The Tassie Van Demons were a nationally competing women's hockey team based in Tasmania, Australia. Coached by Ilene Carr, they competed in the Australian Hockey League. Some of the former coaches of the Van Demons include David Guest, Oliver Close, Zain Wright, and Ilene Carr.
2018 Australian Hockey League campaign The Van Demons participated in the final Australian Hockey League (AHL) after it was announced by Hockey Australia that the national competition would be dissolved after the 2018 competition in favour of a "revamped" league in 2019. They were drawn in Pool A alongside the Canberra Strikers, NSW Arrows, and the Queensland Scorchers.
The Van Demons squad for the 2018 AHL was announced on 25 July 2018 with Ilene Carr again appointed as head coach. Brett Withington joined the staff as assistant coach with Greer Wells announced as the team manager. Maddison Curtis and Jemma Kenworthy withdrew from the initial squad and were replaced with Molly Haas and Laura Spandler. The squad was notable for being 100 per cent Tasmanian, with no international or out-of-state imports selected for the first time in years. +Tassie Van Demons 2018 AHL SquadNo.PositionNameAge*Club2018 Games2018 Goals1MidfielderSofie McLeod33OHA604DefenderNicole Geeves34DiamondBacks305ForwardMolly Haas19Derwent007DefenderMadeleine Hinton21University609DefenderJessica Tremayne32Derwent6010MidfielderBlair Patten27Curtin Trinity (WA)6011ForwardLaura Spandler18OHA6012ForwardAshleigh Arthur23North West Graduates6113MidfielderSamantha Lawrence28West Devonport6014DefenderLouisa Jacobson28North West Graduates6015DefenderJean Flanagan27OHA5016ForwardNellie Paynter20OHA4018MidfielderSarah McCambridge (C)30OHA6019MidfielderEliza Westland21Derwent6024ForwardPhillida Bridley17DiamondBacks6025ForwardJulia Gunn16OHA5226GoalkeeperEvelyn Dalton16OHA0031GoalkeeperRuby-Rose Haywood21DiamondBacks60 *when announced.
Round 1 (Tasmanian Hockey Centre, Hobart) The Van Demons played their first pool match against Canberra on Saturday, 6 October 2018 at their home ground the Tasmanian Hockey Centre in Hobart, Tasmania. The Strikers won 3–0 with Hockeyroo Naomi Evans scoring a field goal in the 12th minute, and Meredith Bone scoring a field goal and a field goal conversion in the 55th minute.
Round 2 (Tasmanian Hockey Centre, Hobart) Their second pool match was against New South Wales on Sunday, 14 October 2018, again at their home ground the Tasmanian Hockey Centre. The Arrows fielded a strong team featuring five Australian national team representatives, compared to Tasmania's zero, and won comfortably 8–1. Jessica Watterson scored a field goal and a field goal conversion in the 13th minute, Kate Jenner scored from a penalty corner in the 26th minute, and Grace Stewart scored a field goal and a field goal conversion in the 30th minute to give the Arrows a 5–0 lead at half-time. Sarah Johnston scored from a penalty corner in the 54th minute and Grace Stewart again scored a field goal and conversion in the 55th minute, before Samantha Lawrence scored a consolation goal for the Van Demons in the 60th minute.
Round 3 (State Hockey Centre, Brisbane) Tasmania's final pool match was away against Queensland on Saturday, 20 October 2018 at the State Hockey Centre in Brisbane, Queensland. The Scorchers fielded a star-studded team featuring eight Australian national team representatives, easily accounting for the Van Demons with a 15–0 win. Stephanie Kershaw scored a field goal and conversion in the 3rd minute, Rosie Malone did the same in the 10th minute, and Rebecca Greiner also scored a field goal and conversion in the 23rd minute. Queensland had their PumpPlay, where all goals (except for conversions) are worth 2, in the final five minutes of the first half, and during that period Malone scored a PumpPlay field goal and conversion, and Jodie Kenny scored a PumpPlay penalty stroke and conversion, to balloon the half-time score out to 12–0 in favour of the Scorchers. In the second half Queensland added only three more goals to their total, with Jordyn Holzberger scoring from a penalty corner in the 39th minute before Malone took her match tally to 7 with a field goal and conversion in the 46th minute.
Finals week (Gold Coast Hockey Centre, Gold Coast) The Van Demons finished last in Pool A and went into the finals week at the Gold Coast Hockey Centre with a difficult path towards a title challenge, needing to beat the Victorian Vipers (who finished top of Pool B after winning all three of their games) in the quarter-final.
Quarter-final: Van Demons vs Vipers, Thursday 25 October 2018 Victoria scored in the 5th minute with Hayley Padget scoring a field goal and conversion. In the second quarter they were awarded two penalty strokes in quick succession, in the 18th and 20th minutes, and these were converted by Madi Ratcliffe and Lily Brazel respectively. Brazel scored a field goal and conversion in the 41st minute to deliver Victoria a 6–0 win over Tasmania.
Classification match: Van Demons vs Diamonds, Saturday 27 October 2018 Having each lost their quarter-finals the Van Demons faced the WA Diamonds in a classification match to determine their opponents for the final day of the AHL. Kathryn Slattery scored from a penalty corner in the 4th minute, as did Roos Broek in the 11th minute and Penny Squibb in the 20th minute to give WA an early 3–0 lead. Danielle Bestall scored a field goal and conversion in the 27th minute to make the score 5–0 at half-time. Slattery scored a field goal and field goal conversion in the 46th minute and Broek scored a PumpPlay field goal and conversion in the 59th minute to give the Diamonds a 10–0 win.
7v8 playoff: Van Demons vs Pearls, Sunday 28 October 2018 Tasmania and the Northern Territory, having lost all of their matches in the AHL, played off in the final classification match to decide their final competition standing. The Van Demons took the lead early, with young Australian Futures Squad player Julia Gunn scoring a field goal and field goal conversion in the 6th minute. Jacqueline Graf equalised for the Pearls in the 18th minute with her own field goal and conversion to send the teams into half-time locked at 2–2. Erin Lidbetter put the NT ahead in the 33rd minute, with a field goal and conversion, and Georgia Graf scored a field goal in the 41st minute to have the Pearls 5–2 ahead at three-quarter time. Ashleigh Arthur scored from a penalty corner in the 55th minute to give the Van Demons a late chance, but there were no goals scored in the final PumpPlay to deliver the NT Pearls a 5–3 win, consigning the Van Demons to an eighth-placed (last) finish in the AHL.
2017 Australian Hockey League campaign The 2017 Australian Hockey League was held from 28 September to 8 October 2017 at the Perth Hockey Stadium. In addition to the eight traditional teams from the Australian States and Territories two national development sides from India and New Zealand competed in the tournament. Tasmania were drawn in Pool B with India, NSW Arrows, SA Suns, and VIC Vipers. The Van Demons squad for the 2017 AHL was announced on 1 September 2017, with Ilene Carr reappointed as head coach, Phil Marshall appointed as assistant coach, and Kathryn Arneman appointed as team manager. The squad was heavily supplemented with non-Tasmanian imports. +Tassie Van Demons 2017 AHL SquadNo.PositionNameAge*Club2017 Games2017 Goals4DefenderNicole Geeves33DiamondBacks705ForwardMolly Haas18Derwent706DefenderJemma Kenworthy20City Marians707DefenderMadeleine Hinton20University708ForwardFiona Cock26Hale (WA)7010MidfielderBlair Patten26Curtin Trinity (WA)7012ForwardAshleigh Arthur22North West Graduates7013ForwardCatherine Webster23University7014DefenderLouisa Jacobson27North West Graduates7016ForwardTanya Britz (South Africa)23Southern River HC (WA)7017MidfielderTayla Britton24Hale (WA)7018MidfielderSarah McCambridge (C)29OHA7119MidfielderEliza Westland20Derwent7020MidfielderLayla Eleison19Hancock Brothers (QLD)7024ForwardTeisha King23Mentone (VIC)7125DefenderMichelle Harvey (Northern Ireland)28Pegasus (Northern Ireland)7031GoalkeeperRuby-Rose Haywood20DiamondBacks7032GoalkeeperMerinda Sainty25University10 *when announced.
Pool matches Tasmania lost their first match against New South Wales 2–0, their second match against South Australia 5–0, their third match against Victoria 4–0, and their final pool match against the Indian development side 1–0 to finish bottom of their pool.
Classification matches Missing out on the finals the Van Demons went into the second phase of the competition for final classification. They lost their first classification match against Canberra 1–0, lost their second match against Western Australia 3–1 despite Sarah McCambridge scoring a field goal in the 33rd minute, and then lost their final match against the Northern Territory 2–1 despite Teisha King scoring from a penalty corner in the 17th minute, to finish last (10th) overall.
2016 Australian Hockey League campaign The 2016 Australian Hockey League was held from 29 September 2016 to 9 October 2016 at the Perth Hockey Stadium in Perth, Western Australia. In addition to the eight traditional State and Territory teams two additional teams participated in the tournament: a New Zealand development side and a Malaysian development side. The Van Demons were drawn in Pool A alongside the Canberra Strikers, Queensland Scorchers, Western Australia Diamonds, and the New Zealand development side. The Van Demons 2016 AHL squad was announced on 12 September 2016, with Ilene Carr again appointed as head coach, Paul Ancher continuing as assistant coach, and Melitta Smith again serving as team manager. +Tassie Van Demons 2016 AHL SquadNo.PositionNameAge*Club2016 Games2016 Goals2MidfielderAmelia Spence (C)23YMCC (WA)713ForwardEleanor Brennan22North West Graduates714DefenderNicole Geeves32DiamondBacks716DefenderJemma Kenworthy19City Marians707ForwardMadeleine Hinton19University708GoalkeeperHolly Bonde31Derwent409DefenderJessica Tremayne30Derwent7010MidfielderBlair Patten25Curtin Trinity (WA)7011ForwardBrigit Ikin25North West Graduates7012ForwardAshleigh Arthur21North West Graduates7015MidfielderStephanie Blackwell25Mudgeeraba (QLD)7116MidfielderAinsley McCallister (USA)24Whitfords (WA)7117MidfielderTayla Britton23Hale (WA)7018MidfielderSarah McCambridge28OHA7019DefenderEliza Westland19Derwent7021MidfielderMadeleine Murphy19OHA7126ForwardHannah Calvert26Canterbury7031GoalkeeperRuby-Rose Haywood19DiamondBacks30 *when announced.
Pool matches
Van Demons vs Scorchers, Thursday 29 September 2016 Tasmania lost their opening match 2–0 in a tight contest against Queensland. Renee Taylor scored a field goal in the 19th minute for the Scorchers, then Jodie Kenny scored from a penalty corner in the 21st minute.
Van Demons vs Strikers, Saturday 1 October 2016 Canberra defeated Tasmania in the second pool match 4–0. Naomi Evans scored a field goal in the 2nd minute, Meredith Bone scored a field goal in the 18th minute, and Anna Flanagan scored from a penalty corner in the 27th minute to give the Strikers a 3–0 lead at half-time. Laura Gray scored a field goal in the 44th minute to complete the scoring.
Van Demons vs Vipers, Monday 3 October 2016 Tasmania played Pool B opponent Victoria in a cross-over match, losing 2–0 in a tough match. Madi Ratcliffe scored for the Vipers in the 9th minute to give them an early lead, but they had to wait until 44th minute to score their second, when Lily Brazel converted a penalty corner.
Van Demons vs Diamonds, Tuesday 4 October 2016