Wand, Murray

BORN APRIL 14TH, 1968 in the college town of Ithaca, New York, home to Cornell uni. He moved to Australia where he has lived for many years and first represented his country at the age of sixteen in the first National Youth Team (NYT) in Japan in 1984. Coached by Canberra's Jim Fuyarchuk and South Australia's John Botterill, many of these young players went on to represent Australia in the junior and senior teams, and Wand was no exception.

Queensland's Clinton Horner recalls he assisted Wand's goal that tied the game against Korea in 1985, giving Australia their best result in international play. According to Coach Botterill, the skills and leadership qualities Wand displayed led to his appointment as Captain of Australia in the 1986 NYT. He then progressed to the National Junior Team.

By 1991, he was alternate captain of Murray Draper's Macquarie Bears with Steve Rabbit and Carl Di Piazza, then eventually captain for seven seasons straight, 2002 to 2008, and alternate captain in 2009 and 2010. He won Goodall Cups representing New South Wales in 1992 and 1996, and with the Sydney Bears in 2002 and 2007. By 2016, he was still the Sydney Bears all-time fifth top point scorer, 4th for goals and 5th for assists. He scored 70 goals 75 assists in 170 games, the fifth highest all-time goals played for the club.

In 1992, he was top point scorer with the National Senior Team (NST) in the first of many practice games to come. The NST was preparing for the Worlds against a junior varsity team from British Columbia. Wand went on to represent his country fourteen times at senior level, 1992 to '01, 2003 and 2006 to '08. He played a total of 63 international senior games for Australia over 18 years and has won two Division 2 bronze medals, a silver and a gold. In that time he scored 50 goals, an average 1.25 points a game.

In 2016, Wand was a Business Solutions Manager at Australian Red Cross in Sydney, having completed Bachelor and Masters degrees in Information Systems.