Lliam Webster and Joey Hughes have both returned to the Melbourne Ice for the 2024 AIHL season.
Two of Australia’s greatest hockey talents have confirmed they will rejoin the red, white and blue side of the O’Brien Icehouse for the upcoming season.
At 38 years of age, the 4-time Goodall Cup champion Webster is the last remaining active player from the inaugural Melbourne Ice season in 2002 and is suiting up for season number 21, after playing a part-time role the previous two seasons.
Hughes has spent the last 4 seasons with the Canberra (formerly CBR) Brave, earning two Goodall Cups during his ACT stint to take his career total to six championship wins. Hughes last skated with the Ice in 2017 as part of the Goodall Cup winning team.
The Ice have also announced several import signings for the upcoming season.
Forward Joakim Erdugan makes the journey down from the Central Coast Rhinos, where the Swede post 49 points in his inaugural AIHL season.
American defenceman Jeff Solow will join the Ice blue line, after splitting time between the SPHL and ECHL this year. Solow was part of the Skycity Stampede team that won the Birgel Cup last year in the NZIHL. Joining him will be Canadian defenceman Johnny Aonso, a 24-year old blueliner currently playing for SUNY-Fredonia at the NCAA III level.
Locally, the Ice have also announced that former Sydney Bear Ellesse Carini will be making the trip south for the 2024 AIHL season. Carini has 125 games of AIHL experience under his belt with both the Ice Dogs and the Bears, and will join the Ice forward core of returning captain Mac Caruana, Austin McKenzie and Jake Laver to name a few.
The Melbourne Ice open their season with a double header at home to the Central Coast Rhinos on Saturday April 6
th and Sunday April 7
th.