Di Piazza, Carl

BORN ON APRIL 13TH, 1969 in Sydney Australia and first played organised hockey as a forward with the Macquarie Bears Bantam Under-13s. He represented his state in the Tange Trophy (U15) (1984, '85, '86), and won the state Midget-grade championship. He continued to represent New South Wales in the Brown Trophy (U21) between 1986 and 1990, except the final year of high school when focused on studies. He played with the Sydney Bears in the state Super League and the AIHL from 1989 to 2006, an elite playing career spanning 17 years.

In one stand-out season in 1992 when he turned 23, he was the Macquarie Bears Junior and Senior MVP (Bauer Trophy) and the state association's Junior MVP. That same year, he coached the Bears Bantams to a Championship; won both the state Super League and the Goodall Cup with the Bears; and a bronze medal on his début with the National Senior Team in the C-Pool Worlds at Humberside Ice Arena in Hull, England. He represented Australia a total of six times at the Senior World Championships ('92, '93, '97, '98, 2000, '01), winning another three international medals; silver in South Africa in '98 and two more bronze (2000, '01). He retired from the AIHL in 2006 at the age of 37 with five Goodall Cups (1989, '92, '96, '99, 2002), the last when the Bears finally broke Adelaide Avalanche at Blacktown Ice Arena in Sydney in 2002.

In the early years with the Bears, he coached Midget, Bantam, Peewee and Atoms, along with the club's Development League sessions. He was Development League Director at Sydney Ice Arena (SIA) for 8 years (2007–14), where he also officiated as both referee and linesman. In 2007, he became an accredited Level 1 coach and established the Norwest Emperors Ice Hockey Club at SIA where he was Coaching Director and a committee-member until 2013.

Actively involved in developing and coaching players aged from 4 yrs through to senior, some of the notable players who passed through this club, the SIA Development League, or both include: Kenshin Hayashi (NSW Representative. NSW Blues, Tournoi Quebec); Jeremy Vaquez. (NSW Representative. NSW Blues, Tournoi Quebec); Lachlan Fahmy. (NSW Representative. NSW Blues, Tournoi Quebec); Brentin Azzopardi. (NSW Representative. NSW Blues, Tournoi Quebec); Jack Ransome (NSW Representative. NSW Blues and Ice Crocs, Tournoi Quebec); and Joel Berthold (NSW Representative. NSW Ice Crocs, Tournoi Quebec).

He upgraded his coaching qualifications to Level 3 and twice served as a selector for the state Ginsberg (U13) team. He won silver as Assistant Coach of the state Brown Team in 1996; gold as Head Coach of the Macquarie Bears Bantams in 1992; and the Minor Premiership and Gold Medal Championship as Head Coach of the Liverpool Saints women's team in 2016.

Also actively involved in officiating as both a referee and linesman, his accredited coaching career has spanned 10 years. The recreational hockey he has played since the AIHL, including the 2013 Hong Kong 5's B-Division Champions, has extended his playing career to something in excess of 30 seasons.