SCHLAMP, Michael

MICHAEL SCHLAMP is a former nine-time captain of the Sydney Bears and a previous alternate captain of the Australian national team. The Canadian, who played for the Estevan Bruins, moved to Australia thanks to former Bruins coach Kelly Lovering, who had also coached the Australian National Team. Schlamp played his first AIHL season in 2002 with the inaugural Newcastle North Stars. Twenty-two seasons later, he surpassed the 300-game milestone and scored his 350th point.

Born 30 January 1981, a native of Bienfait, Canada, the 188cm Forward played for Regina Pat Canadians and Saskatoon Blazers in the Saskatchewan U18 AAA hockey league and two dozen games for the Saskatoon Blades in the WHL before joining the Estevan Bruins in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League in 1999. Lovering gave Schlamp the chance to play in Australia. After Juniors, Lovering's son, Tyler, came to Australia, and Schlamp joined the Newcastle North Stars in his first AIHL season at 21. They planned to have a “fun little holiday in the summer” during their off-season, then head home six months later.

Schlamp worked in Australia until December of that year, went back to Bienfait for a year and then applied to study chiropractic in Sydney, where he has lived since 2004. "It was a little different at first. It's like playing summer hockey," Schlamp told Josh Lewis at SaskToday in 2012. "I have definitely gone a little soft when it comes to the weather now, compared to back in Saskatchewan". In 2006, he was the East Coast Super League champion with the Ice Breakers.

The forward returned to the AIHL with the Sydney Bears in 2007, where he won his first Goodall Cup, defeating Newcastle 4-3 in overtime. He did not play the 2009 season, then resumed in 2010 for ten games straight until 2019, when he won a second Goodall Cup, defeating Perth Thunder 5-2 in the Final. The Canadian found himself mentoring and helping run the occasional hockey school with some of the younger kids.

By 2012, the former Saskatoon Blade was naturalised and first represented Australia after being promoted to the Division I World Championships in Krynica, Poland. Unfortunately, the team was relegated back to the lower division. "We competed very well and played great against tough teams and probably should have won a couple of games, but we took some penalties and had poor starts against Romania and Lithuania. Otherwise, we could have beaten them. It was such a great experience."

In 2013, Schlamp served as an alternate captain for Australia in Zagreb, Croatia. In 2014, he returned to the National Team in Belgrade and again in 2016 in Mexico City, where he averaged 1.8 points per game in Division IIB, winning the Gold Medal and achieving promotion.

In May 2022, Schlamp stepped back from playing due to injury and other commitments. However, he was re-signed by the Bears the following year and returned in 2024 for his fourteenth season with the club. He averaged 1.2 points and about 2 penalty minutes a game over a career spanning 22 years in Australia.

Influenced by the physiotherapist or chiropractor on the Estevan Bruins team in Canada, Schlamp decided to pursue a similar career. He completed both bachelor's and master's degrees in Chiropractic at Macquarie University in Sydney and is now a practising chiropractor.