Sydney Ice Dogs

The Sydney Ice Dogs (sometimes the "Western" as well as "The Dogs") are a semi-professional ice hockey team in the Australian Ice Hockey League. The team plays its home games at the Macquarie Ice Rink in Macquarie Shopping Centre, a suburb of northern Sydney.
The Ice Dogs (along with the Melbourne Ice and Newcastle North Stars) were part of a three-team expansion to the AIHL in 2002 and rose to quick success, winning the Goodall Cup in 2004.
Ice hockey in Western Sydney goes back to 1981, when the Blacktown Flyers were a founding member of the New South Wales Superleague. While lasting for thirteen seasons, this league struggled to gain stability and folded, to be reborn in 1994 as the ECSL, however it too would be disbanded in 2000 with Western Sydney having no representative in the newly-formed AIHL.
The region returned to the national ice hockey map in 2002 when the Ice Dogs joined the AIHL. John Wilson owner of the Blacktown Ice arena would fund the team and Anthony Wilson his son and Captain of the team at that time would manage, recruit and play on the team. Their first season was a success as they finished third out of six teams, quite ironic that the Sydney Bears minuted that the Ice Dogs would not be competitive. It would not be enough to gain them a place in the finals, however, as a four-team playoff would not be introduced until the 2003 season.
The Ice Dogs defeated the Adelaide Avalanche to reach the Goodall Cup final in 2003, but lost the championship game 4-1 to Newcastle. They would have their revenge in 2004, as both teams again squared off for the Cup and the Ice Dogs won 3-1. The 18 year old goaltender Gabriel Robledo was instrumental in Ice Dogs Finals win. A healthy rivalry between the Ice Dogs and the North Stars arose from these two championship games.
2 star imports that season was John Heinen and Martin Jesko.
At the start of the 2009 season the team was renamed to "Sydney Ice Dogs", dropping the Western part of the title.
==Championships==
:Goodall Cup: 2004 2013 AIHL Season
==External links==
*Official website
*Australian Ice Hockey League
*Blacktown Ice Arena
Category:Australian ice hockey teams
Category:Australian Ice Hockey League team
Category:Established in 1981