There are few players that have graced Australian shores with the pedigree of Bears sensation Sean Hamilton Steen. A native of Winnipeg, the dual Canadian-Swedish citizen grew up with his brother Alexander, who represented Sweden at the recent Olympic Games and is the alternate captain and left wing for the St. Louis Blues, and father Thomas, the Winnipeg Jets legend who is the second leading scorer in the franchise’s history with 817 points in 950 games. Thomas also had his jersey, number 25, retired by the franchise, further cementing his legend status.
While Thomas is now a city councillor in Winnipeg, Steen recalls a normal childhood with his family. Despite his family, he said he never felt any pressure to play hockey and that his brother and father “are just normal people that are really good at a sport”.
“It was like any other family,” Steen said. “Sometimes people would recognise him but he would sign something and we would get on with our day. You might see my dad as an NHL legend, I see him as the guy that won't get out of the couch to get the remote. As for my brother he has always been the story teller in the family.”
Having been in Australia for over a month now, Hamilton remains close with his family, especially his brother.
“With the time difference it’s tough but we try to catch up once or twice a week,” Steen said. “We just talk a lot about our hockey and there’s plenty of other stuff to talk about. I don’t know if I see it as a kind of competition, because he obviously won it.”
As many Australian hockey fans would know, the Blues were knocked out in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the second season in a row. While disappointed for his brother, the news has spurred Steen on to seek further success for the Bears.
“It’d be nice to bring home a Cup so I can show him what one looks like,” joked Steen.
With 10 points in five games this season, Bears fans will be hoping Steen’s efforts can continue all the way to getting one up in the sibling rivalry stakes come September. However, Steen is still finding his feet, noting a few key differences from the North American leagues.
“It was a little tough in the first game,” Steen admits, almost wearing the learning experience as a badge of honour. “Someone took a shot into the mesh and I was waiting for the whistle and I slowed up a little bit, then one of their guys picked up the puck and sped past me so that took a little getting used to. Without the glass to bounce off, your ribs take a bit of punishment and that adds to the physicality and how unique the Australian league is.”
Steen isn’t just enamoured with the quirks of the Australian competition though, rating it a solid league in comparison with the minors back north.
“It’s a good moving league, fun to play and the players are in shape and the physicality is pretty good,” he said. “It's a little different getting used to the bigger ice surface, since I've played in an NHL-sized rink for the past five years.”
While Steen is enjoying his time down under, hockey wasn’t his major reason for visiting to begin with.
“I always wanted to play in Australia, but I didn’t know you actually had hockey,” he said. “I was originally planning on just travelling, but when I heard they had hockey, it just turned into reality.”
Just like fellow import Daniel Palmkvist, who almost ended up at the now defunct Canberra Knights, Steen almost didn’t end up at the Bears.
“I actually came to Sydney to play with the Ice Dogs, but they had a goalie take the last import spot, so it didn’t work out for me there,” Steen said. “Then I came to the Bears who were willing to give me a shot and it worked out nicely.”
Steen’s arrival in Sydney from Winnipeg has exposed him to a different culture, but also quite a relief from the North American climate, and not necessarily just the aching cold.
“We had rinks everywhere, you could go for a skate any time in the winter, and in the summer there were lots of indoor rinks, but the change from 40 in the summer to -40 in the winter was tough,” he said.
A smart hockey player with a formidable background and a likable larrikin personality, Steen has fitted in perfectly into the Australian Ice Hockey League. Since arriving in Australia, Steen has also offered some of his expertise to Australian juniors, who have the opportunity to be trained by Bears players on Tuesday before the main squad trains, offering a bit of advice for up-and-coming hockey players in Australia.
“Practice every day whether it's at home or at the rink you can always do something to increase your skills,” Steen said, before continuing with the importance of split vision, the best hockey lesson he had received off his dad. “It's Peripheral vision; my dad just always called split vision. It just makes it easy to keep your head up while skating to see the play develop.”
Steen will be back in action this weekend as the Bears aim to continue their record of no regular time losses this season, taking on the Mustangs on Saturday before the top of the table clash on Sunday against the Melbourne Ice.
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