Head Coach and former AHL player, Jim Aldred and Cristina were hired by FDI-Portugal in 2019 where they have been behind the development of ice hockey in Portugal and the National Ice Hockey Team is now an Associate Member (in good standings) of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).

Coach, Jim Aldred, is Canadian and was born in Toronto, and told me he started playing ice hockey at just four years old, he then went on to play in the GTHL, OHL, AHL, and was drafted by the Buffalo Sabres back in the day. In 2016, Jim and his wife, moved to Torres Novas in Portugal, “My wife is Portuguese and her parents were moving back to Portugal, so we decided to move here to be closer to assist with her elderly parents. Portugal is a beautiful country but my love is ice hockey and I got kind of bored with nothing much to do after the beach season ended so I started reaching out to see if anyone was doing any kind of ice hockey in Portugal”.

Coach Jim was in luck, as he found a group in Sintra who were practising ice hockey using inline skates, and who during the winter months would play at pop-up rinks that you usually see at Christmas markets at different shopping centres. Jim added that, “At the time the biggest ice rink was probably one that was set up in a bull rink in Elvas, which wasn’t an official sized rink but it was bigger than the pop-up ones and we were able to practice there.”

Jim explained that “from when we started, it has come a long way, it took a while to get things organised especially since my love is ice hockey and they used to play inline. I played a couple of times with them, and then everyone started to get into the groove.”

He started holding bi-weekly training sessions, a hockey camp in Spain, teaching drills, skills, ice hockey rules and ice skating during the Christmas season in the “pop up” temporary ice rinks at shopping malls and enrolling the team in tournaments. Jim also pointed out a couple of highlights since moving to Portugal where the National Team played under the IIHF’s Development Cup in Andorra in 2017, where the Men’s National Team brought back bronze medals. They did even better in 2018 winning Silver.

Coaching the Future!

Since last December, Coach Jim has been holding regular practises at Serra da Estrela Ice Arena in Covilha, where him and his wife have been residing since 2021. He has been introducing children to learn how to skate, ice hockey, cross overs and stick handling. Speaking of which, Jim affirmed that the future of ice hockey in Portugal and in any country are the children. If you don’t have young ones to develop into ice hockey players, there will be no future in the sport. You need both girls and boys starting at a young age, training them on ice, building teams and keeping them involved.


Jim confirmed that the reaction has been positive “We have about 20 interested boys and girls playing the game where we take them to Majadahonda (Spain) to play with kids who have access to ice rinks everyday over there. We’re reaching out to Schools across the Country to gain more interest. We also have “a lot of expat families contacting us who are wanting to keep their kids playing this sport we all love”.

Official sized ice rink

Coach Jim told The Portugal News that not having a full-sized ice rink has been a big challenge, because you need it to play the sport and develop, adding that it’s like going from a golf cart to a Hummer.” Jim went on to reveal some very exciting news in that the Federation of Winter Sports (FDIP) is working hard on acquiring the first official sized ice rink in Portugal in which they are focusing on the Lisbon area. Jim couldn’t say the exact time line but said they hope it comes within the next two years, further adding that “the pandemic stopped the process but it’s back on track, with the future of ice hockey depending on it!”.

Winter Sports Federation

Jim praises the Winter Sports Federation of Portugal, in which he explained that the biggest turn around in ice hockey in Portugal is when the federation got involved in 2018. “I made the decision that in order to move forward in ice hockey in this country, we’d need an established federation behind us. So, I give full credit to our President, Pedro Farromba and our VP Pedro Flavio. They have done a wonderful job supporting and promoting us in every way and we are moving ahead because of them.

Most excitingly, Jim and Cristina started the Luso Lynx Hockey Club (in Sintra) in becoming Portugal’s first official federated ice hockey team which currently has about 25 registered athletes of all ages where some have represented Team Portugal in the IIHP Development Cup.

This coming February, there will be a try out in Spain. If you have ice hockey experience, possess a Portuguese Passport, meet the criteria as per the IIHF eligibility rules and would like to earn a spot on the National Team, please email Portugalicehockey@gmail.com

You can also visit @PortugalIceHockey on Facebook or their Instagram @portugalicehockey

Author

Following undertaking her university degree in English with American Literature in the UK, Cristina da Costa Brookes moved back to Portugal to pursue a career in Journalism, where she has worked at The Portugal News for 3 years. Cristina’s passion lies with Arts & Culture as well as sharing all important community-related news.

Cristina da Costa Brookes