Milestones With Ricey

7thJune 2023

With recent commencement of the 2023 Winter season, the 78th in the Club`s history, the stats keep raking up for many returning players particularly with the many rounds being played in quick succession. We also have some newbies joining the long list of Demons to have played for the Big Red Machine.

Apologies for some of the late acknowledgement of these milestones.

Our newest members to debut this season so far and their `Demons Winter Player Number` are Aurelia Marion (811), Sean Hobbs (812), Tom Nice (813), Josh Page (814), Rhys Williams (815), Oscar Lee (816), Spencer Nave (817) and Elijah Sutton (818) Welcome all.

Games Milestones.

TC Nguyen (729) has now played 50 Games, scoring 20 Goals, 15 Assists for 35 Points with 8 Penalty Minutes, scoring 6 Game Winning Goals and 2 Hat-tricks.

Georgia Moore (759) has now played 55 Games, scoring 3 Goals, 11 Assists for 14 points with 40 Penalty Minutes.

Russell Dow (602) has become the 40th player to play 200+ senior Career games. Russell played in the last age of the Demons Junior program which was assumed by IHV post the 2007 season. His junior stats with limited data available are 134 Games, 28 Goals, 39 assists for 67 Point with 34 Penalty Minutes.

His senior stats are 201 Games, scoring 18 Goals, 51 Assists for 69 points with 82 Penalty Minutes and scoring 1 Game Winning Goal. Playing in 2 Senior Premierships

Jason Vandersluys (337) joins an elite group with his 300th game only the 9thDemon to achieve such a feat!

He too was a product of the very early Demons junior program, again with limited stats he played 109 games between 1979-1983. Jason made his senior debut in the Rd3 B-Grade game on 1st May in 1983 in a 2-2 Draw against the Pirates IHC. Having retired from hockey post the 1983 season, he returned to the Demons in 2000 and has played ever since. Jason coached the B-Grade in 2013-2014 whilst recovering from an injury. His Senior Career stats are 302 Games, scoring 56 Goals, 83 Assist for 139 Points, with 310 Penalty Minutes (7th most), scoring 9 Games Winning Goals. Playing in 8 Senior Premierships (=5th most)

Paul Raphael (321) becomes only the 2nd Demon to play 600 Senior Career games with the Club and only the 8th player to play that number in the history of Ice Hockey in Victoria. He joins 3 other Demons with 600+ IHV Senior Games to their name, who played all or most of their careers with the Demons IHC.

Raff, as he is affectionately known, started his long association way back in 1978. His junior career spanned 67 games 1978-1982. His senior debut was in the Rd12 B-Grade game 18th July in 1982 in a 6-0 loss to the Blackhawks. His contribution to the Club is almost unmatched from his 4 years as President, followed by 14 straight years as Secretary, his many years representing us at IHV level, these many years of service were acknowledged with him being awarded with Honorary Life Membership in 1997, then being Elevated to `Club Legend Status` in 2008. He is also a winner of the Alan Coleman Best Clubman award in 1987. Raff`s Senior Career stats are 605 Games, scoring 57 Goals, 138 Assist for 195 Points with 264 Penalty Minutes (9th most), scoring 2 Games Winning Goals. Playing in a Club Record 14 Senior Premierships.

Paul Rice

Historian, Demons I.H.C. Inc. 2023