The Newcastle Rescue Northstars are saddened to report the passing of a friend and player, Micheal Blackwell.

Mike, originally from the South-West districts of Brisbane, played with the Northstars in 2003 and was part of the club's Goodall Cup win that season.

Mike returned to the team in 2007 after a few years in Texas and played 18 games that season, followed by a further 8 games with the Gold Coast Blue Tongues in 2008 on his return to Queensland.

Mike was a vivacious and energetic presence both on ice and off.

He spent his later years in the Dallas Fort Worth metro area in Texas, USA, where he is survived by his wife, Birgitte Hansen Blackwell, and their two children, Keely and Braxton.

Mike loved hockey, fitness and telling yarns. His stories were numerous and bizarre enough to earn him the nickname of “Band Camp” amongst his teammates, which he owned with his typical good humour.

Some of his yarns included working as a stuntman, pranking Dallas Stars players in a social games by pretending he couldn't skate, and how his name was spelt incorrectly on his birth certificate, giving him a lifetime of having to correct his name from Michael to Micheal.

Micheal had many quirks; one remembered by Northstars Captain Ray Sheffield was how he would buy an entire box of skate laces at the beginning of a season, as he refused to use laces for more than three uses each.

Mike remained a Northstar at heart throughout his hockey career and will be missed. His name will remain forevermore on the Goodall Cup in the Hockey Hall of Fame as a champion of Australia’s elite hockey league.

His family remain in our thoughts as we share the grief of a lost friend and part of the Northstars family.

Once a Northstar, always a Northstar.

Vale Micheal Blackwell, 1974 to 2019.

Photo: The Blackwell & Sheffield families, June 2018