Wiking, Anders

BORN IN STOCKHOLM SWEDEN ON DECEMBER 12TH, 1947, Wiking was an acrobatic netminder who played Division I junior hockey for Djurgardens IF Stockholm for four seasons from 1963-4. He was development goalie in 1963 and 1964, then goalie with the firsts, playing most games sporadically in 1964-65 in reserve behind Tommy Bjorkman, the Swedish champion from 1957-8 to 1962-3. In January 1965, the 16 year-old was criticised for an 8-3 loss in a qualification match against Grums IK. He soldiered on for several more seasons, played 2nd Division with Nacka SK in the 1968-9 season, then weary of Stockholm and Sweden, moved to Australia.

Arriving in Sydney in 1970, he came in contact with the local game more by chance and good fortune because he was unaware Australians played ice hockey. His first stop was Dick and Ron Mann's Prague Bombers in the New South Wales A-grade league. The Club had a good keeper in Vincent Eliasek, so he played reserve that first season. Although it went well, he moved to Melbourne in Victoria the following year. There he joined Hakoah (1971 until 76), winning the Club's fourth state premiership and their second national in 1974 (Australian Club Championship). He represented Australia in the C-Pool World Championships at Grenoble in France that year.

Grenoble was to be Australia's "comeback" after an absence of more than a decade following the nation’s winless debut on the world stage at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley and two failed attempts to qualify again at the World's in 1962 and 1964. Australia lost 6 of 7 games, and he and ex-Canadian defenseman, Charles Grandy, were credited with the squad's only win over North Korea, 4-1. The team is said to have over-relied on the pair, but this 1974 squad had at least eight players born and developed in North America or Europe and a former Canadian in coach, Elgin Luke. Among them were 25 year-old Czech-born Michal Kriz and his 23 year-old countryman, Peter Vlacicky.

Swedish hockey historian Birger Nordmark wrote: "The second game against the Swiss was surely an experience [Wiking] preferred to forget". They lost 0-20, facing 88 shots for a Save Percentage of 0.773. "Not great stats," recalled Wiking, "but the Swiss were better than us". [1]

Australia finished 7th of 8 teams with only 13 goals, but 74 against. In the worst result of all competing countries, an average of over ten goals were scored against them per game. But the scoring differential of 61 was equally damning of a barely effective offence, producing well under half the tournament average. He had posted similar results to Barry Harkin for the same number of games. Although only 27, he did not return to the Worlds when Australia tried again in Barcelona 5 years later. Others did, including Grandy as captain, managing at best a scoreless draw with South Korea and relegation to Group D.

Wiking was goaltending coach for the VIHDC at Ringwood Iceland around 1977 and helped develop a generation of players. [2] He played a season with Sydney's Glebe Lions in 1977-8, when he briefly returned there with work. Then back to Melbourne and the Pirates IHC in 1978, where he remained until he retired from A-grade competition in 1983. He had represented Victoria in the Goodall Cup for most of the 1970s, winning the coveted trophy four times between 1972 and 76. He equalled Rob Reid's achievement for Victoria in the 1950s and 1960s and came close to Noel McLoughlin on six Cups for Victoria over the same period. Both were keepers for Australia at the 1960 Olympics.

In the early 1980s, the Swede played in the newly formed National Ice Hockey League (NIHL), a forerunner to the AIHL. Many other Swedish imports arrived in 1981, including high-scoring forward Hakan Apell, who played a few months for Dandenong Blackhawks. Wiking later joined the Melbourne Nite Owls and played veteran hockey in the national old timers league well into his sixties. He worked in information systems with Telstra Australia and briefly returned to Sweden in December 2003 to celebrate his fiftieth birthday. In 2011, he represented Victoria in the Brown Trophy in Adelaide, 41 years after his first appearance in the National representing New South Wales.

Remembered as solid, not showy, Wiking was good under pressure, very level headed with a good reputation as a team man. Considered one of the best goaltenders of his era in Victoria, Paul Rice thought he and Daniel McIvor stood out in a field that included Barry Harkin and Ray Gerwing. [3]