The 2023 AIHL season was the 22nd season of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). The season consisted of 130 regular season games from 15 April to 13 August 2023, with the Goodall Cup finals consisting of two play-in matches, two semi-finals, and a grand final, following the regular season on 26–27 August 2023. The CBR Brave and Sydney Bears claimed the Rurak and Hellyer conference trophies for finishing top of their respective conference standings. The CBR Brave also won the Premiership and claimed the H Newman Reid Trophy for a record fourth consecutive time by finishing top of the regular season standings. The Melbourne Mustangs won the Championship and claimed the Goodall Cup for the second time in their history, defeating the Brave in the grand final. The returning Central Coast Rhinos claimed the wooden spoon.
Teams
In 2023 the AIHL had 10 teams split into two conferences competing in the league.[1]
The 2023 regular season fixture list was released publicly by the AIHL on 2 November 2022.[2] The AIHL Finals would be altered from 2022, moving to a two weekend format for the first time in league history.[1] League trophies would continue to be consistent with previous seasons, with the league champion awarded the historic Goodall Cup and league premier awarded the H Newman Reid Trophy. The League confirmed that the Adelaide Adrenaline and Perth Thunder would be returning to the league for 2023, after both teams pulled out of competing in 2022. The Adrenaline had secured a new venue agreement with the IceArenA, paving the way for their return.[3] While Western Australia no longer had any border restrictions, paving the way for the Thunder's return.[4] A new paid subscription streaming service named AIHL.TV was introduced by the AIHL for season 2023.[5] This marked the first time the league had ever brought in a paid streaming service for the regular season. All 130 regular season games and finals would be available live and on demand with yearly, monthly and weekly payment options.[6]
Expansion
Following a successful 2022 exhibition schedule, the AIHL announced the Brisbane Lightning and Central Coast Rhinos had both been successful in obtaining full AIHL licences and would be officially joining the league and regular season for 2023.[7][8] The two team expansion increased the league membership to ten teams for the first time, previously the highest membership number was nine teams in 2012.[9]
During pre-season, there had been discussions about the possibility for the Brisbane Rampage to join the league following the collapse of the Pacific Hockey League,[10] however the AIHL season schedule had already been organised and released publicly and season preparation had already advanced past the stage to accommodate a late addition. There was no public mention of exhibition games involving the Rampage and/or a pathway to obtaining a licence for the 2024 season.[11]
Exhibition games
In the lead up to Season 2023, eight exhibition games were organised between different AIHL teams. The Mustangs and Ice organised a two game series for February and March 2023. The second of these games doubled as a charity event for The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne.[12] The Mustangs, Ice, O'Brien Icehouse and The District Docklands raised $30,109 for the hospital's Good Friday Appeal. The Brave and Lightning arranged a three game series to replace the missed series in August 2022 when the Brave pulled out due to preparations for the AIHL Finals. Two games would be played in Brisbane and one in Canberra.[13] The Central Coast Rhinos lined up three pre-season games. One against the Sydney Bears at Erina Ice Arena[14] and two against the Newcastle Northstars, one at Erina and one in Newcastle.[15][16] In addition to the eight games, on 4 March 2023, the Melbourne Mustangs organised a delayed 10 year team anniversary reunion tournament involving current and former players, staff and supporters. The event saw 3 teams play in a round-robin tournament at O'Brien Icehouse.[17]
2023 team staff and coaching changes included:
Sydney Ice Dogs appointing a new head coach, Jason Kvisle, and associate coach, Jimmy Dufour, after letting Czech coach, Ondrej Cervenka, leave the team.[18][19]Melbourne Ice had a number of ins, outs and role changes at the team. Canadian Kerry Goulet was appointed head coach.[20] Sandy Gardner moved from head coach to assistant coach and is joined by Michael Flaherty and the rejoining Brent Laver.[21] Keira Dunwoody joins the Ice from the Melbourne Ducks and rounds out the coaching department.[21] In other team position changes at the Ice, Marie-Bernadette La Rose left her role as marketing manager after four years with the team,[22] while Erin Tempest and Trevor Dickson were appointed to the roles of Director Secretariate and Director of Hockey Operations respectively.[23][24]Melbourne Mustangs confirmed last season's head coach, Canadian Chris Lawrence would be returning to the team in 2023, but on the playing roster, so the Mustangs replaced Lawrence with American Pat McMahon, who had previous experience with Victorian junior teams and the Melbourne Ducks in the PHL in 2022.[25]Brisbane Lightning's admission into the AIHL brought with it early pre-season changes at the team. Peter Holmes joined the Lightning as general manager and governor, replacing the outgoing Josh Labrie (GM) and Matthew Meyer (governor).[26] Ash Jackson was then brought into the team in December 2022 as the new Director of Marketing, Media and Publicity. Ash has previous marketing campaign experience with the 2022 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup and overseen projects with the AFL, FIFA and the ICC.[27] Melbourne Mustangs and head coach Patrick McMahon parted ways in July 2023 due to unforeseen circumstances that required him to travel home to America.[28]
The 2023 regular season consists of 130 games that are scheduled to run from 15 April 2023 to 13 August 2023. For the first time since 2012, the AIHL regular season sees teams split into two conferences. Teams will play a total of 26 regular season games, playing each team in their conference four times (two at home and two away) and playing teams outside their conference twice.[39] In May 2023, the game between Brisbane Lightning and Newcastle Northstars, scheduled for Hunter Ice Skating Stadium, had to be postponed due to luggage issues with the airline.[40] In June 2023, the Sydney Bears were found to have accidentally breached the AIHL player cap regulations and penalised three competition points.[41] The postponed Northstars vs Lightning game from May was rescheduled for 30 July 2023.[42]
Source: AIHLElite Prospects Rules for classification: Tie-break: 1) points; 2) points percentage; 3) head to head; 4) goal difference; 5) goals scored; 6) coin toss Points: 3 points for regulation win; 2 points for OT or SO win; 1 point for OT or SO loss; 0 points for regulation loss Note: Sydney Bears deducted 3 points by the league for accidentally breaching player cap regulations in June 2023.[41] (P) Premiers
Updated to match(es) played on 6 August 2023. Source: AIHLElite Prospects Rules for classification: Tie-break: 1) points; 2) points percentage; 3) head to head; 4) goal difference; 5) goals scored; 6) coin toss Points: 3 points for regulation win; 2 points for OT or SO win; 1 point for OT or SO loss; 0 points for regulation loss Note: Sydney Bears deducted 3 points by the league for accidentally breaching player cap regulations in June 2023.[41]
Updated to match(es) played on 6 August 2023. Source: AIHLElite Prospects Rules for classification: Tie-break: 1) points; 2) points percentage; 3) head to head; 4) goal difference; 5) goals scored; 6) coin toss Points: 3 points for regulation win; 2 points for OT or SO win; 1 point for OT or SO loss; 0 points for regulation loss
Statistics
Skater statistics
2023 AIHL season top-ten skater statistics for points, goals, assists and penalty minutes.[43]
Below lists the 2023 AIHL regular season award winners.[46] With no official local player award for 2023, AIHL Fans conducted a community poll on Facebook and awarded Perth Thunder's Jordan Kyros AIHL Fans Local Player of the Year award for 2023. Kyros claimed 15% of all votes after a breakout season where he scored 36 points in 26 games.[47]
For season 2023, the AIHL adopted a new two weekend Finals format.[39] The new format involved two play-in finals games during the first weekend and then two semi-finals and grand final in the second weekend. The new format involved single elimination games, with the losing team eliminated and winning team advancing to the next round. Participating teams in the AIHL Finals increased from four to six for the first time in league history. Qualification for Finals involved the highest three ranking teams from each AIHL regular season conference (Hellyer and Rurak). The top ranked teams from each conference would automatically qualify for the semi-finals, with the second and third ranked teams entering Finals at the play-in stage with a conference cross-over. The winner of Finals would continue to be named AIHL Champions and lift the historic Goodall Cup, just as it has been in previous seasons.[48]
Melbourne's O'Brien Icehouse and Newcastle's Hunter Ice Skating Stadium were selected as host venues for the 2023 AIHL Finals. Newcastle hosting one of the play-in games and Melbourne hosting the other play-in as well as the second weekend. Following the conclusion of the 2023 AIHL regular season, the CBR Brave and Sydney Bears finished top of their respective conferences to directly qualify for the semi-finals in Melbourne in week two. The Melbourne Mustangs, Newcastle Northstars, Perth Thunder and Brisbane Lightning qualified for the play-ins in week one. The Northstars would play the Thunder in Newcastle and the Mustangs would play the Lightning in Melbourne.[48] In week one, the Mustangs and Thunder won their respective play-in finals to advance to the semi-finals in week two. In week two, on Saturday, the Mustangs shutout the Bears in semi-final one to cause an upset, the Brave then eventually defeated the Thunder in semi-final two, after a lengthy player injury delay in the second period. On Sunday, the Brave faced-off with the hometown team the Mustangs in the grand final for the Goodall Cup. In a tightly contested game, the Mustangs prevailed and won 1–0, their second Finals shutout in a row. It was the Mustangs second ever Championship title and their first in nine years, since 2014 when they last won.[49] The Brave missed out on going back-to-back. Following the grand final, Melbourne Mustangs' Canadian gaoltender, Liam Hughes, was named Finals MVP for his heroic two shutouts.[50]
^Collins, Lee (15 October 2022). "Perth Thunder to return for 2023". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. Archived from the original on 11 February 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
^Collins, Lee (11 April 2023). "CBR Brave 2023 roster". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. Archived from the original on 30 April 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
^Collins, Lee (10 April 2023). "Melbourne Ice 2023 roster". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. Archived from the original on 30 April 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
^Collins, Lee (11 April 2023). "Perth Thunder 2023 roster". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. Archived from the original on 30 April 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
^Collins, Lee (12 April 2023). "Sydney Bears 2023 roster". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. Archived from the original on 30 April 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
^Collins, Lee (9 April 2023). "Sydney Ice Dogs 2023 roster". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. Archived from the original on 30 April 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
^Collins, Lee (26 August 2023). "2023 AIHL season awards". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. Archived from the original on 28 August 2023. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
