ADELAIDE, Australia – Nine teams, two conferences, one hundred and eight games and one cup is what makes up Australia’s premier hockey league. The Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) has a short history but the prestigious Goodall Cup itself is steeped in history and has been contested since 1909.
The 2012 season sees two new changes with the inception of a new franchise, the Perth Thunder and the league split into two conferences being named Eastern and Bauer.
The Eastern Conference comprises of Adelaide Adrenaline, Gold Coast Blue Tongues, Melbourne Ice, Melbourne Mustangs and Perth Thunder.
The Bauer Conference sees Canberra Knights, Newcastle North Stars, Sydney Bears and West Sydney Ice Dogs.
Eastern Conference teams will meet each other four times as do the Bauer Conference teams, with Eastern and Bauer teams competing against each other only twice.
The Adelaide Adrenaline, Melbourne Ice and Newcastle North Stars are considered the powerhouses of the league, with the last four championships being won by these three sides.
Each week this column will focus on the match-up of the weekend plus keep you updated on other results around the country.
This week is the Sydney Ice Dogs @ Adelaide Adrenaline
With the AIHL season already in full swing Adelaide Adrenaline played host to cross conference rivals the Sydney Ice Dogs at IceArenA, Thebarton.
Adrenaline came away with a gritty, character building 7-4 win in a tough and uncompromising contest. The game was dominated by 27 penalties, 16 coming in the third period alone for a grand total of 170 minutes. But this is not that unusual between these bitter rivals.
Despite the action being confined to the penalty box, both teams showed why they are genuine contenders for this season’s title.
Adrenaline came into the game slightly undermanned and lost import Dan Nicholls who never returned after the first period, then into the second lost Czech import Josef Rezek to a knee injury and had to be stretchered from the ice.
Despite the setbacks Adelaide maintained their composure and held a 5-3 lead at the end of the second. Josh Harding, Josef Rezek, stand in Captain Mike Werner, Brett Liscomb and a cracking one-timer from David Huxley found the back of the net for Adrenaline.
For the Ice Dogs Kirk Golden who was the Ice Dogs best, Richard Tesarik and Scott Stephenson.
Billy Cliff got the Sydney side off to a positive start, but it was Adrenaline’s Wehebe Darge and an open net goal to Darren Corstens sealing the victory in what could only be described as an ugly third period. Marred by ugly and questionable incidents, this game got out of control from the officiating referees and some questions have to be raised at the conduct of some players and officials.
In other results this weekend of the 2nd and 3rd of June, Melbourne Ice made the trip up to the Gold Coast to take on fellow Eastern Conference rivals the Blue Tongues in games 36 and 39. Melbourne looking for revenge after a 0-4 clinic put on them by the Blue Tongues two weeks ago. The Ice comfortably took game 1, 5-2. But after the first period of play game 2 was called off by officials and reasons at this stage unknown.
Also, Canberra Knights hosted the Sydney Bears which saw the Bears favourites to take the win, in particular with the Knights still missing their star net-minder Mike Brown. But this was not the first time Canberra didn’t read the script defeating the Bears 4-3 in regulation.
Finally to round off the weekend the Sydney Ice Dogs travelled to Melbourne to face the Mustangs. After their loss the day before to the Adrenaline, the Ice Dogs were able to regroup and take an impressive 5-1 victory over the fast improving Melbourne Mustangs.
Action returns to the AIHL after a short break on the weekend of the 16th and 17th of June.
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Publisher’s Note: Pro Hockey News is pleased to welcome Michael Rozleja to the publication. Michael will be covering the Australian Ice Hockey League for us. Michael can be followed on twitter at @IceandAll.
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