Damon Parolin skated his way to silver with the Victorian under-13 ice hockey team at the recent Ginsberg Championships in Adelaide. 85590 Picture: JARROD POTTER
By JARROD POTTER
CRANBOURNE has unearthed another ice hockey prodigy with Damon Parolin lacing on the skates for Victoria.
Through a family friend, Parolin, 12, was introduced to ice hockey and after a couple of seasons with the Flyers, who have won all but one game this season, he tried out for the Victorian side and was put into the squad.
“I went down as they asked me to come down and try for it. I couldn’t skate or anything, but I hopped on the ice and really liked it,” Parolin said.
“So I thought I might do it, then I slowly got gear and I ended up in the second year trying out and making it into a team and after that I thought I’d try out for state and I made it.”
The side won silver at the Ice Hockey Australia 2012 Ginsberg 13 and Under Championship in Adelaide last month.
Parolin, 12, despite being a lot younger than his team mates and opposition, got some solid ice-time in the tournament that Victoria narrowly lost to New South Wales 3-4 in the gold medal game.
As one of the younger kids on the team, Parolin didn’t play in the grand final, but was thrilled to be a part of the team in the grand final.
“It was exciting, the blood rush when you see the crowd and everyone in the stadium was amazing.”
His favourite moment of the championships was a frantic save he made… which is pretty good considering he was playing up forward at the time.
“Probably when I saved a goal, that could’ve cost us the quarter final,” Parolin said. “I was playing forward and the guy on the opposition got passed our defence and I saw and skated really fast and slid in front of the puck and saved it.”
Parolin’s next big challenge is heading over to the Harrington College in Quebec, Canada next year to attend one of the world’s best ice hockey schools while completing his studies.
“It’s a boarding school, so you go there for three, six or 12 months and you wake up at 5am and do hockey for four hours, go to school, then you wake up again and play more hockey.”
“Overwhelmed to head over there, but it would be really exciting to get that chance to improve my ice hockey.”
If anyone is interested in sponsoring Parolin’s ice hockey journey to Canada, they’re encouraged to contact Jenny Parolin on 0438 193 543.
