Casey Kubara joined the Escadia Newcastle Northstars in 2025, following eight years with the ‘Middle of Nowhere’ rivals Canberra Brave. Kubara moved to the Newcastle area for work in 2024, commuting to Canberra for games before deciding to play closer to home. Born and raised in Wollongong, close to the beach, made Newcastle attractive to live, work and now play hockey.
Kubara is one of five siblings, with three brothers and a sister, and hockey has been a large feature for the family. Casey, along with brothers Toby, Tyler and Bayley, all grew up rollerblading, at the skate park, and playing inline hockey. When the local inline rinks closed down, the four brothers went to their closest ice rink at Liverpool and started skating. They’ve been playing ice hockey ever since, with all four suiting up for the Brave over the years. Now, in 2025, there are three brothers on three different AIHL teams.
The youngest, Bayley, remains at the Brave; Tyler moved to the Central Coast Rhinos this year; and Casey with the Northstars. Toby last played in 2024. Kubara says “it is different now playing against each other, but we try not to focus on it too much. It’s nice to see them, and we catch up. Tyler plays centre so we face off together; Bayley plays defence and usually giving me a hard time cross-checking me in the corner!”
Prior to playing in the AIHL, Kubara played in the East Coast Super League (ECSL) for the Reach Rebels and in the Australian Junior Ice Hockey League (AJIHL) with the Sydney Lightning and Sydney Sabres. He then went to the United States of America to develop his skills in the United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL) with Atlanta Jr Knights and the Eastern Hockey League (EHL) with the Philadelphia Jr Flyers. Moving to Rochester in Upstate New York to attend college, Kubara played hockey in the NCAA III for Nazareth College for four years, returning to play hockey in the AIHL during the college breaks. Kubara has also played for Australia in the U18, U20 and Senior Men’s teams, playing over forty games in the green and gold.
This year he reunited with former Brave teammate, Wehebe Darge, who joined the Northstars in 2023. Kubara has enjoyed playing with Darge again, saying “it is familiar, and we’ve enjoyed success together, which we can hopefully continue here.”
In June, Kubara went back to the Brave Cave, the first time as a rival player. “It was bittersweet playing back in the Brave Cave for the first time, where there are a lot of memories and success. They gave me a great reception, and the fans were heckling me in good fun”.
Kubara has enjoyed playing in Newcastle this year, and he has enjoyed the diverse Northstars team with imports coming from Czechia, Sweden, Russia/Romania and Canada. It has bought a wealth of different experience from Europe to blend with the Australian players. This year he has achieved the milestones of 100 regular season AIHL goals and 300 points in his AIHL career.
We look forward to many more years of seeing Kubara in the Northstars jersey!
ADRENALINE
NORTHSTARS
BRAVE
ICE
MUSTANGS
THUNDER
LIGHTNING
RHINOS
