The CBR Brave may be the newest franchise in the AIHL, but it boasts a wealth of home grown talent, including the quiet-achieving forward Jordan Gavin.

At 32, Gavin is one of the veteran players of the Brave. He began his ice hockey career with the now defunct Canberra Knights in 2006 and is set to play his 150th AIHL game against the Sydney Bears on Saturday night, according to Elite Prospects. Gavin also represented Australia at the 2011 and 2012 IIHF World Championships with nine games for the green and gold.

Gavin’s love of hockey, however, didn’t begin on the ice; he actually rolled into hockey in 1994 at the age of 12 in the height of the inline boom in Australia. Inline hockey is Gavin’s first love, representing Australia at the recent IIHF inline championships, registering seven points in six games on the way to the teams silver medal.

“I travel to Sydney every Wednesday night to play inline,” Gavin said. “Canberra has its own team - the Canberra Express.”

As for most Australians, there’s no money to be made playing inline or ice hockey, so Gavin spent most of his 20’s working construction to fund his sporting love. It did allow him to travel extensively around the world competing and representing Australia.

Gavin’s dedication and hard work paid off when he had the opportunity to play in the Finnish SM Inline League, Finland’s highest level of competition for the 2004-05 season. Gavin credits his time in Finland with the lasting relationship the Australian national inline team has enjoyed with Finland. The Australian team travel to Finland every year for a training camp prior to the World Championships, and after 10 years the bond is as strong as ever. In 2009, Gavin spent a season playing for the Potomac Mavericks in Washington DC.
 
As most Australian players know, inline and ice hockey are expensive and can be even more expensive when playing on the international stage. Gavin has been lucky enough to have great support from his workplace, Mayer Vandenberg Lawyers, where he is in the business services team. Last year they hosted a fundraiser to assist in his efforts to attend the 2014 IIHF Men's Inline Hockey World Championships. Their support raised over $10,000 towards Gavin’s bid.

“[Joining Mayer Vandenberg] was that best thing I’ve ever done,” Gavin said. “They helped me fundraise to go away [for World Championships]. They got a lot of sponsors and donations. They are the best; the best place I’ve ever worked.”

As with most sports, there is extensive time commitments made by players and staff. When you add playing in a national team to the mix, you end up with even less time for family and friends. Gavin has been stretching the boundaries by playing in the Sydney Inline competition, national men’s inline team and the CBR Brave. However it has been the love and support of his girlfriend that has made it all worthwhile.

“If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be able to cope with all the training and everything that goes with playing,” Gavin said.

Gavin also credits much of the CBR Brave success to the new training regime set out by celebrity trainer, Lee Campbell, that has them doing off-ice training twice a week as well as a recovery session on Sundays. This is in addition to the two on-ice trainings each week.
 
At the beginning of the season Campbell had the team working extensively on building a new internal culture and sense of responsibility to each other. The new approach that the CBR Brave have brought to their hockey has given the sport a new lease on life in the nation’s capital. There has been extensive work by the new team on and off the ice. Campbell says that much of his focus has been on building a new team mentality and putting the onus back on the players to be accountable to each other.

“Finding your place within the team structure and showing them where they fit is key,” Campbell said. “They know they are accountable and making sure they are mentally and physically ready is how they will succeed. Somebody like Jordie, who is the backbone of the squad, now knows where he fits in the team; he’s one of the leaders. These guys are something to be feared this season.”

The CBR Brave have a double header this weekend, playing the Sydney Bears in Canberra on Saturday night before travelling to Liverpool to take on the Sydney Ice Dogs on Sunday.