Establishment The Gold Coast Blue Tongues were founded in 2005 as the Brisbane Blue Tongues. The Blue Tongues were announced as an
Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) expansion team along with the
Central Coast Rhinos, increasing the league membership from six to eight teams. Originally located in Brisbane, the team’s first home venue was
Iceworld Boondall. The team’s chosen name and logo was a nod to the native
blue tongue lizard, commonly found in Brisbane and South-East Queensland. Garnet Radford was appointed the team's first general manager.
AIHL era forward, Michael Gough, playing for the Brisbane Blue Tongues in 2007 The Blue Tongues marked their inaugural AIHL game with a win on 23 April 2005. On the road in
Canberra, Brisbane defeated the
Canberra Knights 10-4 at the
Phillip Ice Skating Centre. A goalless first period proved a poor indication for the goal rush that would follow in the second and third periods. Mark Barnsdale scored the Blue Tongues first ever goal, assisted by Kirk Raven and Chris Staneke. From that point the visiting Brisbane team scored four more unanswered goals before Matt Lehoczky gave the home fans something to cheer. The Blue Tongues continued their good second period showing in the third and once again out scored their more experienced opponents. Mikko Skinnari scored the tenth and final goal of the game for Brisbane with just over one minute remaining on the clock. Bryan Randall was the first Blue Tongues player to be sent to the penalty box, with a two-minute minor penalty for high sticking in the first period. Brisbane finished their inaugural season in sixth position in the league standings with thirty-three points. They were five points off a finals qualification position and had a win percentage of 42%, having won twelve of twenty-six games. The Blue Tongues finished ahead of the
Melbourne Ice and Central Coast Rhinos. The following two years in Brisbane saw the Blue Tongues improve each season, finishing sixth and fifth in the standings, failing to qualify for the AIHL finals weekend on both occasions. The team was very close to qualifying in
2007 but fell three points short of finishing fourth after the team, along with two others, was handed a three-point penalty by the league for icing an illegible player. The Blue Tongues did sign two ex-
NHL players during this time. First, in
2006, on 6 June, the team announced the signing of
Rob Zamuner. Zamnuner had spent thirteen seasons playing in the NHL with teams such as
Boston Bruins and
Tampa Bay Lightning. Second, in 2007, the Blue Tongues secured the services of goaltender
Tyrone Garner. Garner was a
New York Islanders draft pick from 1998 and later played three games in the NHL for the
Calgary Flames before a hockey career that took him around the globe. In 2008, the Blue Tongues appointed David Emblem as president and general manager. Emblem, originally from
Montreal, Canada, stepped into the new role with the team possessing a vast hockey experience, having won two
Goodall Cups and representing Australia at the World championships in the 1980’s. Emblem oversaw a period of great change for the team as they relocated to the
Gold Coast, Queensland. The Blue Tongues new home venue would be
Iceland Bundall, located in the Gold Coast suburb of
Bundall. The reasons for the move were attributed to the team’s new sponsorship deal with
Bartercard, who are headquartered on the Gold Coast, and for improving team integration between the Australian and import players. The Blue Tongues were also renamed the Gold Coast Blue Tongues (Bartercard Gold Coast Blue Tongues for sponsorship reasons). The move did present facility difficulties for the team and the AIHL. The small ice sheet at the rink, according to the rink owners, was never intended for senior ice hockey and there were consistent concerns raised about the suitability and safety of the venue by the league and traveling teams. Emblem did continue one Blue Tongues tradition of signing import players with NHL experience when he secured the services of one time Tampa Bay Lightining player
Gaétan Royer for the
2008 AIHL season. Despite the issues, in
2009, the Blue Tongues enjoyed their best season in the AIHL. They won fourteen of twenty-four regular season games and had a +22 goal difference that led them to finishing fourth in the league standings and qualifying for finals for the first time. For their maiden, and only, finals weekend, Gold Coast traveled to the
Hunter Ice Skating Stadium in
Newcastle. Playing in the second semi-final, the Blue Tongues faced the
Newcastle North Stars, who had finished third in the regular season. In front of a 1,000 strong home crowd, the semi-final was a close game for the first two periods with both teams posting three goals each. However, Newcastle’s Canadian forward, Steven Kaye, proved the difference between the two teams and scored two unanswered goals in the third period to clinch his personal hat-trick and the win for the home team. The Blue Tongues were eliminated and missed out on advancing to the grand final to compete for the historic
Goodall Cup. The three finals goal scorers for the Blue Tongues were Henrik Ivarsson, André Selander and Brad Smulders. The Blue Tongues remained a consistent performer for the remainder of their time in the league, finishing fifth in
2010 and
2011 before finishing third in the Easton conference in
2012. Each time missing out on a return to finals. The duel Canadian/Portuguese import forward scored 42 goals in the regular season, beating the previous record of 39 set in 2007 by himself when the team was located in Brisbane.
Suspension and eventual demise The issues raised with the Iceland rink when the team moved to the new location in 2008 had never been resolved. The situation led to tensions between the league, traveling teams, the Blue Tongues and the rink ownership. In 2011 and 2012, these issues came to a head when the Blue Tongues had to cancel two home games, against the
Sydney Ice Dogs in 2011 and
Melbourne Ice in 2012, due to the unsafe and unplayable ice surface at Iceland. These cancellations, led to the rink owner evicting the Blue Tongues from the venue and forcing them, at short notice, to seek alternative arrangements for the final seven AIHL home games in the 2012 season. The Blue Tongues managed to secure
Iceworld Acacia Ridge in Brisbane for the final seven fixtures of the season, however, due to the limited ice time availability, the games would be scheduled for 10:30pm, despite the best negotiating efforts by the Blue Tongues to secure more appropriate ice time. The team confirmed this was only a temporary arrangement and that they intended to return to the Gold Coast when possible. The game that was abruptly halted on the Gold Coast vs the Melbourne Ice was rescheduled to be replayed in Melbourne at the
Melbourne Icehouse, despite the Ice being within their rights to claim a forfeit victory. Following the conclusion of the AIHL season, In October 2012, the league along with the Blue Tongues jointly announced, through Deputy Commissioner Ben Kieley, the suspension of the Blue Tongues AIHL license for 2013. The team had explored different options for a home venue for
2013, including building a temporary professional rink on the Gold Coast or temporarily relocating to Brisbane,
Erina or
Perth, but had ultimately been unsuccessful in securing a financially viable and workable solution. The two parties committed to working together to explore all options to returning the Blue Tongues to competition in 2014, including building a new proposed $15 million twin-sheet ice sports facility on the Gold Coast. In November 2013, it was revealed the situation to find a workable home venue for the Blue Tongues had not shifted and that the team’s license would remain suspended for the
2014 season. The team had continued its search for a new home and progressed the proposal for building a new ice sports stadium, with a business plan and architectural designs complete. In 2015, the AIHL released its 2015 season game schedule, and the Gold Coast Blue Tongues did not feature. The Blue Tongues General Manager, Dave Emblem, had unsuccessfully continued to try and find a sponsor to build a new twin-sheet facility on the Gold Coast. He had also unsuccessfully taken the proposal to the local Council, who, despite some member interest, were unwilling to commit Government funding to the proposal. With no solution found in two years, the Gold Coast Blue Tongues’ AIHL license expired in 2015, ended the team’s involvement in top level ice hockey in Australia. The team then ceased operations. Following the demise of the Blue Tongues, the AIHL canvassed the Brisbane ice hockey community to gauge if there was any interest from another ownership group for a new team in the state’s capital. ==Season-by-season record==