2026 North Vikings Inline Hockey Viking Cup- Friday

Selected photos from the 2026 North Vikings Inline Hockey Club’s Viking Cup tournament, run in very hot conditions, that ran from Wednesday 21/01/2026 until the finals on Australia Day on the Monday 26/01/2026. This year the Viking Cup had 4 mixed adult divisions (Division 1 – 6 teams, Division 2 – 11 teams!, Division 3 – 7 teams, Division 4 – teams), a Masters division (3 teams), a women’s division (3 teams), two 15 and Under divisions (3 and 3 teams, including one from Western Australia), an 11 and Under division (3 teams including one from Western Australia), and a Mini Pucks division (2 teams) for our future stars. The Blackwood Pelicans entered 2 teams in the tournament, Salty Pelicans in Division 2 with the majority of those players being Nationals Players, and the leftover Pelicans forming the Rusty Pelicans in Division 3. Each of teams played 4 round robin games (at least for the higher divisions where there were many teams).

One thing immediate known after the first game (at least for the lower skill level teams) was that higher Division players were allowed to have another team in the next lower division (providing they weren’t Nationals players below Division 2). What this meant was that you had players at the appropriate skill level for a division totally outclassed (ie flogged and losing by more than 10 goals) by the players/teams that had dropped down a division, which caused a fair bit of frustration, especially for players new to the intricacies of Viking Cup or clearly not of the same skill level. However, some of the players that had dropped down were then being outclassed in their own, more appropriate, higher division, ie potentially stranded between divisions. Not an easy issue to solve, but perhaps more divisions with less teams in each may be a solution to make it more enjoyable. The other issue was how much of a toll the heat was going to have on goaltenders, especially those facing a barrage of shots from the higher level teams that had dropped down a division! Over 35 degrees and one timeout per period per team instead of over 40 degrees forecast could help overcome that issue perhaps.

This year the Western Australian teams (3 of them in division 2!) dominated early in the round robin series in Division 2 only to miss out in the Grand Final. The Division 2 Salty Pelicans missed out on the finals by 1 point, and the Rusty Pelicans finished well out of contention given the inclusion of the Division 2 players in their division. Many thanks to those higher level players who encouraged us Rusty Pelicans in the game and gave us a chance to do something useful

Win or lose, everyone usually comes away from the Viking Cup with something positive, learning new skills, team camaraderie and vowing to be better the next time!

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Photos taken by Karen Kutsche