Greatest Australian Players From the Portal Era

[SirRupertBarnes 220]

Welcome back to another entry of the greatest players from the portal era. Today we’re going to be heading down under and looking at the greatest Australian players of the portal era. Normally the format I use is five skaters and one goalie but Australia only has a handful of players who have even made it to the VHL. There’s a couple quality players I felt were worth making a shorter list for so I’ll only be including them.

 

Now with that out of the way let’s get right into the list!

 

D - Charles Drumm 710 TPE @frescoelmo

First up on this list of Aussies, we have Charles Drumm. In 417 career games with DC Drumm put up 20 goals and 185 assists for 205 points. Although he wasn’t the offensive dynamo on the blueline like some other players he was a pretty good two-way defender. He recorded just under 500 career hits and a bit over 650 shots blocked in his career. Unfortunately for him he never won any awards or trophies but he did get some playoff experience playing in 24 games and having 8 assists, 42 hits, as well as 31 shots blocked. It’s no Hall-of-Fame career by any means but he was a solid top 4 defender in the league through his career. 

 

F - Killy Foilen 611 TPE @Aye my name jeff

Second on this list we have the only forward to make the VHL from Australia, Killy Foilen. In 216 games Foilen recorded 41 goals and 52 assists for 93 points. Even though he only played in three seasons in his career he was able to capture a Continental Cup in S70 with Moscow. Although he wasn’t a superstar he did win the ultimate prize which has eluded many players over the history of the league. He was a good depth scorer and definitely contributed when he needed to. 

 

D - Latrell Mitchell 738 TPE @dasboot

Next up is the only active player on this list, who was the season 72 3rd overall pick, Latrell Mitchell. In 216 career games played so far Mitchell has put up 37 goals and 94 assists for 131 points. He puts up good points for a defenseman but he’s also not afraid to sacrifice the body either, putting up just shy of 450 hits and a little more than 350 shots blocked. He was somewhat recently traded from Calgary to Warsaw in a pretty big blockbuster deal. Warsaw traded a first round pick along with Arthur Dayne and Alex Bridges in exchange for a first and second as well as Willie Dredge and our man Latrell Mitchell. Warsaw must see some good potential in Mitchell to give up those guys. We’ll have to see where his career takes him from here but even this early on he’s one of the best to come from Australia, let alone even make the VHL in the first place.

 

D - Berocka Sundqvist 1296 TPE @Berocka

For the final skater on this list we come to one of the more memorable defenders in recent history, Berocka Sundqvist. In 504 career games played Sundqvist recorded 125 goals and 312 assists for 437 points. In his career he also amassed just shy of 1,000 hits and 650 shots blocked. If nothing else he was loyal. In his 8 season career he spent the entirety of it with Seattle and even won 4 Continental Cups with them. To top that off he even won an Alexander Beketov Trophy for most assists in a single season. That’s a pretty solid career for the 17th overall pick in the draft.

 

G - A Red Guy @.sniffuM

Now that skaters are done with we move onto the goaltender, who is none other than A Red Guy. With a bit of a shortened career only playing 6 seasons he was able to put up a 191-146-32 record with 29 shutouts, .918SV%, and a 2.57GAA all in 369 games. Nice. That record puts him tied for 50th all time in wins. If he had played those extra couple seasons I could see him making a decent run at top 25 all time. He was never able to capture a Continental Cup, however he did win three separate individual trophies. Those trophies included, the Scotty Campbell Trophy for league MVP, Dustin Funk Trophy for most improved, and an Aidan Shaw Trophy for league’s top goaltender. Even though a cup eluded him he had a great career. 

 

While there haven’t been too many studs come from down under. Maybe we’ll see a spike in players coming out of Australia because of these guys. Only time will tell. Unfortunately that’s all we have for today. As always, thanks for reading and be sure to check out some of the other countries I’ve already done lists for. 

 

801 words