He will celebrate reaching 100 games for Thunder tonight when his side hosts the Canterbury Red Devils in the first of two games.
When he brought up the milestone is up for debate.
If you add in his four playoff games and deduct the two exhibition games, which have made their way on to the database, then he actually notched 100 at the end of last season.
But, hey, who is counting. The party is tonight.
"I’ve been involved with the league for quite a while now, so to get to the milestone was quite special," he said.
"There have been a couple of cool highlights. Making the grand final two years in a row was a highlight. And in 2018 we managed to make it through to the semifinals.
"They were all pretty cool moments. Beating the Stampede in overtime down in Queenstown in 2018 was quite up there. I think they were on a two-year undefeated streak in that rink and we managed to break it."
Darling joined the Thunder in 2012 when he was 17 and initially his role in the team was to test out the energy of his opponents by battling with them on the boards. There was not a lot of finesse needed.
These days he is much more creative and a lot more experienced, of course.
Darling has had several overseas playing stints during the past 10 years. He played three seasons for the Bradford Bulls in Canada and had a season with the Mustangs in Melbourne. He has also represented New Zealand at three world championships.
Darling returned to the Thunder line-up last year after two years in Melbourne.
His passion for the game combined with his leadership qualities means he is a real impact player.
His influence on players on and off the ice and is often credited with being one of the driving forces behind the culture of the team.
Darling was also named one of the assistant captains this year, alongside Ben Harford as captain and Regan Wilson, another assistant captain.
Head coach Felipe Aguirre said Darling was a "great player" and "a super passionate guy who knows the game well".
There will be a couple of other milestones reached this weekend. Harford will play his 150th New Zealand Ice Hockey League game and Anton Purver (Canterbury Red Devils) is playing his 200th game tomorrow.
The Thunder will be hoping to celebrate Darling’s achievement with a win after suffering back-to-back losses to the Stampede in its opening round of games in Queenstown.
