2023–24 AWIHL season

The 2023–24 AWIHL season is the 15th season of the Australian Women's Ice Hockey League (AWIHL). It ran from 28 October 2023 until 10 March 2024. Five teams competed in 40 regular season games followed by 4 playoff games, making up the AWIHL Finals weekend. The Perth Inferno claimed the Gower Memorial Shield premiership title, their maiden title, for finishing top of the regular season standings. The Melbourne Ice claimed their eighth Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy championship title by winning the grand final. Perth Inferno collected silver with Adelaide Rush claimed bronze. Defending champions, the Sydney Sirens, claimed the wooden spoon.
==Teams==
In 2023–24 the AWIHL had five teams from five Australian state capital cities competing, stretching east to west of the continent.
Team 	City 	Arena 	Head Coach 	Captain
Adelaide Rush 	Adelaide 	IceArenA 	Joey MacDougall 	Natasha Farrier
Brisbane Lightning	Brisbane 	Boondall Iceworld 	Matthew Meyer 	Christina Badgley
Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	O'Brien Icehouse 	Curtis Klooster 	Georgia Moore
Perth Inferno 	Perth 	Cockburn Ice Arena	Graham Hyde 	Chrystina Acker
Sydney Sirens 	Sydney 	Macquarie Ice Rink	Gabriel Robledo 	Sarah Edney
Exhibition teams 	Exhibition teams	Exhibition teams 	Exhibition teams	Exhibition teams
Melbourne Ducks 	Melbourne 	IceHQ 	Jeremy Muir 	Lucy Parrington
==League Business==
Ahead of the 2023–24 season, IceHQ's Melbourne Ducks announced their bid to join the AWIHL. The official AWIHL gameday schedule was released in early September 2023. The season structure was amended from 2022 to 2023, with each team now playing eight home and eight away games for a total of sixteen games over the regular season. An increase from the previous six home and away games. The trophy for the Premiership, winners of the regular season, was also amended in 2023. The Gower Memorial Shield replaced the previous Premiers trophy, the Stephanie Boxall Trophy. In late September, the AWIHL broadcast partner, Clutch.TV, went into administration and ceased all operations. The league was left little time to look for a new broadcaster for season 2023–24. On 24 October, the AWIHL announced a deal with Sportscast Australia to become the league's new broadcast partner for season 2023–24. A few days later the AWIHL and Sportscast Australia launched AWIHL.TV to deliver region-unlocked live and on-demand streaming of all regular season and finals games on a custom built website and YouTube. In January 2024, the AWIHL announced player equipment rule changes and a new equipment supplier agreement with Skaters Network. Neck laceration protective equipment was made mandatory, bringing the league into policy alignment with Ice Hockey Australia (IHA) and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). The deal with Skaters network, also covers sponsorship of player of the month and end of season player awards.
===Exhibition games===
To support the Melbourne Ducks application to join the league, the AWIHL approved the team to setup an exhibition series against existing AWIHL teams, including the Sydney Sirens, Melbourne Ice and Adelaide Rush, during season 2023–24. The Sydney Sirens also arranged a pre-season exhibition against a select team from their sponsor Wayward Brewing Company
2023-24 AWIHL exhibition games	2023-24 AWIHL exhibition games	2023-24 AWIHL exhibition games	2023-24 AWIHL exhibition games	2023-24 AWIHL exhibition games	2023-24 AWIHL exhibition games	2023-24 AWIHL exhibition games
Date 	Time 	Away 	Score 	Home 	Location 	Recap
14 October 2023 	16:30 	Wayward Sons 	1–3 	Sydney Sirens 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	Ref
20 October 2023 	19:00 	Melbourne Ice 	15–0 	Melbourne Ducks 	iceHQ 	Ref
21 October 2023 	18:30 	Melbourne Ice 	14–0 	Melbourne Ducks 	iceHQ 	Ref
9 December 2023 	19:30 	Sydney Sirens 	14–4 	Melbourne Ducks 	iceHQ 	Ref
10 December 2023 	16:00 	Sydney Sirens 	1–2 	Melbourne Ducks 	iceHQ 	Ref
3 February 2024 	19:30 	Adelaide Rush 	12–1 	Melbourne Ducks 	iceHQ 	Ref
4 February 2024 	15:00 	Adelaide Rush 	9–1 	Melbourne Ducks 	iceHQ 	Ref
==Regular season==
===Fixtures & results===
Running between 28 October 2023 and 25 February 2024, the AWIHL regular season consisted of 40 games in total, with teams playing 16 games each. Game 34 of the regular season was first postponed and then cancelled by the AWIHL following a carbon monoxide poisoning incident at Adelaide’s IceArenA. At least 42 people, including players from both AWIHL teams, were treated for poisoning with dozens hospitalised by the incident. The LPG gas-powered Zamboni was identified as the source of the leak that led to the poisoning. The game was declared a tie with each team awarded one point each.
====October====
October	October 	October	October 	October 	October 	October 	October
Game # 	Date 	Time 	Away 	Score 	Home 	Location 	Recap
1 	28 October 2023	16:30 	Melbourne Ice	6–5 	Sydney Sirens 	Macquarie Ice Rink	
2 	28 October 2023	17:00 	Adelaide Rush	6–5 (OT)	Brisbane Lightning	Boondall Iceworld 	
3 	29 October 2023	08:15 	Melbourne Ice	6–3 	Sydney Sirens 	Macquarie Ice Rink	
4 	29 October 2023	15:30 	Adelaide Rush	2–6 	Brisbane Lightning	Boondall Iceworld 	
====November====
November	November 	November	November 	November	November 	November 	November
Game # 	Date 	Time 	Away 	Score 	Home 	Location 	Recap
5 	4 November 2023 	16:00 	Perth Inferno	5–4 	Melbourne Ice 	iceHQ 	
6 	5 November 2023 	14:30 	Perth Inferno	1–6 	Melbourne Ice 	iceHQ 	
7 	11 November 2023	13:45 	Sydney Sirens	4–5 	Adelaide Rush 	IceArenA 	
8 	11 November 2023	20:00 	Melbourne Ice	9–5 	Brisbane Lightning	Boondall Iceworld	
9 	12 November 2023	10:00 	Sydney Sirens	4–6 	Adelaide Rush 	IceArenA 	
10 	12 November 2023	15:30 	Melbourne Ice	5–7 	Brisbane Lightning	Boondall Iceworld	
====December====
December	December 	December	December 	December	December 	December 	December
Game # 	Date 	Time 	Away 	Score 	Home 	Location 	Recap
11 	2 December 2023 	16:30 	Adelaide Rush 	3–2 	Sydney Sirens 	Macquarie Ice Rink	
12 	2 December 2023 	17:00 	Perth Inferno 	9–0 	Brisbane Lightning	Boondall Iceworld 	
13 	3 December 2023 	08:15 	Adelaide Rush 	7–1 	Sydney Sirens 	Macquarie Ice Rink	
14 	3 December 2023 	15:30 	Perth Inferno 	4–3 (OT)	Brisbane Lightning	Boondall Iceworld 	
15 	9 December 2023 	16:30 	Brisbane Lightning	0–1 	Perth Inferno 	Cockburn Ice Arena	
16 	10 December 2023	10:30 	Brisbane Lightning	7–4 	Perth Inferno 	Cockburn Ice Arena	
17 	16 December 2023	16:00 	Perth Inferno 	7–4 	Adelaide Rush 	IceArenA 	
18 	16 December 2023	16:45 	Sydney Sirens 	6–8 	Melbourne Ice 	Macquarie Ice Rink	
19 	17 December 2023	10:00 	Perth Inferno 	9–8 	Adelaide Rush 	IceArenA 	
20 	17 December 2023	13:45 	Sydney Sirens 	2–7 	Melbourne Ice 	Macquarie Ice Rink	
====January====
January	January 	January	January 	January 	January 	January 	January
Game # 	Date 	Time 	Away 	Score 	Home 	Location 	Recap
21 	13 January 2024	16:30 	Melbourne Ice 	4–5 (SO)	Perth Inferno	Cockburn Ice Arena	
22 	14 January 2024	10:30 	Melbourne Ice 	6–3 	Perth Inferno	Cockburn Ice Arena	
23 	20 January 2024	16:00 	Brisbane Lightning	5–8 	Adelaide Rush	IceArenA 	
24 	21 January 2024	10:00 	Brisbane Lightning	2–6 	Adelaide Rush	IceArenA 	
25 	27 January 2024	16:30 	Sydney Sirens 	5–7 	Perth Inferno	Cockburn Ice Arena	
26 	27 January 2024	16:45 	Adelaide Rush 	2–3 	Melbourne Ice	O’Brien Icehouse 	
27 	28 January 2024	10:30 	Sydney Sirens 	5–4 	Perth Inferno	Cockburn Ice Arena	
28 	28 January 2024	13:45 	Adelaide Rush 	5–2 	Melbourne Ice	O’Brien Icehouse 	
====February====
February	February 	February	February 	February 	February 	February 	February
Game # 	Date 	Time 	Away 	Score 	Home 	Location 	Recap
29 	3 February 2024 	17:00 	Sydney Sirens 	1–5 	Brisbane Lightning	Boondall Iceworld 	
30 	4 February 2024 	15:30 	Sydney Sirens 	2–7 	Brisbane Lightning	Boondall Iceworld 	
31 	10 February 2024	16:00 	Melbourne Ice 	2–6 	Adelaide Rush 	IceArenA 	
32 	10 February 2024	16:30 	Brisbane Lightning	3–4 	Sydney Sirens 	Macquarie Ice Rink	
33 	11 February 2024	08:15 	Brisbane Lightning	2–3 (SO) 	Sydney Sirens 	Macquarie Ice Rink	
34 	11 February 2024	10:00 	Melbourne Ice 	Cancelled	Adelaide Rush 	IceArenA 	
35 	17 February 2024	16:30 	Perth Inferno 	3–0 	Sydney Sirens 	Macquarie Ice Rink	
36 	18 February 2024	08:15 	Perth Inferno 	2–4 	Sydney Sirens 	Macquarie Ice Rink	
37 	24 February 2024	16:30 	Adelaide Rush 	3–5 	Perth Inferno 	Cockburn Ice Arena	
38 	24 February 2024	16:45 	Brisbane Lightning	8–4 	Melbourne Ice 	O’Brien Icehouse 	
39 	25 February 2024	10:30 	Adelaide Rush 	2–3 	Perth Inferno 	Cockburn Ice Arena	
40 	25 February 2024	13:45 	Brisbane Lightning	5–3 	Melbourne Ice 	O’Brien Icehouse 	
Key:
Winner	Draw
===Standings===
===Player stats===
The season's league leader statistics for skaters and goaltenders.
{| class="toccolours" style="width:25em"	 	 	
Goals	Goals 	Goals 	Goals
No. 	Name 	 	
1 	Elizabeth Scala	Forward	22
2 	Sarah Edney 	Forward	22
3 	Emma Wuthrich 	Forward	15
4 	Sharna Godfrey 	Forward	14
5 	Danielle Butler	Forward	14
{| class="toccolours" style="width:25em"	 	 	
Penalty minutes	Penalty minutes	Penalty minutes	Penalty minutes
No. 	Name 	 	
1 	Maya Tupper 	Defender 	41
2 	Emma Wuthrich 	Forward 	39
3 	Samantha Brophy	Defender 	37
4 	Molly Lukowiak 	Forward 	26
5 	Gabrielle Arps 	Defender 	26
===Season awards===
Below lists the 2023–24 AWIHL regular season league award winners.
Award 	Name 	Team
Best Forward 	Sarah Edney	Sydney Sirens
Best Defence 	Maya Tupper	Adelaide Rush
Best Goaltender 	Sasha King 	Perth Inferno
Nellie Gee Rookie of the Year	Katie Meyer	Brisbane Lightning
Below lists the 2023–24 AWIHL regular season Hockey Hype Australia award winners.
Award 	Name 	Team
Assist of the season	Natalie Ayris	Adelaide Rush
Goal of the season 	Sara Sammons 	Perth Inferno
Save of the season 	Archie Smith 	Adelaide Rush
==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 2023–24, the Inferno, Rush, Ice and Lightning qualified for the finals weekend. The event was held on the weekend of 9–10 March 2024 in host city Melbourne at O’Brien Icehouse. Perth and Melbourne won the semi-final games on Saturday to progress to the grand final on Sunday. The defeated teams, Adelaide and Brisbane, progressed to the bronze medal game on Sunday. In the third-place play-off, the Adelaide Rush defeated the Brisbane Lightning to clinch the bronze medal. In the grand final, the regular season Premiers were defeated in an upset to the Melbourne Ice. The surprise victory for the Ice saw them hoist the Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy for a record setting eighth time. After the grand final, Danielle Butler, of the Melbourne Ice, was named AWIHL Finals MVP.
===Semi-finals===
===Third place playoff===
===Final===
Gold 	Silver 	Bronze
Melbourne Ice	Perth Inferno	Adelaide Rush
==References==
== External links ==
*Australian Women's Hockey League
*Ice Hockey Australia
Category:Australian Women's Ice Hockey League seasons
Aust