Saunders, Dan

BORN DECEMBER 21ST 1948, in Dresden, Canada, Dan Saunders played Junior hockey for Dresden with enough skill to move up, except he wanted to see Australia. He met and married Connie in November 1971, and the newlyweds headed for Australia a few days later. Arriving in Brisbane later that year, Dan got a job at the new Four Seasons Ice Palace at Toombul while Connie found work as a registered nurse at two different hospitals. Their daughter Kelly was born in Brisbane in 1972. 

Four senior ice hockey teams started up — the Boomerangs, Redwings, Maple Leafs (formerly Brisbane Falcons) and the Blackhawks— and two junior squads competing for the Pennzoil trophy. Hockey and other ice sports expanded, mainly due to visiting Canadians like Saunders and later Rus Trudeau. The aggressive rushing defenseman was a player-coach of the Leafs for two seasons. He could also play centre and coached the juniors in Brisbane in 1972, mentoring young players such as Peter Nixon. Queensland reached the grand final for the Brown Trophy national for the first time that year. 

In 1973, Saunders was captain of the state team for the Brown Trophy, Victoria winning 10-1 in the Grand Final at Ringwood Iceland. The Southerners had dominated the trophy for a decade, conceding only a single title to New South Wales in 1970. However, Queensland won its first Brown Trophy two seasons later in 1975, earning the right to compete for the Goodall Cup the following year. National Team Coach Elgin Luke chose Trevor Gardner, Wayne Raison and Peter Nixon for the 1974 Grenoble Worlds from the 1973 Brown and Goodall nationals.

Rink manager Graham Argue and Grove Boomer Bennett invited the Queenslander to Melbourne to play for the Hakoah club at Oakleigh. At that time, the attack was built around Bennett and Robbie Stevenson with Anders Wiking protecting the house. Saunders quarterbacked 36 games in 1974 and 75, while Connie and Kelly took a break back home in Canada. In 1974, the Queenslander won the state premiership and a second Australian club championship with Hakoah, defeating the New South Wales champion, 5-0.

The Saunders formed a strong friendship with the Bennetts during two Hakoah seasons. The family temporarily returned to Canada in 1975 while Dan completed his electronics technician diploma. On their return in 1976, the friendships resumed, and Saunders followed Bennett to the Pirates club at Ringwood for the 1978 and 79 seasons. The point man played 48 games with the club, winning a second state premiership. Robbie Stevenson, Boomer Bennett and Danny Saunders became well-known for their "antagonistic rhetoric" in those years.

In 1979, Saunders naturalised and represented Australia in Europe and the IIHF C-Pool World Championships in Barcelona, Spain. Charlie Grandy captained the team coached by Dan Reynolds. Saunders played all seven games for 11 penalty minutes compared to Gary Croft’s 18 minutes and one assist. It was the highlight of the Queenslander’s ice hockey career. His son Shaun was born soon after his return. 

Late in the evening of April 10th 1980, Dan Saunders suffered a fatal heart attack while Connie was at work. He was 31, and there was no warning. Connie and her two Australian-born children returned to their Canadian family within days, reeling from shock. Saunders has three surviving older brothers and one younger. His son Shaun now lives in Long Island, New York, with his own family. In 2019, Heather Bennett presented Shaun with his father's Australian National Team jerseys. 

In June 1980, Stevenson and Bennett went on to the inaugural National Ice Hockey League with the Footscray Pirates, finishing fifth and ninth in MVP voting, respectively. Saunders's hockey career was tragically cut short. He played six of nine seasons here, most in Victoria and with two of the most prolific scorers in the country. In Saunders’ time in Queensland, the fledgling association no longer had a set of jerseys, and the few old woollen ones from the Mowbray Park rink days were replaced with Brisbane Red Wings jerseys. Yet, the National Club Champion and National Team defenseman had been a pioneering coach, mentor and role model for young Queensland players on their way to achieving Goodall Cup standards.