McGuinness, Adam

ADAM MCGUINNESS WAS BORN in London on 11 May 1964 and began ice skating at six at Streatham, encouraged by his mother, a ballet teacher. However, he opted to play pee-wee hockey. At 10 or 11, the family relocated to Sydney, Australia, where McGuinness joined the Finn Eagles at Prince Alfred Park. His father drove them to Saturday 6am practices in the family Kombi, while Adam changed in the back so both caught an extra 15 minutes sleep. He often spent Saturdays in skate rental, squeegeeing water off the ice to earn passes for public skating sessions.

In 1979, the family moved to Carlingford in western Sydney near Bomber Jamie Lawther, whose father drove them to the rink. He represented his state in the 1979 Tange Trophy (U18) and next year at Blacktown. In 1981, he became a foundation player with the Macquarie Bears in the NSW Super League.

From 1982 to 1986, he worked full-time at the new rink, driving the Zamboni and sharpening skates. He dabbled in speed skating, coached juniors, and represented his state in the Brown Trophy. In 1983, at 19, he represented Australia for the first time at the Junior Worlds (U21) in Bucharest, Romania, and again in 1984 in Varese, Italy. He played for New South Wales in the Goodall Cup, winning titles in 1988 and 89, and became president of the Macquarie Bears in the late 1980s.

In 1990, the Forward represented Australia again at the senior D Pool Worlds in Cardiff, Wales, where he stayed for a few weeks with the Telford Tigers as a British player, intending to return to the British league, which offered a higher standard of competition than Australia. By the end of the season, he returned to Streatham in London — where he had begun his career 20 years earlier — but found that the chemistry was no longer there, leading him to transfer to Lee Valley.

He won Bronze with Australia at the 1992 C Pool World Championships in Humberside, England, coached by Ryan Switzer. Afterwards, the British Ice Hockey Association revoked his British status. He recalls, “It was a hypocritical decision. The British team was much stronger due to 15 expats, mainly from Canada, who had British citizenship, and I would not have made that team. These players all played in the British divisions as imports. Britain beat us something like 15-2. I considered challenging this decision.”

McGuinness married Beth in 1993 and had a son Gulliver the following year before returning to Melbourne after a three-season hiatus from hockey. In 1996, national teammate Glenn Grandy spotted him skating up Swanston Street and lured him to the Blackhawks at Ringwood. He joined the Blackhawks, but a ruptured disc and chronic sciatica ended his playing career. He coached the A-grade Blackhawks in 1997, and a second son Finlay was born. McGuinness transferred to the Central Coast of New South Wales for work the following year.

In 2001, he came out of retirement to join the inaugural Newcastle Senior B team, an open-age non-contact league. He found it too demanding at 38 and retired at the end of the season. He took charge of the local hockey academy at the new Erina Ice Arena and founded the Central Coast Cyclones alongside Allan Harvey. He served as the club president and coached the Cyclones Pee Wees. Additionally, he played Senior B and coached the Central Coast Rhinos in the AIHL, starting in 2007.

In 2009, anticipating the opening of Medibank Icehouse, McGuinness moved back to Melbourne to coach Victorian Juniors and join the Melbourne Nite Owls. Gulliver played ice hockey in the Victorian leagues. Adam had completed a Diploma of Electonic Engineering at North Sydney College of TAFE in the 1980s. He works in information systems and was a data architect with Future Fund at the time of writing.