Newcastle Northstars recruit Wehebe Darge hits 250-game milestone

Darge, a former player at Adelaide and Canberra who recently notched up the milestone with Newcastle, relocated to the Hunter during COVID and welcomed a daughter into the world last year.

"I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon. I think I've found my new home," Darge, 31, told the Newcastle Herald.

"In my mind this is where I'd like to finish things up in however many years that is."

Saturday (5pm) marks the first time the Northstars recruit has played against Canberra at Hunter Ice Skating Stadium following two losses down at the "Brave Cave" earlier this season.

"We've had a couple of cracks at them and come up short, but it's never easy playing in the Brave Cave as a visitor so it's not a huge surprise we went down by one goal each time," Darge said.

"Definitely looking forward to having them at home this time and definitely think the result will be a little bit different this weekend."

Darge, who joined the Northstars in 2023 after helping Canberra beat Newcastle in September's decider, says there's a "real belief at our club that this year is our year".

The Northstars round out a double header at home against Brisbane on Sunday (3pm), having split last weekend against the same opponents with an 8-5 loss and overtime win.

And although not quite back to full strength, Darge says "we're pretty close to the team we'll have in finals".

Newcastle sit second in their conference, four points behind defending champions Canberra, and third overall with five fixtures remaining in the regular season.

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