Turik, David

BORN JULY 5TH 1959 into hockey royalty in Trail BC Canada, the son of Frank Turik, the first player to captain a British Columbia junior hockey team to the Memorial Cup, the trophy of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) champion. He attended J L Crowe Secondary School and was not permitted to switch to goal as a junior until he had played forward for several seasons and developed his skating skills. His coaches were Trail’s 1939 World Champion goalie, Duke Scodellero, and 1961 World Champion goalie, Seth Martin, of the St Louis Blues. Considered one of the best puck-handling goalies of his time, Scodellero encouraged Turik to change catching hands to be able to handle the puck better. He was growing taller in those years, but the change also seemed to factor. He won the Trail MVP in the Bantam, Midget and Juvenile leagues.

In 1978, he played hockey at Selkirk College coached by Ernie Gare, the father of Buffalo’s Captain, Danny Gare. Despite being short of players, they made it to the Canada 4 West tournament in Red Deer, Alberta. In 1979-80, he played for Illinois State University Redbirds, winning the CSCHL Tournament MVP and the attention of the Washington Capitals, which opened discussion at least with Caps GM, Max McNab, and their goalie coach, Roger Crozier.

In March 1981, he moved to Australia intending to play for the City of Sydney All-Stars who had dominated the inaugural season of the National Ice Hockey League. Instead, he took the opportunity to help coach the goalies of the Australian National Junior Team at a camp in Newcastle, and to play for the original Newcastle North Stars, along with fellow import, Garry Doré, and locals such as Steve Lindsay and Terry George.

The next season he played for Canterbury United in Sydney and in 1982 he moved to Manly and joined the Warringah Bombers at the same time as Craig Hutchison and Mark Sadgrove. The Bombers won the Australian Sports Commission 'Domestic Team of the Year' that season. At the inaugural Slapshot ABC TV series in 1983, he was awarded CP Air Best Goaltender and a return air ticket to Canada. In 1985, he was starting goalie for the Australian select team against an NHL star-studded Teen Ranch — Ron Ellis, Gary Unger, Jean Pronovost and Dave Burroughs — before a 3,000 capacity crowd at the Macquarie Ice Rink in Sydney. He also helped coach each of the Bombers' junior teams.

He finished Best Goaltender four times over five seasons in the NSW Super League then working long hours as a foreign exchange broker, he married Tania in 1986 and decided to hang up the skates. A towering goaltender, his name is engraved three times on the renowned Goodall Cup — 1981, '83, '84. He was selected to tournament All-Star teams and even scored a goal against South Australia in his only match as a forward. He never represented Australia at World Championships. There was only the one opportunity that ever presented itself in the five years he played here and that was the 1986 Worlds in which Damian Holland débuted and Turik retired.

Although he was coaxed out of retirement by friends Walter Leskiw and Glenn Foll to coach the Macquarie Bears, it did not end well. A grand final plagued by controversy resulted in lengthy suspensions for coach and several players. He was the Assistant Coach of Team Canada in the inaugural Ice Hockey Classic at Allphones Arena in Sydney in 2013, with a crowd of over 18,000 spectators in attendance, and he assisted Kerry Goulet in organising the Gretzky 4-on-4 in Sydney in 2016. That year he was also working on a major NHL project, as well as printed LED lighting developed in association with NASA.

His business partner, Rick Williams, has said: "There has never been a goalie in Australia who has played at the level David did. He was invited to tryout at the NHL and played against the majority of the "Miracle on Ice" USA Gold Olympic Champions in College. Everything we have done with the NHL and will be doing with the NHL has everything to do with David. He coached every level at the Bombers and has his name on the Goodall Cup several times. He comes from Canadian royalty and he would be in the Hall about 100 years before me!"