The Origins of Kondos Ice Hockey League
15 years ago Chris Kondos started running his own scrimmages and as a bit of fun called it the Kondos Hockey League.
“We started by scrimmaging and giving young kids somewhere to go on a Friday night rather than going out drinking and taking drugs. We provided a healthy avenue and environment for these kids on a Friday night. We would start our scrimmage from 10:30pm on a Friday night at Olympic Ice Skating Centre, in Oakleigh, Victoria, Australia. We would scrimmage for 4 hours some nights as we were given the key to the rink and would simply lock the front door when we were done. Some nights we would get off the ice at 3am. We were addicted to hockey, not just any hockey, but fun hockey. Hockey where the competitiveness side was taken away and we could just go out with any skill level and enjoy the sport.”
Fast forward to 2023, and Kondos has gained some ice time from Joey Hughes, the rink owner and fellow legend of Ice Hockey in Australia. Joey played for Melbourne Mustangs, Melbourne Ice and CBR brave for the AIHL (Australian Ice Hockey League). Joey loved what Kondos was doing and wanted to help the league continue growing by giving more ice time availability for participants.
As Chris Kondos describes it, “We started in 2023 on a Tuesday night at 9:45pm for 90 minutes. Having to work the next day these skates were hard but we never found it hard to get the numbers down there. We would get changed and run a mini draft every Tuesday in the change rooms before the game. We would pick 2 random captains every week and they would select their teams.”
After a few months of games, Kondos gained more followers and more participants signed up helping lead to his dream vision coming to fruition. He would set out to officially start the Kondos Ice Hockey League.
The Evolution of Kondos Ice Hockey League
Chris Kondos started with 4 teams, “I selected 4 captains, 4 players that wouldn’t get the call up in our other league here in Melbourne, so this was a good opportunity for them to have a go and lead a team. We had a draft night in the Café at the Olympic Ice Skating Centre and we had a roulette style draft, almost like the draft lottery. That’s where the teams were born. The original 4 teams were selected and we were away. Season 1 consisted of 35 players, a ref and passion for the sport.”
After a few games, Kondos bought himself a DSLR camera because he wanted to make the league well known around the city and set up a camera operator every game to stream the games direct to youtube. The product at first wasn’t all glamour but it was a start in the right direction. It ignited something inside Kondos to push and go harder with his league to provide a fresh perspective in comparison to other Hockey league run around there.
When the NHL came down to Australia, Chirs recounts how he saw that opportunity to help further the development of the league, “A group of us went to the La Kings Vs Arizona Coyotes game that was here in Melbourne. I ran into a long time friend, Sean Figgers at the game. I pitched an idea to him that I want to stream and commentate our games. I want to go bigger after being inspired by the NHL being in town. He was excited and said “let’s talk”
It took 2 months for us to reconnect on this idea and he was immediately in. I paid for him myself and he came on board. He is so professional with his commentating and we wouldn’t have the growth we’ve had up until this point if it wasn’t for him.
After outliving our lonely DSLR camera to stream our games the passion inside me started overheating. My wife being my biggest supported didn’t stand in the way, in fact she was the most encouraging person.”
Chris Kondos works with Blackmagic Design who make amazing streaming products and cameras they helped for the setup. With the leagues further growth they now have 2 fantastic studio cameras streaming out games as well as a camera in the score box to capture Figgers’ (Sean Figgers the commentator) every exciting moment. Every game is streamed live on youtube and the league is actively growing out their social media presence.
Now as the league looks to start season 4 it has grown by 40 players. From what was originally four teams has expanded to 7 teams and the passion that all players have for the game continues to open eyes to new participants. Excitement fills the locker rooms for the upcoming season to being!
As Kondos explains, “We balance all of our teams properly with 2 highly experienced players per team, 5 to 6 middle-level players and another 4 to 5 entry level players or players who are the most eager to learn.
The balance helps out the inexperienced players because the experienced players are making plays with them and involving them in the game as much as they can. We have restrictions on the top end players so they choose to pass the puck more and to anyone else on their team.
We are very strong and present on our rules for the games. We have a zero tolerance on rough behaviors, for example tripping, slashing and hooking. We do not allow that at all and have a strict 2 strike policy on our games. Our approach is that we all have jobs and have to work the next day so we do not want to risk being hurt. We are trying to teach our players that if you are struggling to get the puck off someone then work harder to get it off them cleanly. Don’t allow your raw emotion to take over when you have been beaten by trying to swing your stick at them and try and take them down. Use your feet to catch up with them rather than your stick as a weapon. We are trying to stamp our the dirty plays from hockey where people feel safe to come and play.”
Tuesday nights have become the most exciting time of everyone’s week. The league has an abundance of comments on their facebook page that players account this is the most fun they’ve had at hockey for a very Long time. Some plays have been playing over 10 years and they cannot remember the last time they had this much fun. Some beginners are improving so fast that they are unrecognizable after a season with the league. They’re trying to make passes and make plays rather than icing the puck, they’re challenging the better players and winning some battles and they’re even scoring on some amazing goalies in the league.
“We also have some fantastic goalies that have lost their way a little bit within the hockey community down here. They have managed to reinvent themselves with us as their passion for the sport has come back and reignited their flame. The goalies are making our games the hardest challenge because some weeks we simply cannot get anything past them.
The hockey community that we have created here is something else and I think the whole world should know because it has made hockey so fun that players are turning up sometimes 3 hours before their games because they’re just purely excited to be playing in this amazing league.
Olympic Ice Skating Centre in Oakleigh, Melbourne, Australia:
They are the home of the Kondos Ice Hockey League and they’ve been always accommodating with our league. They’re a family run rink and the staff are amazing. Joey Hughes, the owner, is such an amazing person for Ice Hockey in Australia and he does so much for the sport, not only ice hockey but all ice sports. The rink holds a lot of memories being the oldest rink in our state. It holds memories like myself and my wife, we met there 20 years ago, we also got engaged there 2 years later and holds a lot of valuable memories for us along with everyone that skates there.”
Igor Burdetskiy
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