The 2018–19 AWIHL season is the 12th season of the Australian Women's Ice Hockey League (AWIHL). It ran from 27 October 2018 until 10 March 2019. Five teams competed in 30 regular season games followed by 4 playoff games, making up the AWIHL Finals weekend. The Melbourne Ice claimed the double by winning both the premiership title for finishing top of the regular season standings and the Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy championship title by winning the grand final. Sydney Sirens finished runner-up to both titles and the Adelaide Rush claimed the wooden spoon.
Teams
In 2018–19 the AWIHL had five teams from five Australian state capital cities competing, stretching east to west of the continent.[1]
The AWIHL officially expanded for the first time on 9 August 2018, with the admission of expansion team Perth Inferno from Perth, Western Australia.[2] The official AWIHL gameday schedule was released at the end of August 2018. The season structure had changed from 2017–18 thanks to the addition of a fifth team, with each team now playing two of the four opponents in a four-game series with the other two teams being played twice during the season.[3]
Regular season
Fixtures & results
Running between 27 October 2018 and 24 February 2019, the AWIHL regular season consisted of 30 games in total, with teams playing 12 games each.[3]
Source: AWIHLElite Prospects Rules for classification: Tie-break: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored Points: 3 points for regulation win; 2 points for OT or SO win; 1 point for OT or SO loss or tie/draw; 0 points for regulation loss (C) Champion
Player stats
The season's league leader statistics for skaters and goaltenders.[4][5]
Goals
No.
Name
Pos
G
1
Christina Julien
Forward
24
2
Sharna Godfrey
Forward
16
3
Bettina Meyers
Forward
11
4
Ashlie Aparicio
Forward
10
5
Courtney Moulton
Forward
8
Assists
No.
Name
Pos
A
1
Elizabeth Scala
Forward
20
2
Sharna Godfrey
Forward
18
3
Bettina Meyers
Forward
15
4
Christina Julien
Forward
13
5
Michelle Clark-Crumpton
Forward
13
Points
No.
Name
Pos
P
1
Christina Julien
Forward
37
2
Sharna Godfrey
Forward
34
3
Elizabeth Scala
Forward
32
4
Michelle Clark-Crumpton
Forward
29
5
Bettina Meyers
Forward
26
Penalty minutes
No.
Name
Pos
PIM
1
Kirsty Venus
Defender
30
2
Isla Malcolm
Defender
22
3
Christina Julien
Forward
18
4
Bettina Meyers
Forward
18
5
Courtney Moulton
Forward
18
Save percentage
No.
Name
Pos
SV%
1
Sera Dogramaci
Goaltender
0.913
2
Ruth Brophy
Goaltender
0.904
3
Paula Morris
Goaltender
0.900
4
Olivia Last
Goaltender
0.900
5
Ella Licari
Goaltender
0.892
Goals against average
No.
Name
Pos
GAA
1
Paula Morris
Goaltender
1.33
2
Sera Dogramaci
Goaltender
2.20
3
Jenelle Carson
Goaltender
2.71
4
Olivia Last
Goaltender
2.84
5
Ruth Brophy
Goaltender
3.00
Season awards
Below lists the 2018–19 AWIHL regular season award winners.[6]
The top four teams in the AWIHL regular season qualify for the Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy playoffs. The playoffs is held on a single weekend and uses Australian conventions of being called Finals. The playoff system used by the AWIHL is a four team single game semi-finals and grand final system where the semi-final winners progress to the grand final and the losers playoff for third place. Semi-finals are played on the Saturday and the third place playoff and grand final is played on the Sunday.[7] The prize for being crowned AWIHL Champions for winning the grand final is the Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy.[8]
In 2018–19, the Inferno, Sirens, Goannas and Ice qualified for the finals weekend.[9] The event was held on 9 March to 10 March 2019 in host city Adelaide at the IceArenA.[10] Sydney and Melbourne won the semi-finals on Saturday by comfortable margins to advance to the Joan McKowen grand final. On Sunday Perth defeated Brisbane in the third place playoff to finish their maiden season third with bronze medals. Melbourne beat Sydney to claim the championship title and lift the Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy for a record seventh time.[11]
^ abCollins, Lee (31 August 2018). "2018-19 AWIHL season schedule". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
^"Scoring Leaders". Australian Women's Ice Hockey League. Archived from the original on 16 October 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
^"Goalie Leaders". Australian Women's Ice Hockey League. Archived from the original on 16 October 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
^Collins, Lee (13 March 2019). "2018-19 AWIHL awards". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
^Collins, Lee (22 February 2019). "2018-19 AWIHL season: Round 12". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
^Collins, Lee (9 March 2019). "2019 AWIHL playoffs". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. Archived from the original on 19 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
