Faces in the crowd

During the course of Newcastle's hockey history, the Northstars club has amassed a great following to now boast having some of the best fans in the Australian Ice Hockey League. 

At one of the last home games of the season, against Melbourne Mustangs on August 13, we took some time to speak to some supporters to learn more about their love and passion for the Newcastle Northstars. 

You may have seen the team's cutest supporter Cody Parrott who at each home game wears a hand-knitted Marty Moose beanie and walks along the stands chanting "let's go Northstars, let's go" to encourage the crowd into voicing their support. 

Cody is 6 years old and has been learning to skate and play hockey since he was 3.

You may have also noticed that the hand-knitted moose beanies have become quite popular around the rink.

We spoke to Cody’s mum, Sheree Parrott, to find out more. 

Sheree and her family have attended each home game to cheer on the Northstars for six years.

Her partner, Adrian Parrott, has been involved in the club for much longer. 

Adrian is believed to be the youngest person to ever play in a Northstars jersey.

At age 9, Adrian played in the under-17s Newcastle team circa 1977. Hockey has since been a big part of their lives. 

Cody notes that his favourite ice hockey player is his daddy, but Jayson Chalker and John F Kennedy Jr do come a close second.

It was after a game in 2015 where Cody had been cheering loudly that Sheree wanted to visibly show their support, which is where the idea for the Marty Moose beanies came from. 

Sheree didn’t have the expertise, but soon found a friend who was able to help bring the idea to life. 

“I think it usually takes about an hour for her to make them,” Sheree said.

"It just started with Cody. I wanted everyone to know that he supported the Northstars and was part of the Moosketeers. 

"Then it spread to our little group of six. Then from there it just grew!”

The beanies can now be seen all around the rink and they even travel to away games. But what makes these beanies even more special is that the proceeds are donated to Beanies for Brain Cancer run by the Mark Hughes Foundation.

“I think we are close to about 60 beanies,” Sheree said. “I just donated $300 to Beanies for Brain Cancer for over all of that time, too.”

Some other familiar faces in the crowd are brothers Bruce Knight and Frank Knight.

Bruce has been heading along to games since 2001, after seeing information about an AIHL game posted at Hunter Ice Skating Stadium. 

“Well I was bringing the kids to start classes and saw the game was on and said “yeah we’ll come back for a game” and then well, been here ever since,” Bruce said.

“We often had an extra season pass if the kids didn’t bring a friend, so then I got Frank to come to a game.” 

“And then I got hooked,” Frank chimed in. 

The two have been so hooked that Bruce has travelled to all Northstars games both home and away this year, with Frank only missing a few. Their favourite away fixture is Adelaide Adrenaline.

“It’s the fans. The fans at Adelaide are absolutely brilliant.” said Bruce.

With a small core of dedicated fans who travel to most, if not all, away games, it's easy to see why Toree Diver wanted to bring supporters together to share ideas and talk about upcoming games.  

After watching the Mighty Ducks and stumbling across the AIHL Toree became an avid fan around 2007. Toree has since regularly been to home games and many away trips too and was crucial in creating the Newcastle North Stars Fan Group on Facebook.

“I didn’t know many people here in 2015 when we won the finals,” she said. “I wanted to start getting to know more people, have somewhere where people could meet new people and be a part of something. It [group] helps people get together.”

Since forming the Facebook group, trips to Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney have been organised, helping Newcastle fans sit together at away games.

“I think we have a really good group that travel now, we have quite a lot of fun," Toree said. 

“Hire buses and do road trips. It’s just really fun to get out and support the team when we are away, when we are a minority there and usually end up being the loudest.” 

When asked which was her favourite rink, Toree reassured us that all rinks and clubs have their own unique qualities. 

“I like to travel to all of the away rinks," she said.

"Melbourne is great cause you can get up high, it’s close to everything and you can have some fun whilst visiting. 

"Canberra is great because of the fans, and I guess the danger of the rink. You could fall over walking to your seat, or you could be ducking pucks all game, which is always fun.

“I do love Sydney because it’s the new one. And I’ve made some great friends in Perth. So, I really do like all of them. I’ll share the love.”

Toree hopes to travel to Adelaide next season.

Search for the Newcastle North Stars Fan Group on Facebook and join to stay up to date with fan happenings.