# 2018–19 AWIHL season

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.

## League Business

The AWIHL officially expanded for the first time on 9 August 2018, with the admission of expansion team Perth Inferno from Perth, Western Australia. 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.

## 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.

#### February

Key:

### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Melbourne Ice (C) | 12 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 77 | 35 | +42 | 31 | 2019 Joan McKowen Finals |
| 2 | Sydney Sirens | 12 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 73 | 26 | +47 | 25 | 2019 Joan McKowen Finals |
| 3 | Perth Inferno | 12 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 62 | 56 | +6 | 21 | 2019 Joan McKowen Finals |
| 4 | Brisbane Goannas | 12 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 24 | 67 | −43 | 7 | 2019 Joan McKowen Finals |
| 5 | Adelaide Rush | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 28 | 80 | −52 | 6 | |

### Player stats

The season's league leader statistics for skaters and goaltenders.
| Goals No.NamePosG 1 Christina JulienForward24 2 Sharna GodfreyForward16 3 Bettina MeyersForward11 4 Ashlie AparicioForward10 5 Courtney MoultonForward8 | Assists No.NamePosA 1 Elizabeth ScalaForward20 2 Sharna GodfreyForward18 3 Bettina MeyersForward15 4 Christina JulienForward13 5 Michelle Clark-CrumptonForward13 | Points No.NamePosP 1 Christina JulienForward37 2 Sharna GodfreyForward34 3 Elizabeth ScalaForward32 4 Michelle Clark-CrumptonForward29 5 Bettina MeyersForward26 |
| Penalty minutes No.NamePosPIM 1 Kirsty VenusDefender30 2 Isla MalcolmDefender22 3 Christina JulienForward18 4 Bettina MeyersForward18 5 Courtney MoultonForward18 | Save percentage No.NamePosSV% 1 Sera DogramaciGoaltender0.913 2 Ruth BrophyGoaltender0.904 3 Paula MorrisGoaltender0.900 4 Olivia LastGoaltender0.900 5 Ella LicariGoaltender0.892 | Goals against average No.NamePosGAA 1 Paula MorrisGoaltender1.33 2 Sera DogramaciGoaltender2.20 3 Jenelle CarsonGoaltender2.71 4 Olivia LastGoaltender2.84 5 Ruth BrophyGoaltender3.00 |

### Season awards

Below lists the 2018–19 AWIHL regular season award winners.

## 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 playoff and grand final is played on the Sunday. The prize for being crowned AWIHL Champions for winning the grand final is the Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy.
In 2018–19, the Inferno, Sirens, Goannas and Ice qualified for the finals weekend. The event was held on 9 March to 10 March 2019 in host city Adelaide at the IceArenA. 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.
| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Joan McKowen Final | Joan McKowen Final |
| 9 March - Adelaide | 9 March - Adelaide |
| Perth Inferno | 3 |
| Perth Inferno | 3 | 10 March - Adelaide | 10 March - Adelaide |
| Sydney Sirens | 6 | 10 March - Adelaide | 10 March - Adelaide |
| Sydney Sirens | 6 | Sydney Sirens | 3 |
| 9 March - Adelaide | 9 March - Adelaide | | Sydney Sirens | 3 |
| 9 March - Adelaide | 9 March - Adelaide | Melbourne Ice | 4 |
| Brisbane Goannas | 2 | Melbourne Ice | 4 |
| Melbourne Ice | 9 | | |
| Melbourne Ice | 9 | Third place | Third place |
| | | 10 March - Adelaide | 10 March - Adelaide |
| | | Brisbane Goannas | 3 |
| | | Perth Inferno | 6 |