Making his return to the Melbourne Ice in 2024 and promptly being named the Skaters Network Australian Player of the Week is just another of those ‘Joey Hughes things’. As is putting up 9 points in a two-game weekend. With all of that, it is a nice prompt to have a look at Joey by the numbers[i].

One of the greatest players in AIHL history, absolutely no doubt:

253 Games Played

432 Points (194 Goals, 238 Assists)

866 PIMs

16 Seasons (so far)

6th ranking in all-time AIHL scoring

Now we take a bit of a deeper dive at the last decade[ii]

Starting with a short trivia question – which AIHL team has Joey Hughes not scored against?

The Brisbane Lightning. Because he hasn’t played them yet.

In that decade, he has the second-most points (behind former teammate, Wehebe Darge) with 281 points in 167 games. Within that, he has 123 goals, 97 primary assists and 61 secondary assists.

Who has he scored them for?

When does he score? When do you think – it’s when the game is on the line.

• 71 points in first periods
• 85 points in second periods
• 125 points in third periods.

To wrap this up, here is how he has fared against every team in the past decade, and at every venue:

But the number that really matters?

Seven Goodall Cups.

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[i] Also prompted by an incredibly niche stat query from Geoff Koop – so thanks to Geoff, and Cloughy and Brian for dragging the conversation into that direction.

[ii] No, it’s not just because that’s as far as my database goes, why do you ask?