Barnes, Robert

WHEN THE THREE-TEAM Australian Ice Hockey League formed in 2000, a new rink opened at Warners Bay near Newcastle and the League soon hosted exhibition games there. Asked to ice a team, local organisers were short on local players, but a number of Canadian ex-pats lived in the area and the League agreed to extra imports and recruiting from Sydney. The Newcastle Northstars entered the AIHL in the 2002 expansion with a squad split evenly between locals and Canadians.

"We weren’t all that successful that [first] year," recalls Club GM, Garry Doré. "I think we finished second last, and then in 2003, in our recruiting process, we decided to bring out a coach… Don Champagne and… some professional coaching in the early years, a fella by the name of Rob Barnes, which we knew would take us to a new level, not only with coaching the team at the time but for our future. We sat down and decided how we were going to make this work, and we ended up with the Goodall Cup that year".

Born August 10th 1955 in Toronto ON Canada, Bob Barnes grew up playing Junior hockey in defense with Markham Waxers (MTJHL, 1971-72), Kitchener Rangers (OHA-Jr 1972-3), Hamilton Red Wings (1973-4) and Hamilton Fincups (OMJHL 1974-5). Selected in Round 12 of the 1975 NHL Amateur Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs, he believes he opted for the WHA with the Edmonton Oilers and was sent down to Spokane, the club’s only farm team. He played 18 regular season games for the Spokane Flyers (WIHL 1975-6), the year they won their first Allan Cup. In 1979 he played a season with Jokerit Helsinki.

Retiring early from playing, he owner-operated Torspo Sports Canada Inc, making and distributing hockey sticks and equipment around the world. He sold it on after 10 years and re-dedicated himself to coaching through higher education — a Canadian NCCP Advanced level 3 coaching certificate and a Masters Degree in Sport Psychology.

He served as Waterloo (OUAA) Assistant Coach from 1989, and Head Coach of Hellerup (Denmark), Skelleftea (Sweden), Eindhoven (Netherlands), Loewen (Germany), and Kalix (Sweden). Retiring from professional coaching after a severe knee injury left him unable to skate, he arrived in Australia with 10 years of pro hockey under his belt, and 15 years coaching pro hockey in many countries.

A volunteer coaching director at the Northstars, he helped the club defeat the Sydney Ice Dogs in the 2003 AIHL Grand Final at Sydney Ice Arena, with a squad of 13 overseas-born players, mostly Canadians with a few locals. Back-to-back Cups followed two seasons later against Adelaide Avalanche at Newcastle and Thebarton, Adelaide.

A former coach of several National Teams at World Championships including Canada and Denmark, he played a similar role with Don Champagne in the Australian National Senior Team at the 2004 Division 2A Worlds in Jaca Spain where Australia won Bronze. They returned for the Silver in 2005 at Zagreb in Croatia, and won another Bronze in Auckland NZ in 2006.

The Barnes years produced half the Northstars' 6 Goodall Cups, the first in 2003 providing Doré with one of the great moments of his ice hockey career. The third in 2006 eclipsing the Avalanche’s opening double in the new League, and handing the Northstars the title of most successful AIHL club. "We went along that pathway," adds Doré, referring to long-term investment in professional coaching, "and it was great for the team, it was great for the club, it was great for the community". The Club still held the “most successful" title in 2017.