2019–20 AWIHL season

2019–20 AWIHL season
LeagueAustralian Women's Ice Hockey League
SportIce hockey
Duration26 October 2019 – 2 February 2020
Regular season
PremiersSydney Sirens
Season MVPTash Farrier
(Adelaide Rush)
Top scorerKayla Nielsen (31 points)
(Sydney Sirens)
Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy
ChampionsSydney Sirens
(2nd title)
  Runners-upAdelaide Rush
AWIHL seasons

The 2019–20 AWIHL season is the thirteenth season of the Australian Women's Ice Hockey League (AWIHL). It ran from 26 October 2019 until 2 February 2020. Five teams competed in 30 regular season games followed by 4 playoff games, making up the AWIHL Finals weekend. The Sydney Sirens 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. Adelaide Rush finished runner-up to both titles and the Brisbane Goannas claimed the wooden spoon.

Teams

In 2019–20 the AWIHL had five teams from five Australian state capital cities competing, stretching east to west of the continent.[1]

2019–20 AWIHL teams
Team City Arena Head Coach Captain
Adelaide Rush South Australia Adelaide IceArenA Australia Hayden Crafter Australia Kirsty Venus
Brisbane Goannas Queensland Brisbane Boondall Iceworld Australia Darryl Dunsford Australia Jess Wytrykusz
Melbourne Ice Victoria (state) Melbourne O'Brien Icehouse Australia Marcus Wong Canada Christina Julien
Perth Inferno Western Australia Perth Cockburn Ice Arena Australia Paul Graham United States Courtney Moulton
Sydney Sirens New South Wales Sydney Liverpool Catholic Club Ice Rink Australia Jayden Ryan Australia Stephenie Cochrane

League Business

The official AWIHL gameday schedule was released at the end of September 2019. The season structure remained unchanged from 2018-19, with each team playing two of the four opponents in a four game series with the other two teams being played twice during the season.[2] The AWIHL announced on 4 October a new travel partnership with SportsLink Travel, that would provide the five teams in the league a cost equalisation program for airfares and bus transfers.[3] In November 2019, the league struck an agreement with Kayo Sports to stream a 'game of the week' and 20 minutes of highlights and player interviews for the 2019–20 season on Kayo's nationally available streaming service.[4]

Regular season

Fixtures & results

Running between 26 October 2019 and 19 January 2020, the AWIHL regular season consisted of 30 games in total.[5] On 17 January 2020, the AWIHL commission made the decision to treat the 12 January 2020 game between Melbourne Ice and Perth Inferno as a draw and award both teams 1 point each. Initially the Inferno were awarded 2 points for winning in overtime, however the game did not progress to a shootout and a 3v3 overtime period was played instead, against league regulations.[6]

October

October
Game # Date Time Away Score Home Location Recap
1 26 October 2019 16:00 Perth Inferno 4–7 Adelaide Rush IceArenA [1]
2 27 October 2019 09:30 Perth Inferno 5–6 Adelaide Rush IceArenA [2]

November

November
Game # Date Time Away Score Home Location Recap
3 2 November 2019 16:00 Melbourne Ice 3–1 Brisbane Goannas Boondall Iceworld [3]
4 2 November 2019 17:00 Perth Inferno 9–10 Sydney Sirens Liverpool Catholic Club Ice Rink [4]
5 3 November 2019 09:30 Perth Inferno 3–7 Sydney Sirens Liverpool Catholic Club Ice Rink [5]
6 3 November 2019 15:15 Melbourne Ice 1–3 Brisbane Goannas Boondall Iceworld [6]
7 9 November 2019 17:30 Adelaide Rush 7–5 Perth Inferno Cockburn Ice Arena [7]
8 10 November 2019 08:15 Adelaide Rush 4–3 Perth Inferno Cockburn Ice Arena [8]
9 16 November 2019 17:00 Brisbane Goannas 1–12 Sydney Sirens Liverpool Catholic Club Ice Rink [9]
10 17 November 2019 09:30 Brisbane Goannas 1–10 Sydney Sirens Liverpool Catholic Club Ice Rink [10]
11 23 November 2019 16:00 Brisbane Goannas 1–7 Adelaide Rush IceArenA [11]
12 23 November 2019 16:00 Sydney Sirens 3–2 Melbourne Ice O'Brien Icehouse [12]
13 24 November 2019 09:30 Brisbane Goannas 0–7 Adelaide Rush IceArenA [13]
14 24 November 2019 13:15 Sydney Sirens 3–1 Melbourne Ice O'Brien Icehouse [14]
15 30 November 2019 16:00 Adelaide Rush 2–0 Brisbane Goannas Boondall Iceworld [15]

December

December
Game # Date Time Away Score Home Location Recap
16 1 December 2019 15:15 Adelaide Rush 6–2 Brisbane Goannas Boondall Iceworld [16]
17 7 December 2019 16:00 Perth Inferno 4–6 Melbourne Ice O'Brien Icehouse [17]
18 7 December 2019 16:00 Sydney Sirens 3–4 (SO) Adelaide Rush IceArenA [18]
19 8 December 2019 09:30 Sydney Sirens 6–5 (SO) Adelaide Rush IceArenA [19]
20 8 December 2019 13:15 Perth Inferno 4–7 Melbourne Ice O'Brien Icehouse [20]
21 14 December 2019 20:30 Melbourne Ice 3–4 (SO) Sydney Sirens Penrith Ice Palace [21]
22 15 December 2019 09:30 Melbourne Ice 7–5 Sydney Sirens Liverpool Catholic Club Ice Rink [22]

January

January
Game # Date Time Away Score Home Location Recap
23 11 January 2020 16:00 Sydney Sirens 5–1 Brisbane Goannas Boondall Iceworld [23]
24 11 January 2020 18:00 Melbourne Ice 7–2 Perth Inferno Cockburn Ice Arena [24]
25 12 January 2020 12:30 Melbourne Ice 6–7 (OT) Perth Inferno Cockburn Ice Arena [25]
26 12 January 2020 15:15 Sydney Sirens 7–4 Brisbane Goannas Boondall Iceworld [26]
27 18 January 2020 16:00 Adelaide Rush 2–4 Melbourne Ice O'Brien Icehouse [27]
28 18 January 2020 18:00 Brisbane Goannas 1–4 Perth Inferno Cockburn Ice Arena [28]
29 19 January 2020 12:30 Brisbane Goannas 1–9 Perth Inferno Cockburn Ice Arena [29]
30 19 January 2020 13:15 Adelaide Rush 2–3 Melbourne Ice O'Brien Icehouse [30]

Key:

Winner Draw

Standings

Pos Team Pld W OTW D OTL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Sydney Sirens (C) 12 8 2 0 1 1 75 41 +34 29 2020 Joan McKowen Finals
2 Adelaide Rush 12 8 1 0 1 2 59 36 +23 27
3 Melbourne Ice 12 7 0 1 1 3 50 39 +11 23
4 Perth Inferno 12 2 0 1 0 9 58 69 −11 7
5 Brisbane Goannas 12 1 0 0 0 11 16 73 −57 3
Source: AWIHL Elite 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.[7][8]

Goals
No. Name Pos G
1 United States Kayla Nielsen Forward 17
2 Canada Nadine Edney Forward 17
3 Australia Natasha Farrier Forward 16
4 United States Nora Maclaine Forward 13
5 Canada Christina Julien Forward 12
Assists
No. Name Pos A
1 United States Kayla Nielsen Forward 14
2 Canada Nadine Edney Forward 13
3 Australia Natasha Farrier Forward 12
4 Australia Sharna Godfrey Forward 12
5 Australia Michelle Clark-Crumpton Forward 11
Points
No. Name Pos P
1 United States Kayla Nielsen Forward 31
2 Canada Nadine Edney Forward 30
3 Australia Natasha Farrier Forward 28
4 United States Nora Maclaine Forward 23
5 Australia Sharna Godfrey Forward 22
Penalty minutes
No. Name Pos PIM
1 Australia Tracy Hocutt Forward 40
2 Canada Sarah Dash Defender 37
3 Australia Nicole Jones Forward 36
4 Australia Rylie Ellis Defender 34
5 United States Courtney Moulton Forward 30
Save percentage
No. Name Pos SV%
1 Australia Tina Girdler Goaltender 0.915
2 Australia Makayla Peers Goaltender 0.911
3 Australia Jenelle Carson Goaltender 0.893
4 Australia Sasha King Goaltender 0.882
5 Australia Michelle Coonan Goaltender 0.881
Goals against average
No. Name Pos GAA
1 Australia Tina Girdler Goaltender 2.20
2 Australia Makayla Peers Goaltender 2.33
3 Australia Joanne Phillis Goaltender 2.57
4 Australia Michelle Coonan Goaltender 3.05
5 Australia Jenelle Carson Goaltender 3.13

Season awards

Below lists the 2019–20 AWIHL regular season award winners.[9]

Award Name Team
Skaters Network Most Valuable Player Australia Natasha Farrier Adelaide Rush
Best Forward United States Kayla Nielsen Sydney Sirens
Best Defence Canada Sarah Edney Sydney Sirens
Best Goaltender Australia Michelle Coonan Adelaide Rush
Nellie Gee Rookie of the Year Australia Courtney Mahoney Brisbane Goannas

Joan McKowen playoffs

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 and grand final is played on the Sunday.[10] The prize for being crowned AWIHL Champions for winning the grand final is the Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy.[11]

In 2019–20, the Sirens, Rush, Ice and Inferno qualified for the finals weekend. In late January 2020, the AWIHL released an annual finals promo video to promote the event as well as naming the officials for the weekend.[12][13] The event was held on 1 and 2 February 2020 in host city Melbourne at O’Brien Icehouse.[14] Sydney and Adelaide won on Saturday to advance to the Joan McKowen Final, with Perth and Melbourne heading to the third place playoff. Melbourne Ice won playoff on Sunday to secure third place for the season, Perth finishing fourth. In the grand final, Sydney Sirens produced a strong display to shutout the Rush and secure the Championship title and the Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy.[15] It is the second championship title in Sirens history.[16][17]


 
Semi-finalsJoan McKowen Final
 
      
 
1 February - Melbourne
 
 
Perth Inferno8
 
2 February - Melbourne
 
Sydney Sirens14
 
Adelaide Rush0
 
1 February - Melbourne
 
Sydney Sirens3
 
Melbourne Ice2
 
 
Adelaide Rush4
 
Third place
 
 

2 February - Melbourne
 
 
Perth Inferno3
 
 
Melbourne Ice4

Semi-finals

1 February 2020
15:00		Perth Inferno8–14
(3–6, 3–6, 2–2)		Sydney SirensO’Brien Icehouse
Game reference
Sydney FrickerGoaliesTina GirdlerReferees:
Grainge Phillips
Casper Russelhuber
Linesmen:
Cien Pereira
Rob Lowery
0 – 1S.Edney (N.Edney)
(Moulton) Maclaine1 – 1
1 – 2Nielsen (N.Edney)
1 – 3Nielsen (Matheson, N.Edney)
(Clark-Crumpton, Sharp) Scala2 – 3
2 – 4Brunt (Matheson, Godfrey)
2 – 5Godfrey (Unassisted)
(Unassisted) Moulton3 – 5
3 – 6S.Edney (N.Edney)
(Moulton, Malcolm) Maclaine4 – 6
4 – 7Godfrey (Matheson)
4 – 8N.Edney (S.Edney, Chia)
4 – 9Godfrey (S.Edney)
4 – 10Badaoui (Calabria)
(Maclaine) Moulton5 – 10
5 – 11Nielsen (Chia)
5 – 12S.Edney (Godfrey)
(Maclaine, Moulton) Malcolm6 – 12
(Maclaine) Clark-Crumpton7 – 12
(Maclaine) Scala8 – 12
8 – 13N.Edney (Godfrey, Matheson)
8 – 14Badaoui (Unassisted)
14 minPenalties12 min
39Shots55
1 February 2020
17:30		Melbourne Ice2–4
(1–0, 1–1, 0–3)		Adelaide RushO’Brien Icehouse
Game reference
Jenelle CarsonGoaliesMichelle CoonanReferees:
Gabby Aston
Nick Air
Linesmen:
Beth Bowshall
Hamish Young
(Unassisted) Ellis1 – 0
(Aparicio, Moore) Julien2 – 0
2 – 1Lutz (Farrier)
2 – 2Farrier (Lutz)
2 – 3Lutz (Farrier, Ayris)
2 – 4Farrier (Lutz)
16 minPenalties18 min
28Shots28

Third place playoff

2 February 2020
15:00		Perth Inferno3–4
(1–0, 1–3, 1–1)		Melbourne IceO’Brien Icehouse
Game reference
Sasha KingGoaliesMakayla PeersReferees:
Grainge Phillips
Nick Air
Linesmen:
Rob Lowery
Hamish Young
(Unassisted) Maclaine1 – 0
1 – 1Julien (Aparicio)
1 – 2Gallacher (Green, Pullin)
(Unassisted) Sharp2 – 2
2 – 3Pullin (Unassisted)
2 – 4Aparicio (Julien)
(Scala, Moulton) Maclaine3 – 4
8 minPenalties20 min
28Shots43

Final

2 February 2020
17:30		Adelaide Rush0–3
(0–2, 0–0, 0–1)		Sydney SirensO’Brien Icehouse
Game reference
Michelle CoonanGoaliesTina GirdlerReferees:
Gabby Aston
Casper Russelhuber
Linesmen:
Beth Bowshall
Cien Pereira
0 – 1Cochrane (Godfrey, S.Edney)
0 – 2Matheson (Calabria, Walker)
0 – 3S.Edney (Godfrey)
16 minPenalties12 min
23Shots32


Gold Silver Bronze
New South Wales Sydney Sirens South Australia Adelaide Rush Victoria (state) Melbourne Ice

References

  1. ^ "2019-20 AWIHL season: Round 1". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. 26 October 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  2. ^ "2019-20 AWIHL season schedule". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. 30 September 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  3. ^ "AWIHL partners with SportsLink Travel". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. 4 October 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  4. ^ "Kayo to stream AWIHL Game of the Week". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. 22 November 2019. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  5. ^ "2019 AWIHL Schedule". Australian Women's Ice Hockey League. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  6. ^ "Ice v Inferno game ruled a tie". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. 17 January 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  7. ^ "Scoring Leaders". Australian Women's Ice Hockey League. Archived from the original on 16 October 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  8. ^ "Goalie Leaders". Australian Women's Ice Hockey League. Archived from the original on 16 October 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  9. ^ "2019-20 AWIHL player awards". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. 2 February 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  10. ^ "Australian Women's Ice Hockey League (AWIHL) Regulations" (PDF). Ice Hockey Australia. 1 January 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 October 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  11. ^ "Joan Mckowen Memorial Cup". Ice Hockey Australia. Archived from the original on 15 August 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  12. ^ "AWIHL releases promo video ahead of 2020 playoffs". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  13. ^ "Officials named for 2020 AWIHL playoffs". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  14. ^ "2019-20 AWIHL season: Round 10". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. 18 January 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  15. ^ "2020 AWIHL playoffs". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. 1 February 2020. Archived from the original on 10 October 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  16. ^ Paquette, Catherine (7 February 2020). "This season's lessons: Sydney carve up Australian Ice Hockey Grand Final". thewomensgame.com. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  17. ^ Witt, Gordon (8 February 2020). "AWIHL Grand Final: Sydney Sirens 3 defeat Adelaide Rush 0". Ice Hockey Australia. Archived from the original on 15 August 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022.