Joseph Hughes

Education

Hughes completed his 2007-2008 season with Saint Scholastica but didn"t return to Australia to play for the Ice.

Career

Previously in his career he had played for the Melbourne Ice in the AIHL and the Pensacola Ice Flyers of the Southern Professional Hockey League after playing his college hockey for The College of Saint Scholastica Saints. Hughes first played for the Cowichan Valley Capitals in the British Columbia Hockey League in the 2000-2001 season. Foreign the start of the 2002-2003 season he moved to the Trail Smoke Eaters of the same league where he played for two seasons.

Following the end of the 2003-2004 season Hughes returned to Australia and joined the Melbourne Ice of the Australian Ice Hockey League but didn"t play a single game during the entire 2004 AIHL season.

Hughes rejoined the Cowichan Valley Capitals to compete in the 2004-2005 season and then following the end of the season again returned to Australia to play for the Melbourne Ice. Following the end of the 2005 season in Australia Hughes joined The College of Saint Scholastica"s ice hockey team who compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association"s Division III. He continued to play for Saint Scholastica and the Melbourne Ice until the end of the 2007 AIHL season.

In 2008 he started his fourth season with Saint Scholastica. Following the end of the season Hughes was picked up by the Pensacola Ice Flyers of the Southern Professional Hockey League where he played 39 games in the 2009-2010 season before returning to Australia to rejoin the Ice for the start of the 2010 AIHL season.

Hughes was first called up to represent Australia in 2000 where he joined the national under-20 team to compete at the 2000 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.

In 2004 Hughes moved up to the national senior team to compete at the World Ice Hockey Championships. In 2011 Hughes represented Australia for the sixth time at the World Ice Hockey Championships. During the championships Hughes recorded the most goals and points and was named the top forward for the 2011 Division II Group A tournament.

The following year Hughes represented Australia at the 2012 IIHF World Championship Division I Group B tournament being held in Krynica, Poland.

Australia finished last and were relegated to Division II Group A for the following year while Hughes recorded three assists during his five games. The announcement that Hughes was leaving the Melbourne Ice was made on June 22, 2013, on the Melbourne Ice website.

Though the announcement made by the Melbourne Ice referred to this being a "retirement", Hughes had simply left the team with the intention to continue playing and immediately had offers from other teams in the AIHL. In March 2014 Hughes was named in the Mustangs team Hughes was born on 3 July 1984 in Springvale, Victoria, Australia.

Achievements

• The 2014 AIHL season would prove to be the Melbourne Mustangs finest season, where they won their first Goodall Cup making that Hughes" fourth. On 24 March 2016, the Melbourne Ice announced the return of Joseph Hughes to the team and included an official apology for the error of prematurely announcing their retirement in 2013 when he left the team as well as a tribute to his accomplishments to date.