While rugby league and football dominate the sporting conversation in Newcastle, one of the city’s most successful teams is playing on ice.
The Newcastle Northstars have been crowned the 2026 Australian Ice Hockey League minor premiers, finishing on top of the regular season ladder and claiming the H Newman Reid Trophy. It is the club’s first regular season title since 2015 and its sixth overall.
The achievement adds to an already impressive history.
Based at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium in Warners Bay, the Northstars are six time AIHL champions and have won the Goodall Cup a league record six times.
The club has also been one of the AIHL’s most consistent teams, reaching 15 of the league’s first 22 finals series, according to Hunter Ice Skating Stadium.
For many sports fans in the Hunter, however, the Northstars remain somewhat under the radar.
That is what makes their latest achievement worth talking about.
Newcastle now heads into the 2026 Goodall Cup playoffs as the AIHL’s minor premiers, with a chance to add another chapter to the club’s already successful history.
The Northstars may not receive the same attention as Newcastle’s biggest sporting teams, but their record is difficult to ignore.
Six-time national champions. Six time regular season winners. And now, once again, the team to beat heading into the AIHL finals.
Perhaps it is time more Newcastle sports fans started paying attention.
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