Northland's Rick Parry put in a stellar performance with the New Zealand Ice Blacks, helping his side to a gold medal at the third division Ice Hockey World Championships recently. The final at Dunedin's ice rink was a nail-biter, with 21-year-old Parry positioned as goal tender for the Ice Blacks. Parry showedhis talent, achieving only the second shutout in Ice Black history on the way to a 9-0 whitewash over Ireland. Coach John Parry said New Zealand dominated the opposition - and travelled through the week-long tournament undefeated - downing Luxembourg 6-2, Turkey 8-2, Greece 4-3 and Ireland in the overtime thriller. In addition to winning gold, the Kiwis have been promoted to division two for next year's ice hockey world championships. Parry's excellence on the ice earned him the top goalie of the tournament title with a 96 per cent save average, and he was the most valuable player during the match against Ireland. "It all came together for Rick in this tournament, especially the last game - for a goalie, a shutout is the ultimate goal," the coach said. "His (Rick's) focus was superb ... he has put in a huge workload at practice this last 12 months, facing over 50,000 practice pucks - and this as well as the lead-up conditioning games gave him the edge." After his world championships success, Parry returned to Otago University where he is at surveying school. The rising star was named as one of two goalies for the Dunedin-based Thunder who will play their first National League match against Auckland's Botany Swarm on June 13 at Botany Downs.
