2026 North Vikings Inline Hockey Viking Cup – Saturday & Sunday

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).

A bit of a hard slog out there on the rink with the heatwave continuing and the evap air-conditioning doing it’s best to keep participants and spectators cool as possible. The heat and barrage of shots from the upper level teams took its toll on the Rusty Pelicans starting goaltender in the first of their Sunday games and so an alternate goaltender from the team stepped up to the plate and worked between the pipes in their last game giving the starting goaltender a game to be a skater in.

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 many Division 2 players in other teams in their division. I would like to thank, on behalf of the Rusty Pelicans, those higher level players who gave encouragement to the Rusty Pelicans players out there on the rink during the game and gave us a fair go. It was very much appreciated.

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!

These photos are from Saturday and Sunday’s Salty Pelicans and Rusty Pelicans games plus 2 Division 1 games between the Warriors and WA Rollers Black Div1, and Puckin Cows and Diamonds.

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Photos taken by Karen Kutsche (Rusty Pelicans game) and Frank Kutsche