Chandler, Nigel

BORN AUGUST 22ND 1968 at Ferntree Gully in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges in Melbourne, he is a forward who began ice hockey in 1977 at the age of 9. He grew up in the bayside suburb of Seaford and learned the game at Dandenong Colosseum. He began local hockey with the Blackhawks then played for the Pirates in 1986 after Footscray Iceland closed.

Then came Hakoah and the Demons at Oakleigh for a total of 192 senior games in the Victorian League. In that time he scored 178 goals, 109 assists, an average of 1.5 points a game, and he still holds the record for Most Goals in a single senior Demons game (9). He represented Victoria in the Tange Trophy (Under-18) in 1983, '84 and '85, winning the championship in 1985, then won the Brown Trophy in 1986, returning again in '87. He represented Victoria 4 times in the Goodall Cup ('87, '88, '90, '91).

A foundation player with the Melbourne Ice in the Australian Ice Hockey League in 2002, he moved to New South Wales later that year where he remained for 10 years. He played hockey with the Blacktown Flyers B-grade for a season, the Central Coast Cyclones for two seasons, and the Newcastle North Stars in the AIHL in 2005 when he was 37 years-old.

He represented Australia in the National Youth Team in 1986 scoring 6 goals in the tournament, including four goals in one game against South Korea. The next year, he repped again with the National Junior Team in Denmark scoring 2 goals in the tournament. He played briefly in Edmonton Canada in 1988 and debuted in the National Senior Team in 1989 in Sydney. In 1990, he played in Toronto then represented Australia for the last time in 1995 in South Africa where he scored 2 goals for the tournament.

His son Kai is 11 years of age and plays Atoms ice hockey in Melbourne. His eldest son Josh played field hockey and now excels in bagpipes for the Victorian Police force. His daughter Amy is learning French for an exchange program in France in 2017. Currently engaged to be married to Tania Whittemore who has two daughters, Emily and Lexie, he still plays OiHAN Masters hockey with the Nite Owls in Melbourne.