2003 AIHL season

2003 AIHL season
LeagueAustralian Ice Hockey League
SportIce hockey
Duration3 May 2003 – 7 September 2003
Regular season
PremiersAdelaide Avalanche (2nd title)
Season MVPDylan Martini (Avalanche)
Top scorerPavel Shtefan (North Stars)
Goodall Cup
ChampionsNewcastle North Stars
  Runners-upWestern Sydney Ice Dogs
AIHL seasons
← 2002
2004 →

The 2003 AIHL season was the fourth season of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). It ran from 3 May 2003 until 29 August 2003, with the Goodall Cup finals following on 6 and 7 September 2003. The Adelaide Avalanche won the Premiership after finishing the regular season first in the league standings. The Newcastle North Stars won the Goodall Cup for the first time by defeating the Western Sydney Ice Dogs in the final.

League business

In 2003, AIHL President Tony Lane introduced the 'top four' finals (playoff) format that replaced the one off final format used in the first three seasons of the AIHL. The new format saw the top four placed teams in the regular season standings qualify for the finals weekend where first would play fourth and second would face off against third in a single match elimination with the two winning teams advancing to the Goodall Cup final and he two losing teams advancing to the third place play-off, however this only occurred in 2003 and was dropped from the format in future years.[1]

Regular season

The regular season began on 3 May 2003 and ran through to 29 August 2003 before the top four teams advanced to compete in the Goodall Cup playoff series.[2]

Fixtures and results

The 2003 season consisted of 60 fixtures that were scheduled between 3 May and 29 August.[3] Each of the six teams where scheduled to play 20 games, with four games designated double-points games, where the one result counts towards two games, to save on travel costs.[4][5][6] Game 58 between the Canberra Knights and Adelaide Avalanche was cancelled due to ice problems at the rink inside Snowdome Adelaide. It was decided game 59 on the Sunday between the two teams would count as a double-points game instead, raising the number of double-points games for the 2003 season to five.[7]

May

May
Game # Date Time Away Score Home Location
1 3 May 2003 17:30 Ice Dogs 8–0 Knights Phillip Ice Skating Centre
2 3 May 2003 17:00 Bears 4–7 North Stars Hunter Ice Skating Stadium
3 4 May 2003 17:30 Ice Dogs 9–6 Bears Sydney Ice Arena
4 10 May 2003 17:30 Knights 3–8 Ice Dogs Blacktown Ice Arena
5 10 May 2003 18:00 North Stars 9–3 Ice Olympic Ice Skating Centre
6 11 May 2003 15:00 North Stars 9–0 Ice Bendigo Ice Skating Stadium
7 17 May 2003 16:30 Ice 3–8 Avalanche Snowdome Adelaide
8 17 May 2003 17:30 Bears 3–5 Ice Dogs Blacktown Ice Arena
9 17 May 2003 17:30 North Stars 7–3 Knights Phillip Ice Skating Centre
10 18 May 2003 16:15 Ice 3–5 Avalanche Snowdome Adelaide
11 18 May 2003 17:30 Knights 3–7 Bears Sydney Ice Arena
12 24 May 2003 17:30 Avalanche 12–1 Knights Phillip Ice Skating Centre
13-14 25 May 2003 17:30 Avalanche 4–3 Ice Dogs Blacktown Ice Arena
15 25 May 2003 17:00 Knights 4–11 North Stars Hunter Ice Skating Stadium
16 31 May 2003 16:30 Bears 1–4 Avalanche Snowdome Adelaide
17 31 May 2003 18:00 Knights 1–7 Ice Olympic Ice Skating Centre
18 31 May 2003 17:00 Ice Dogs 2–4 North Stars Hunter Ice Skating Stadium

June

June
Game # Date Time Away Score Home Location
19 1 Jun 2003 15:00 Knights 0–4 Ice Bendigo Ice Skating Stadium
20 1 Jun 2003 16:30 Bears 2–6 Avalanche Snowdome Adelaide
Bye for all teams - Long weekend
21 14 Jun 2003 17:30 Ice Dogs 3–5 Knights Phillip Ice Skating Centre
22 14 Jun 2003 18:00 Avalanche 4–2 Ice Olympic Ice Skating Centre
23 15 Jun 2003 15:00 Avalanche 4–1 Ice Bendigo Ice Skating Stadium
24 15 Jun 2003 17:00 Knights 1–5 North Stars Hunter Ice Skating Stadium
25 15 Jun 2003 17:30 Ice Dogs 2–4 Bears Sydney Ice Arena
26 21 Jun 2003 16:30 Ice Dogs 3–2 Avalanche Snowdome Adelaide
27-28 21 Jun 2003 17:30 Ice 3–1 Knights Phillip Ice Skating Centre
29 21 Jun 2003 17:00 Bears 1–2 North Stars Hunter Ice Skating Stadium
30 22 Jun 2003 16:15 Ice Dogs 6–7 Avalanche Snowdome Adelaide
31 22 Jun 2003 17:00 Ice 1–7 Bears Sydney Ice Arena
Bye for all teams - Brown Trophy tournament

July

July
Game # Date Time Away Score Home Location
32 5 Jul 2003 17:30 Ice 3–3 Ice Dogs Blacktown Ice Arena
33 5 Jul 2003 17:30 Bears 2–8 Knights Phillip Ice Skating Centre
34 6 Jul 2003 17:00 Ice Dogs 2–8 North Stars Hunter Ice Skating Stadium
35 6 Jul 2003 17:00 Ice 1–3 Bears Sydney Ice Arena
36 12 Jul 2003 17:30 Avalanche 5–2 Knights Phillip Ice Skating Centre
37 13 Jul 2003 17:00 Avalanche 9–5 North Stars Hunter Ice Skating Stadium
38 19 Jul 2003 16:30 North Stars 2–10 Avalanche Snowdome Adelaide
39 20 Jul 2003 16:15 North Stars 4–8 Avalanche Snowdome Adelaide
40 26 Jul 2003 17:30 North Stars 6–5 Ice Dogs Blacktown Ice Arena
41 26 Jul 2003 17:30 Bears 4–1 Knights Phillip Ice Skating Centre
42 27 Jul 2003 17:30 North Stars 3–2 Bears Sydney Ice Arena

August

August
Game # Date Time Away Score Home Location
43 2 Aug 2003 17:30 Knights 1–9 Ice Dogs Blacktown Ice Arena
44 2 Aug 2003 18:00 Bears 9–5 Ice Olympic Ice Skating Centre
45 3 Aug 2003 15:00 Bears 5–0 Ice Bendigo Ice Skating Stadium
46 3 Aug 2003 17:30 North Stars 4–2 Ice Dogs Blacktown Ice Arena
47 9 Aug 2003 17:30 Ice 1–11 Ice Dogs Blacktown Ice Arena
48 9 Aug 2003 17:00 Avalanche 10–3 North Stars Hunter Ice Skating Stadium
49-50 10 Aug 2003 17:00 Avalanche 5–6 Bears Sydney Ice Arena
51-52 10 Aug 2003 17:00 Ice 1–9 North Stars Hunter Ice Skating Stadium
53 16 Aug 2003 17:30 North Stars 7–5 Knights Phillip Ice Skating Centre
54 16 Aug 2003 18:00 Ice Dogs 4–3 Ice Olympic Ice Skating Centre
55 17 Aug 2003 15:00 Ice Dogs 5–0 Ice Bendigo Ice Skating Stadium
56 17 Aug 2003 17:30 Knights 2–8 Bears Sydney Ice Arena
57 23 Aug 2003 17:30 Bears 3–6 Ice Dogs Blacktown Ice Arena
58 23 Aug 2003 16:30 Knights Cancelled[7] Avalanche Snowdome Adelaide
59 24 Aug 2003 16:15 Knights 1–12 Avalanche Snowdome Adelaide
60 24 Aug 2003 17:30 North Stars 2–7 Bears Sydney Ice Arena

Key:

Winner Tie

Standings

The 2003 AIHL season statistics and standings are incomplete. No one source has all the information and the AIHL has not published official statistics on www.theaihl.com. The Statistics for the following table comes from Elite Prospects[8] with the final placings coming from hockeyarchives.[9]

Team GP W T OTW OTL L GF GA GDF PTS
Adelaide Avalanche 7 7 0 0 0 0 43 16 +27 14
Newcastle North Stars 6 6 0 0 0 0 47 17 +30 12
Sydney Bears 6 1 0 0 0 5 23 34 −11 2
Western Sydney Ice Dogs 7 4 0 0 0 2 38 24 +8 8
Melbourne Ice 6 2 0 0 0 4 20 32 −12 4
Canberra Knights 8 0 0 0 0 8 16 64 −48 0
Qualified for the Goodall Cup playoffs Premiership winners

The statistics for the following table comes from the Newcastle North Stars and includes double point games.[4]

Team GP W T OTW OTL L GF GA GDF PTS
Adelaide Avalanche 18 15 0 0 0 3 98 52 +46 30
Newcastle North Stars 19 14 0 0 0 5 101 76 +25 28
Sydney Bears 18 11 0 0 0 7 74 64 +10 22
Western Sydney Ice Dogs 18 10 1 0 0 8 90 64 +26 21
Melbourne Ice 19 4 1 0 0 14 46 92 −46 9
Canberra Knights 18 1 0 0 0 17 45 106 −61 2
Qualified for the Goodall Cup playoffs Premiership winners

Statistics

Scoring leaders

List shows the ten top skaters sorted by points, then goals.[10]

Player Team GP G A Pts PIM POS
Pavel Shtefan Newcastle North Stars 6 8 11 19 2 F
Daryl Bat Newcastle North Stars 6 10 7 17 8 C
Greg Oddy Adelaide Avalanche 6 10 7 17 10 F
Jake Ludvig Newcastle North Stars 6 8 7 15 2
Vladimir Rubes Sydney Bears 4 5 9 14 0 F
Chris Sekura West Sydney Ice Dogs 6 2 10 12 31 F
Dylan Martini Adelaide Avalanche 6 1 11 12 12 D
Phillipe Roussell West Sydney Ice Dogs 6 8 3 11 22 F
Murray Wand Sydney Bears 6 5 5 10 8 F
Trevor Walsh Adelaide Avalanche 5 4 6 10 31 F

Leading goaltenders

Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage.[10]

Player Team MIP SOG GA GAA SVS% SO
Bill Benedictson Adelaide Avalanche 135:00 70 6 2.00 91.43 0
Eric Lein Adelaide Avalanche 135:00 70 7 2.33 90.00 0
Trevor Battaglia Newcastle North Stars 270:00 166 17 2.83 89.76 0
Alan Becken West Sydney Ice Dogs 224:10 132 16 3.21 87.88 1
Stuart Denman Melbourne Ice 135:00 89 15 5.00 83.15 0

Goodall Cup playoffs

The 2003 playoffs, known in 2003 as the 'Canadian Club On Ice Finals Series' for sponsorship reasons, was scheduled for 6 September with the Goodall Cup final and 3rd place play-off held on 7 September 2003. Following the end of the regular season the top four teams advanced to the playoff series which was held at the Sydney Ice Arena (then known as the new Sydney Glaciarium, but not to be confused with the original Sydney Glaciarium that closed in 1955) in Sydney. The series was a single game elimination with the two winning semi-finalists advancing to the Goodall Cup final and the two losing teams advancing to the third place play-off.[11] The Goodall Cup was won by Newcastle North Stars (1st title) who defeated the Western Sydney Ice Dogs 4–1 in the final.[9] The hosts, Sydney Bears, who were without their number one goaltender Joel Gibson for the weekend due to injury, secured third spot with a high scoring 10–5 victory over league Premiers Adelaide Avalanche.[12]

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
6 September –
 
 
Adelaide Avalanche 1
 
7 September –
 
Western Sydney Ice Dogs 4
 
Western Sydney Ice Dogs 1
 
6 September –
 
Newcastle North Stars 4
 
Newcastle North Stars 7
 
 
Sydney Bears 4
 
Third place
 
 
7 September –
 
 
Adelaide Avalanche 5
 
 
Sydney Bears 10

All times are UTC+10:00

Semi-finals

6 September 2003Adelaide Avalanche1–4
(1–2, 0–0, 0–2)		Western Sydney Ice DogsSydney Ice Arena
Game reference
Eric LeinGoaliesAllan Becken
0–1Martin Jesko (Jason Haakstad, Kris Galloux)
(Trevor Walsh, Dylan Martini) Greg Oddy1–1
1–2Brett Thomas (Chris Sekura, Andrew Petrie)
1–3Martin Jesko (Andrew White, Anthony Wilson)
1–4Jason Haakstad (unassisted)
31Shots22
6 September 2003Newcastle North Stars7–4
(3–2, 1–1, 3–1)		Sydney BearsSydney Ice Arena
Game reference
Trevor BattagliaGoaliesNick Windle
0–1Jakub Petr (Paul Shumak, Vladimir Rubes)
(Trevor Battaglia) Jake Ludvig1–1
1–2Vladan Stransky (Vladimir Rubes, Tyler Lovering)
(Trevor Battaglia) Pavel Shtefan2–2
(Andrew Ogilvie, Daryl Bat) Jake Ludvig3–2
(Henry Acres, Pavel Shtefan) Daryl Bat4–2
4–3Andrew Truman (Vladimir Rubes)
(Trevor Battaglia, Ray Sheffield) Pavel Shtefan5–3
(Trevor Battaglia, Henry Acres) Daryl Bat6–3
(unassisted) Jake Ludvig7–3
7–4Vladimir Rubes (Murray Wand)
25Shots37

3rd place

7 September 2003Adelaide Avalanche5–10
(1–4, 3–2, 1–4)		Sydney BearsSydney Ice Arena
Game reference
Bill BenidictsonGoaliesNick Windle
0–1Murray Wand (Tyler Lovering)
0–2Bret Nelson-Bond (Carl Di Pizza, Paul Shumak)
0–3Vladan Stransky (Vladimir Rubes)
0–4Vladimir Rubes (Mark Acheson, Dean Eisler)
(Luke Thilthorpe, Travis Watt) James Keane1–4
Greg Oddy2–4
Greg Oddy3–4
Greg Oddy4–4
4–5Don Burke
4–6Jakub Petr
4–7Paul Shumak
4–8Jakub Petr
(Dylan Martini) Derek DeCosty5–8
5–9Carl Di Pizza
5–10Vladimir Rubes
18Shots45

Final

7 September 2003Western Sydney Ice Dogs1–4
(0–1, 1–2, 0–1)		Newcastle North StarsSydney Ice Arena
Attendance: 800
Game reference
Allan BeckenGoaliesTrevor Battaglia
0 – 13:08 – Sheffield (PP) (Bat, Shtefan)
0 – 215:56 – Bat (Sheffield, McInnes)
0 – 316:50 – McInnes (Sheffield, Shtefan)
17:36 – Jesko (PP) (Wilson, Haakstad)1 – 3
1 – 436:50 – Ludvig (Duchemin)
2 minPenalties2 min
35Shots34

References

  1. ^ "AIHL History". hockeywise.com.au. Archived from the original on 5 September 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  2. ^ "2003 AIHL Schedule". theaihl.com. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  3. ^ "2003 AIHL Competition Draw". NSW Ice Hockey. Archived from the original on 3 August 2003. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  4. ^ a b "2003 AIHL Draw". Newcastle North Stars. Archived from the original on 3 August 2004. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  5. ^ "AIHL Draw 2003 (Dated 1/3/03)". The Sydney Bears. 24 August 2003. Archived from the original on 20 October 2003. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  6. ^ "AIHL Game Report: Games 22 & 23". Ice Hockey Australia. 15 June 2003. Archived from the original on 14 November 2003. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  7. ^ a b "AIHL Game Report: Game 58.59". Ice Hockey Australia. 24 August 2003. Archived from the original on 12 November 2003. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  8. ^ "2003 AIHL season standings". eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  9. ^ a b "Championnat d'Australie 2003" [Championship of Australia 2003] (in French). hockeyarchives.info. Archived from the original on 6 February 2023. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  10. ^ a b "2003 AIHL Statistics". Ice Hockey Australia. Archived from the original on 24 November 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  11. ^ Lane, Tony. "First AIHL Finals Series 2003". Australian Ice Hockey League. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
  12. ^ "AIHL Reports: Finals Series". Ice Hockey Australia. Archived from the original on 8 October 2003. Retrieved 6 February 2023.