KUPROWSKY, Ron

BORN 3 SEPTEMBER 1963 in Edmonton, AB, Canada, Ron Kuprowsky played in a hallway with hockey cards and two small plastic nets from the age of 5. Later, he shovelled ice to make a hockey rink and skated until midnight on weekends. In the 70s, he played hockey with the Alberta Avenue hockey club at the Central Skating Rink in Edmonton.[1] The Canadian moved to Australia, where he played forward in the local New South Wales hockey leagues, including the national league. He is best known as the Head Coach of three New South Wales national league teams over twelve seasons—the Sydney Ice Dogs, the Sydney Bears, and the Central Coast Rhinos.

Kuprowsky played hockey with the Brewers at the Blacktown International Ice Arena in Sydney, a team affiliated with the Blacktown Flyers in the New South Wales Superleague. The Brewers won back-to-back senior titles with players like Kuprowsky, Dave Crawford and Steve Shaw.

In 1996, the forward won a Goodall Cup representing New South Wales, and represented Australia at the D Pool World Championships, in Elektrėnai, Lithuania, coached by Marc Bowles. He scored two goals in a winless campaign.

In 2005, now in his forties, Kuprowsky played a few games for the Blue Haven Rhinos in their inaugural season of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL), before moving to the AIHL Western Sydney Ice Dogs in 2006. He returned for a few games in 2007 and then retired from playing.

In 2011, Kuprowsky rejoined the Sydney Ice Dogs as Head Coach, the year after Nathan Walker, Australia’s first National Hockey League player, debuted with the club. The Ice Dogs had moved to the Liverpool Catholic Club Ice Rink in southwestern Sydney and rebranded from Western Sydney.

In the 2013 season, the national league coach led the team to its third straight finals appearance and second Goodall Cup, defeating the Newcastle North Stars 6-2. Anthony Kimlin in net earned his “great wall of Kimlin” slogan. The following season, the Ice Dogs won their first national league pre-season, the Wilson Cup, defeating the North Stars 4-2. In May 2014, Andrew Petrie replaced Kuprowsky.

In 2015, Kuprowsky assisted Head Coach Vlad Rubes in the AIHL Sydney Bears, and was Head Coach from 2016 to 2019 and in 2023. The AIHL awarded Kuprowsky the 2018 Coach of the Year. He led the Bears to four postseason appearances and a successful Goodall Cup campaign in 2019, the first for the club in over ten years, and his third. The Bears defeated the Perth Thunder 5-2 in the final at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium.

In 2024 and 2025, Kuprowsky coached the Central Coast Rhinos, where he had begun his national league career twenty years earlier. After rejoining the AIHL in 2023, the Rhinos finished 2024 with a team record of seven wins from the season.

Ron Kuprowsky reportedly supports locals and imported overseas players alike and is a favourite with fans. His hockey career here continues after four or five decades.