The NZ Southern Knights Under-14 ice hockey team made history this month, as the first junior team to win an international tournament outside New Zealand.
Coach and manager Nick Flight said the team, comprising junior players from Queenstown, Dunedin and Alexandra ice hockey clubs, won the tournament after beating 2013 champions South Australian Sharks 2-1 in a tight final.
The southern team stuck to its game plan in the final and out of nine games played it won eight, ending with 45 goals for and nine against.
Tournament honours went to Jackson Flight, the team's top points-scorer, named in the 2014 All Stars starting line-up.
Team honours went to Jack Robbie, joint team best forward with Billy Sheard, of Dunedin, while Josh Hurley (Alexandra) was named team best defence and MVP.
Mr Flight said the tournament involved seven representative or club teams from South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and New Zealand.
The Southern Knights' warm-up game, against an under-15 representative team heading to the International Peewee Friendship Tournament in Newcastle next year, was filmed by Australia's Channel 10.
''We had an upset win, 3-1, which embarrassed the hosts a bit on national TV.
''Great moments in life come from opportunities like these and it did get tough, but we stuck to the plan and the boys achieved our goals.''
Queenstown had been given first option to host the event next November, likely to attract about 300 players and supporters for the week-long event.
Eight teams from Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia were expected to travel to the resort, Mr Flight said.
''With a bit of local support I'm sure we could help the Australian organisers run a great tournament here ... [it] is a great opportunity for New Zealand junior ice hockey and Queenstown.''
