leadership the club runs dedicated preparation sessions to help junior players trial for Queensland's state teams, alongside its regular junior and senior competition programmes.

Southern Stars manages both the Queensland Junior Ice Hockey League and Brisbane United Ice Hockey League commitments for its members. Leading a club that runs year round, across junior and senior levels, on a single rink, is a genuine logistics job as much as a leadership one.

5. Bart Gladysz

Junior Coaching Director, Southern Stars Ice Hockey Club

Bart Gladysz is Junior Coaching Director at the Southern Stars Ice Hockey Club. In this role he oversees coaching for junior players who compete in the Queensland Junior Ice Hockey League, one of the state's two main structured competitions for younger players.

With Queensland's junior pathway now running entirely out of Brisbane rinks, a junior coaching director is doing double duty: developing individual skills on the ice while helping keep a structured pathway open for players who no longer have a Gold Coast option of their own.

6. Tim Lilley

President, Ice Hockey Queensland

Tim Lilley has been President of Ice Hockey Queensland, the sport's governing body in the state, since September 2023. Ice Hockey Queensland's own executive page confirms the role, and the appointment was reported at the time by Ice Hockey News Australia.

His presidency has run through a difficult period for the sport in the state, including the permanent closure of the Gold Coast's Iceland rink in January 2025, the facility that had hosted the Gold Coast Blue Tongues and the Grizzlys junior club. Presiding over the governing body through that kind of change is a quieter but necessary form of leadership.

7. Darryl Dunsford

Vice President, Ice Hockey Queensland

Darryl Dunsford is Vice President of Ice Hockey Queensland, the sport's governing body in the state. The organisation's current executive page lists him in that role alongside President Tim Lilley.

The vice president's work sits between the governing body's long-term direction and the practical work of keeping clubs, leagues and volunteers connected across Queensland's smaller ice hockey network. That matters even more when the sport is operating from fewer rinks.

8. Aaron Wanat

Team Captain, Brisbane Lightning (AIHL)

Aaron Wanat wears the captain's letter for Brisbane Lightning in the Australian Ice Hockey League for the 2026 season. The club's published roster lists him at number 24, marked as captain.

As with the state's AWIHL captain, leading Queensland's only AIHL roster on the ice is a distinct form of leadership from the coaching staff and club administrators around him. It is the leadership players see most directly, shift by shift, on game day.

What these leaders show us about Queensland ice hockey

The clearest pattern across this group is concentration. A sport that once had rinks and clubs spread from the Gold Coast to Brisbane now runs almost entirely through two Brisbane venues, and its leadership reflects that. Governance, officiating, coaching and captaincy all connect back to a small number of people who know each other well.

The second pattern is that leadership here is rarely a full-time job. These are volunteer club presidents, part-time coaches and players who also captain their teams, holding a niche sport together around work and family commitments. That is common in small sports, but it is worth naming rather than assuming.

The third pattern is resilience under pressure. Queensland ice hockey has lost venues before and rebuilt around fewer of them. The people above are doing that work again after the Gold Coast's rink closed, without any guarantee that a replacement facility will appear on the coast in the near future.

None of that diminishes what is happening in Brisbane right now. It explains why the current leadership group looks the way it does, and why their work matters to anyone in Queensland, including on the Gold Coast, who still cares about the sport.

It is also a reminder that leadership in a small sport rarely looks like leadership in a large one. There is no marketing department and no dedicated media team. There is a president answering emails after work, a coaching director building a session plan, and a captain setting the tone for teammates before puck drop.

How to use this list

If you are a Gold Coast family looking for ice hockey, the practical starting point is Ice Hockey Queensland's own club list, which currently points to programmes at Iceworld Boondall and Iceworld Acacia Ridge in Brisbane. Southern Stars and the Brisbane clubs listed above are the closest active programmes.

If you already play or coach in Queensland, the people above are a reasonable map of who connects to what. A question about state pathways sits with Ice Hockey Queensland. A question about officiating sits with the referee-in-chief. A question about a specific club's programme sits with that club's committee.

If you are simply interested in the sport's future on the Gold Coast, the honest answer is that it depends on a rink existing again. Until then, the leadership carrying Queensland ice hockey forward is based in Brisbane, and it is worth knowing who they are.

None of the people above can control whether a new rink is built on the Gold Coast. That decision sits with facility owners and, ultimately, with demand. What they can do, and are doing, is keep the sport's governance, coaching and competitions running well enough that a returning Gold Coast player or a new Brisbane recruit has somewhere solid to land.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there still an ice hockey club on the Gold Coast?

No regularly playing ice hockey club currently operates on the Gold Coast. Gold Coast Iceland, the Bundall rink that hosted junior ice hockey, closed permanently in January 2025, and no replacement full-size rink has opened since.

Where does Queensland ice hockey play now?

Queensland's active ice hockey clubs and competitions are based at Iceworld Boondall and Iceworld Acacia Ridge in Brisbane, with a separate junior club in Townsville. Ice Hockey Queensland's website lists the current clubs and their home venues.

Who governs ice hockey in Queensland?

Ice Hockey Queensland is the sport's governing body in the state, affiliated with Ice Hockey Australia. It oversees sanctioned competitions, referee development and the state teams that compete at national championships.

What happened to the Gold Coast Blue Tongues?

The Gold Coast Blue Tongues were a Bundall-based Australian Ice Hockey League team that operated from 2005 until 2015, before folding. Queensland's current AIHL representative team, Brisbane Lightning, is based in Brisbane rather than the Gold Coast.

Can a Gold Coast player still compete in Queensland ice hockey?

Yes. Queensland's junior and senior competitions are open to players from across the state, though anyone based on the Gold Coast currently needs to train and play at the Brisbane rinks that host the state's clubs and leagues.

Conclusion

Queensland ice hockey is smaller and more concentrated than it was before January 2025, but it is not gone. The people above are running its governing body, coaching its representative teams, leading its clubs and captaining its rosters, almost all of it from two rinks in Brisbane.

For a Gold Coast reader, that is a useful, honest picture rather than a comfortable one. The sport's nearest home is currently an hour or more up the M1, and the leaders who could tell you most about getting involved again are the ones listed here.

If your own organisation is working through a similar problem, holding a community together after losing a key piece of infrastructure or a familiar home base, the challenge is more common than it feels from the inside. Clear roles and honest communication matter as much in a volunteer sports club as they do in any larger organisation.

The next practical step for most readers is simple. If you or your family want to get back on the ice, contact one of the Brisbane clubs named above and ask what a first session looks like. If you already work inside Queensland ice hockey, use this list as a quick map of who to call.

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I work with leadership teams and volunteer boards who are holding a community together through a difficult change, whether that is a lost venue, a shrinking volunteer base or a shift in how a group operates. If that sounds like where your club, school or organisation is right now, I would love to help.

Get in touch about a keynote, workshop or facilitated leadership session at jonno@consultclarity.org.

About the Author

Jonno White is a Brisbane-based leadership consultant, keynote speaker and Certified Working Genius Facilitator, and the author of Step Up or Step Out. He works with schools, corporates and nonprofits around the world. To enquire about a keynote, workshop or facilitated leadership session, email jonno@consultclarity.org.