Philps, Stuart

STUART PHILPS WAS BORN in Canberra on 6 December 1978, and began playing hockey at about 16 in the local Canberra leagues. He competed in the national league for ten seasons and also served as a player-coach. Coaching at national and international levels became his most significant contribution to inline and ice hockey for both men and women.

For 15 years, Philps played and was a player-coach for the Canberra Knights. During his time with the club, he never won the New South Wales Superleague or the Australian Ice Hockey League. The blueliner continued with the Knights until they disbanded in 2013, aside from the 2003 season and 2004 when he played for Kraft in Sweden’s II-divisioona. As a defenseman, Philps played at least ten AIHL seasons, totalling around 176 games.

From 2014 to 2019, Philps served as an assistant coach for the CBR Brave, who were a 2014 AIHL Finalist. In 2018, he helped lead the CBR Brave to the top of the table for the first time, earning the H Newman Reid Trophy and only conceding four games throughout the season. By then, the club had reached the finals each year but in 2018 they went on to win the championship, the club’s first Goodall Cup.

The following year, in 2019, the assistant coach contributed to the team's second premiership victory, with an impressive league-record win percentage of 94 per cent, conceding just two games, one of which went into overtime. The club appointed Philps Head Coach in 2020. In 2022, during his first full season in the job, he topped the table and guided the team to the championship, securing victories over the Newcastle Northstars in both the semi-final and final to take the Goodall Cup. In 2024, he repeated this success, leading the team to a 5-0 victory against the Melbourne Ice.

Since 2012, Philps has also been the head coach of the Australian men's inline hockey team. Under his leadership, Australia competed in Division I of the IIHF World Championships, ranking between second and fifth, which placed them tenth to thirteenth in the world during his tenure. Philps achieved notable success, winning a silver medal in the Czech Republic in 2014, another silver in Finland in 2015, and a bronze in Slovakia in 2017, where the team defeated Great Britain 7-3.

Philps coached the Australian Tier 2 Women’s Ice Hockey League Series 1 and the Australian Women’s Tier 2 Showcase Series with the Melbourne Dragons in 2017. Between 2016 and 2023, he led the National Women’s Team through seven consecutive campaigns, five of which he served as Head Coach. Rocky Padjen holds the tenure record, having served in the top job seven times. Under Philps’ leadership, the National Team achieved promotion to Division 2A in 2016, faced demotion in 2019, won gold and promotion again in 2020, and demotion once more. Four of the seven World Championships occurred in the higher division.

Coaching a dozen or so Australian national hockey teams has made Philps one of the most experienced coaches in the country. He identifies as a player’s coach, emphasising an approach structured around 80 per cent people management and 20 per cent technical coaching.

“Players need to know that you have their best interests in mind,” he stated in an interview with Michael Djordjieski at the RiotAct. “They need to feel cared for, and they crave feedback. A coach must be completely honest, regardless of how players may respond to that feedback. A team is more likely to achieve greater goals when it is in an environment designed for them to feel safe and be their true, authentic selves.”

In 2020, Philps served as the president of the Australian Capital Territory ice hockey association. In 2024, the CBR Brave was recognised as the Team of the Year at the CBR Sport Awards, highlighting their significant contribution to the ACT sporting community.

Stuart Philps' hockey career has now entered a fourth decade.