Sydney'’s first dedicated, off-ice hockey performance centre set to open

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In a year of firsts for hockey in Australia, another milestone is set to be achieved with the opening of Sydney’s first dedicated, full-time, off-ice training facility.

Viking Performance Lab will have it’s grand opening this Saturday October 18th, just metres from the soon to be re-opened Macquarie Ice Arena in Sydney’s north.

While there have been other off-ice development facilities around the country such as Next Level Performance Centre in Queensland, this is the first dedicated, off-ice performance centre in NSW.

It is a husband-and-wife joint venture between Jason and Annelie Kvisle, coaches of the Sydney Ice Dogs and Sydney Sirens respectively, with the objective of raising the bar and development of hockey players across the nation.

The centre features four shooting lanes with adjustable targets, a synthetic mini-rink, a Rapidshot Pro, NHL Sense Arena VR, a Woodway Blade skate treadmill, a strength and conditioning area as well as other coaching resources.



“We’re attempting to address an obvious critical skills gap that our domestic and international teams have worn the burden of for years. Due to the lack of ice sports infrastructure, we obviously can’t freeze our backyards as an alternative and we need to close that gap and get our players to the next peg in other ways,” Kvisle said.

“You can come in for an hour and shoot 400 pucks, take 200 face-offs, work on small area passing, stickhandling and strategy without the usual struggle for competing for limited ice time.”

Informally opening a few weeks ago, the facility has already had the Sirens and several junior teams make use of the facility.

Kvisle, recently named coach of Australia’s Under 20 team, acknowledges the project is a huge financial and logistical risk, but that is short-term pain in pursuit of the long-term objective for Australian hockey.

“We’re giving the kids especially another place to get themselves to the next level and giving them a fun platform to do more at the same time.”

“If it’s successful, then we will look at expanding to other states. If it’s a flop, then at least I won’t die wondering and can be satisfied that we gave it a shot.”

Viking Performance Lab is located at 396 Lane Cove Road, Macquarie Park and will have its grand opening at 9am, Saturday October 18^th.