Two Ice Fernz hailing from Central, Rikki-Lee McLean and Rina Watt, will play in the 2023 International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Women's World Ice Hockey Championship Division II Group B in Cape Town next week. 

Rikki-Lee (27), a firefighter at Auckland Airport, attended Dunstan High School and is the Central App owner Vicki McLean’s niece.

“She is super talented and a great model for girls, I’m a proud aunty. She’s fit, smart, dedicated, and determined… a high achiever in all she puts her mind to,” Vicki said. 

Rikki-Lee McLean plays as a forward and this is her second trip overseas with the team

Former Maniototo Area School student (now Dunedin airport firefighter) Rina Watt also plays as a forward

Rikki-Lee said she was very excited to play alongside other incredible athletes in the team.

“I know that this whole team is going to go over to South Africa and play their hearts out for our supporters and country.

“We want a medal, ideally in the colour gold.”

Rikki-Lee got involved in ice skating when she was 20 and started coaching kids to skate at Queenstown Ice Arena.  

She said she became seriously competitive around 2018, and travelled to play in Romania with the NZ team in 2019.

Rina said she is proud to put on the New Zealand jersey alongside a group of her idols and childhood friends.

“Special mention to my mum for being my biggest support crew. She’s never missed a single game.”

The women had to fundraise approximately $4,000 - $4,500 each for flights, accommodation and uniform. 

They did so in various ways, through a Givealittle page and workout based fundraisers. 

They have trained for five long months with the team’s performance coach, and took part in a camp in Dunedin at the start of January.

The tournament (February 20-26) is played at Cape Town’s Ice Station and there are five teams participating (Australia, Belgium, Croatia, New Zealand and South Africa). 

The Ice Fernz play Croatia first on February 21.

The last time the Ice Fernz played at a World Championship was in 2020 in Iceland and they came third.   

Follow the Ice Fernz on their Facebook page or use the game live stream links below. 

NZ vs Croatia, Feb 21, 03.00

NZ vs South Africa, Feb 23, 07.00

NZ vs Belgium, Feb 25, 03.00

NZ vs Australia, Feb 27, 03.00