Hamilton, Miri Olivia

BORN AUGUST 20TH, 1978, Miri Olivia Hamilton attended primary and high schools with her best friend Lizzy Caruso. They started ice hockey together in Year 7 or 8. Both developed their skills in the inline and ice hockey leagues of New South Wales, specifically with the Warringah Bombers. For several years, Miri Olivia served as the captain of both the Australian Inline Hockey state team and the Warringah Bombers inline team. Throughout her career, she skated alongside talented contemporaries, including alternates Kaylee Reitsma and Nat Scoular, as well as Liz Caruso, Suz Law, Kath McOnie, and others, many of whom also made the transition to ice hockey.

At 16, Miri Olivia represented New South Wales in the 1994 Able Press Cup. This event was the forerunner to the Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy national ice hockey competition for women, which began the following year.

New South Wales defeated Queensland 4-2 in the Final at Canterbury Ice Rink in Sydney in 1995 and went on to win the first four national championships. Olivia scored three goals and three assists to finish second top point scorer, one goal behind team captain Wendy Ovenden. Tournament leader Steph Wheaton had 13 points, all goals. Miri Olivia made the 2nd Australian All-Star Line.

The two-way player became an alternate captain on ice in the years that Ovenden captained the state side. In 1997, she won the Joan McKowen Trophy, coached by Michael King, and the Australian Inline Hockey Club Challenge, coached by David Mann, Mark Gibson and Jason Tait. No doubt there were others.

Miri Olivia attended the National Team tryouts at Canterbury in 1999. The following year, New South Wales won the national championship again, and Miri Olivia was Alternate Captain of Australia in the IIHF B Pool Qualification Tournament in Székesfehérvár and Dunaújváros, Hungary, coached by Kathy Berg and Scott Wilson. Steph Boxall (Wheaton) captained the team, and Cathy Wilkinson completed the leadership group. Miri Olivia scored her first goal for Australia and ended the tournament with a plus-minus of +3, the highest of any player on the 2000 Australian team.

The pathfinding squad aimed for the opportunity to compete in the World Championships in Maribor, Slovenia, the following year. Despite suffering a 2-0 loss to the Netherlands, a 7-1 defeat against Great Britain, and an 8-1 loss to North Korea, they rebounded by defeating South Africa 6-0 in the game for seventh place. They received the prestigious Fair Play award, averaging just six penalty minutes per game. Among the eight competing teams, only North Korea managed to qualify.

Kaylee White, a veteran of seven IIHF World Championships, has said she could probably thank Miri Hamilton-Yates for introducing her to ice hockey. “If I had to pick one player [who inspired me] I would have to say Miri Hamilton-Yates. She was my idol as a kid and I always wanted to be as good as her someday”. Suz Law has also said Miri Olivia was the reason she played ice hockey and Trish Alexander recalls Miri and Jana Suominen convinced her to start playing.

Miri Olivia had to retire due to injury after the first year that Australia sent a women's team to the world championships. By then, she had significantly impacted her hockey opponents on both ice and boards at local, state, national, and international levels. She earned numerous accolades, including MVP, highest points scorer, All-Star line honours in most years, and she frequently held a captaincy role.

“I was only your coach for a very short time,” wrote Michael King recently, “but it was my pleasure to see you play and develop. Not only did you grow as a player, but also as a leader. Younger players looked up to you, and older players and coaches respected you. Great skills enhanced by great work ethic”.

Coach Rob Ratjens and Miri Olivia had a long-standing relationship in sports, both competing together and against each other. Sarge describes Miri Olivia as a giant of the game who leads by example, referencing Isaac Newton's "shoulders of giants" metaphor. “You set a high standard for yourself and your team, and today’s game owes much to players like you.”