2012 AIHL season

The 2012 AIHL season is the 13th season of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). It ran from 28 April 2012 until 26 August 2012, with the Goodall Cup finals following on the 1 and 2 September. The Newcastle North Stars won the H Newman Ried Trophy after finishing the regular season with the most points. The Melbourne Ice won the Goodall Cup for the third year in a row after defeating the North Stars in the final.
==League business==
During the off-season the Australian Ice Hockey League announced that Perth Thunder had been accepted as a full member of the league expanding the competition to nine teams. The Mustangs IHC changed their name to the Melbourne Mustangs after the AIHL lifted a condition that prohibited the use of "Melbourne" in their team name. The restriction was originally put in place to protect the brand of the Melbourne Ice. It was also announced that from 2012 the league would be split into two conferences in order to manage costs and length of the season. The two conferences where named the Bauer Conference and Easton Conference after the AIHL signed a three year deal with the Skaters Network who is the distributor of the ice hockey brands Bauer Hockey and Easton. The Bauer Conference will consist of the Canberra Knights, Newcastle North Stars, Sydney Bears, and the Sydney Ice Dogs, while the Easton Conference includes the Adelaide Adrenaline, Gold Coast Blue Tongues, Melbourne Ice, Melbourne Mustangs and the Perth Thunder. Following the announcement of the conference system a change in the finals playoff structure was also announced. The winners of each conference at the end of the regular season would play in a semi-final against the runner-up of the opposing conference with the winners of the semi-finals progressing to the Goodall Cup final. It was also announced a one year partnership with Virgin Australia in which the airline would become the leagues preferred supplier for the 2012 season. In February 2012 the Sydney Bears announced that they were leaving the Penrith Ice Palace as their home arena and were returning to play their games at the Sydney Ice Arena in Baulkham Hills where they had previously played from 2003 to 2006. In April 2012 the AIHL announced that the Sydney Ice Dogs would be restricted to the dress of only three import players per game, as opposed to the normal four. The restriction is part of the penalties imposed on the club after it breached the AIHL code of conduct during the 2011 Goodall Cup final series in which a player and two team officials were involved in an assault of a Medibank Icehouse security guard.
Prior to the start of the regular season, three exhibition games were held. The first game was held between the Mustangs and the Melbourne Ice at the Medibank Icehouse with the Mustangs winning the game 5–2. The second and third games were played between the Sydney Bears and the Sydney Ice Dogs, with the Sydney Bears winning the first game 5–2 and the Sydney Ice Dogs winning the second game 5–4 in a shootout.
On 3 June, Gold Coast Blue Tongues' home game against the Melbourne Ice at Bundall Iceland was called off after a shortened first period due to an unplayable surface; it was the second such cancellation in less than a year at Bundall Iceland, with the 10 July 2011 match between the Blue Tongues and Sydney Ice Dogs cancelled without play for the same reason. After the cancelled game, Gold Coast was evicted from the rink by its owners, and on 8 June, it was announced that its remaining seven home games for the season would be played at Iceworld in Acacia Ridge, Brisbane; the matches will begin at 10:30pm, with a better time unable to be negotiated with the rink due to the short notice of the relocation. Although Melbourne was offered a win by forfeit for the cancelled match, the club agreed instead to reschedule the match to Thursday 23 August, to be played in Melbourne (although technically a Gold Coast home game).
During July there will be a weeks break for the first Trans-Tasman Champions League. The formation of the Trans-Tasman Champions League was announced back in August 2011 between the AIHL and the New Zealand Ice Hockey League (NZIHL). The series will feature two teams from each the AIHL and the NZIHL each playing the others once with the winner being the team who finishes first in the round-robin standings. The two teams chosen from each league will be the 2011 regular season champions and the winner of the 2011 playoffs. In a situation where the winning of both events is the same the runner up of the playoff final will be selected to represent their respective league.
==Regular season==
The regular season will start on 28 April 2012 and will run through to the 26 August 2012 before the teams compete in the playoff series. The Gold Coast Blue Tongues' final seven home games were relocated from Bundall, Gold Coast to Acacia Ridge, Brisbane after the cancelled match on 3 June. All relocated matches were scheduled to commence at 10:30pm, and the dates of some of the matches were adjusted to accommodate the away teams' travel plans.
The Newcastle North Stars won the H Newman Reid Trophy after finishing the regular season with the most points, 52. On 29 August the AIHL released the list of finalists for the 2012 awards. Matt Armstrong of the Melbourne Ice, Jeremy Boyer of the Newcastle North Stars, Perth Thunder's Kenny Rolph and Sydney Bears' Tomas Landa were nominated for the Most Valuable Player award, with Boyer and Landa both winning the award. Aaron Barton of Adelaide Adrenaline, Anthony Kimlin of the Gold Coast Blue Tongues and Perth Thunder's Kiefer Smiley were nominated for the Top Goaltender award with Anthony Kimlin being named the winner. Adam Blanchette of the Blue Tongues, Scott Levitt of the Melbourne Mustangs and Newcastle's Rob Lawrance were nominated for the Top Defenceman award with Rob Lawrance being announced as the winner. George Huber of the Adrenaline, Grey Bay of the Blue Tongues, the Mustangs' Brendan McDowell and Perth's David Kudla were all nominated for the Rookie of the Year award with George Huber and Greg Bay tying for the win.
===April===
Game	Date 	Time 	Away 	Score 	Home 	Location 	Attendance	Recap
1 	28 April	16:30	Canberra Knights 	3 – 2 (SO)	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	400 	
2 	28 April	17:00	Melbourne Mustangs 	5 – 6 (SO)	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	1700 	
3 	28 April	18:00	Sydney Ice Dogs 	2 – 5 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	 	
4 	28 April	17:00	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	3 – 4 	Newcastle North Stars	Newcastle 	1000 	
5 	29 April	15:30	Canberra Knights 	2 – 5 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	 	
6 	29 April	17:00	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	7 – 2 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	 	
7 	29 April	17:00	Newcastle North Stars 	4 – 6 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	 	
===May===
Game	Date 	Time 	Away 	Score 	Home 	Location 	Attendance	Recap
8 	5 May 	16:30	Canberra Knights 	4 – 3 (SO)	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
9 	5 May 	16:30	Melbourne Ice 	5 – 6 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	 	
10 	5 May 	16:00	Newcastle North Stars 	2 – 3 	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	Gold Coast 	 	
11 	5 May 	17:00	Sydney Bears 	2 – 5 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	 	
12 	6 May 	16:30	Melbourne Ice 	3 – 2 (SO)	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	 	
13 	6 May 	15:30	Canberra Knights 	4 – 3 (SO)	Melbourne 	 	 	
14 	6 May 	17:00	Sydney Ice Dogs 	7 – 6 	Newcastle North Stars 	Newcastle 	800 	
15 	12 May	16:00	Adelaide Adrenaline 	2 – 1 	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	Gold Coast 	200 	
16 	12 May	17:00	Perth Thunder 	2 – 4 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	 	
17 	12 May	17:00	Newcastle North Stars 	8 – 5 	Sydney Bears 	Newcastle 	 	
18 	12 May	17:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	4 – 1 	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	750 	
19 	13 May	16:00	Adelaide Adrenaline 	8 – 4 	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	Gold Coast 	200 	
20 	13 May	15:30	Perth Thunder 	5 – 2 	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	 	
21 	13 May	17:00	Canberra Knights 	1 – 6 	Newcastle North Stars 	Newcastle 	 	
22 	17 May	19:15	Melbourne Ice 	5 – 1 	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	 	
23 	19 May	16:30	Perth Thunder 	2 – 5 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	470 	
24 	19 May	17:00	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	4 – 5 (SO)	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	260 	
25 	19 May	17:00	Newcastle North Stars 	6 – 3 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	250 	
26 	19 May	17:30	Sydney Bears 	4 – 1 	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	1000 	
27 	20 May	16:30	Perth Thunder 	2 – 6 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	 	
28 	20 May	15:30	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	4 – 0 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	1000 	
29 	20 May	17:00	Sydney Bears 	4 – 7 	Newcastle North Stars 	Newcastle 	 	
30 	26 May	16:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	3 – 2 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
31 	26 May	17:00	Adelaide Adrenaline 	4 – 7 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	1000 	
32 	26 May	17:30	Newcastle North Stars 	9 – 5 	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	 	
33 	27 May	16:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	4 – 2 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
34 	27 May	15:30	Adelaide Adrenaline 	2 – 5 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	970 	
35 	27 May	17:00	Canberra Knights 	2 – 7 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	175 	
===June===
Game	Date 	Time 	Away 	Score 	Home 	Location 	Attendance	Recap
36 	2 June 	16:00	Melbourne Ice 	5 – 2 	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	Gold Coast 	250 	
37 	2 June 	16:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	4 – 7 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	450 	
38 	2 June 	17:30	Sydney Bears 	3 – 4 	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	 	
39 	3 June 	16:00	Melbourne Ice 	Cancelled 	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	Gold Coast 	 	
40 	3 June 	15:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	5 – 1 	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	950 	
41 	16 June	16:30	Adelaide Adrenaline 	2 – 3 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
42 	16 June	17:00	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	6 – 1 	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	1000 	
43 	16 June	17:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	5 – 4 (SO)	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	1000 	
44 	17 June	16:30	Adelaide Adrenaline 	2 – 5 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
45 	17 June	15:30	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	0 – 6 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	1100 	
46 	17 June	17:00	Newcastle North Stars 	3 – 1 	Sydney Bears 	Newcastle 	 	
47 	22 June	22:30	Perth Thunder 	6 – 3 	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	Acacia Ridge 	100 	
48 	23 June	17:00	Melbourne Mustangs 	2 – 7 	Newcastle North Stars 	Newcastle 	 	
49 	23 June	18:00	Sydney Ice Dogs 	6 – 4 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	 	
50 	23 June	17:30	Melbourne Ice 	8 – 3 	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	 	
51 	23 June	22:30	Perth Thunder 	6 – 3 	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	Acacia Ridge 	 	
52 	24 June	17:00	Melbourne Mustangs 	0 – 2 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	200 	
53 	24 June	17:00	Melbourne Ice 	6 – 2 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	 	
54 	30 June	22:30	Sydney Bears 	6 – 5 (SO)	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	Acacia Ridge 	130 	
55 	30 June	16:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	0 – 10 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	650 	
56 	30 June	16:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	3 – 2 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	700 	
57 	30 June	17:00	Canberra Knights 	2 – 6 	Newcastle North Stars 	Newcastle 	 	
===July===
Game	Date 	Time 	Away 	Score 	Home 	Location 	Attendance	Recap
58 	1 July 	16:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	3 – 1 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	650 	
59 	1 July 	15:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	1 – 9 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	1200 	
60 	1 July 	17:00	Newcastle North Stars 	4 – 3 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	 	
61 	14 July	22:30	Canberra Knights 	1 – 5 	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	Acacia Ridge 	160 	
62 	14 July	16:30	Sydney Bears 	6 – 4 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
63 	14 July	17:00	Melbourne Ice 	1 – 5 	Newcastle North Stars 	Newcastle 	800 	
64 	15 July	15:30	Sydney Bears 	2 – 1 	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	 	
65 	15 July	17:00	Melbourne Ice 	4 – 3 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	300 	
66 	21 July	16:30	Newcastle North Stars 	2 – 0 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
67 	21 July	17:00	Melbourne Mustangs 	1 – 4 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	1450 	
68 	21 July	17:00	Sydney Bears 	4 – 6 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	300 	
69 	21 July	17:30	Adelaide Adrenaline 	6 – 2 	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	 	
70 	22 July	15:30	Newcastle North Stars 	3 – 5 	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	750 	
71 	22 July	17:00	Adelaide Adrenaline 	4 – 1 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	250 	
72 	22 July	17:00	Canberra Knights 	2 – 4 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	 	
73 	28 July	17:00	Perth Thunder 	7 – 2 	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	390 	
74 	28 July	17:00	Adelaide Adrenaline 	2 – 5 	Newcastle North Stars 	Newcastle 	 	
75 	28 July	17:00	Sydney Bears 	5 – 4 (SO)	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	 	
76 	28 July	17:30	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	1 – 4 	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	 	
77 	29 July	15:30	Perth Thunder 	6 – 3 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	1000 	
78 	29 July	17:00	Canberra Knights 	1 – 9 	Newcastle North Stars 	Newcastle 	 	
79 	29 July	17:00	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	4 – 0 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	250 	
80 	29 July	17:00	Adelaide Adrenaline 	2 – 5 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	 	
===August===
Game	Date 	Time 	Away 	Score 	Home 	Location 	Attendance	Recap
81 	3 August 	22:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	3 – 5 	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	Acacia Ridge 	110 	
82 	4 August 	17:00	Sydney Ice Dogs 	3 – 4 (SO)	Newcastle North Stars 	Newcastle 	 	
83 	4 August 	17:30	Perth Thunder 	1 – 2 (SO)	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	 	
84 	4 August 	22:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	3 – 1 	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	Acacia Ridge 	120 	
85 	5 August 	17:00	Perth Thunder 	4 – 3 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	 	
86 	5 August 	17:00	Canberra Knights 	5 – 3 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	 	
87 	9 August 	19:15	Melbourne Ice 	6 – 1 	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	1150 	
88 	11 August	16:30	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	3 – 2 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
89 	11 August	16:30	Sydney Bears 	1 – 5 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	470 	
90 	11 August	17:00	Newcastle North Stars 	5 – 3 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	1150 	
91 	11 August	17:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	3 – 2 	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	 	
92 	12 August	16:30	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	0 – 4 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
93 	12 August	16:30	Newcastle North Stars 	2 – 4 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	440 	
94 	12 August	15:30	Sydney Bears 	3 – 4 (SO)	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	900 	
95 	18 August	22:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	4 – 5 	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	Acacia Ridge 	120 	
96 	18 August	16:30	Melbourne Ice 	1 – 3 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
97 	18 August	17:00	Adelaide Adrenaline 	1 – 0 	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	420 	
98 	18 August	17:30	Newcastle North Stars 	7 – 6 (SO)	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	 	
99 	19 August	16:30	Melbourne Ice 	4 – 2 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
100 	19 August	15:30	Adelaide Adrenaline 	6 – 4 	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	385 	
101 	19 August	17:00	Sydney Bears 	4 – 0 	Newcastle North Stars 	Newcastle 	 	
102 	19 August	17:00	Canberra Knights 	7 – 9 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	250 	
39 	23 August	19:00	Melbourne Ice 	5 – 3 	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	Melbourne 	450 	
103 	25 August	16:30	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	5 – 1 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	410 	
104 	25 August	17:00	Perth Thunder 	4 – 6 	Newcastle North Stars 	Newcastle 	600 	
105 	25 August	17:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	3 – 5 	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	 	
106 	26 August	16:30	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	4 – 5 (SO)	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	450 	
107 	26 August	17:00	Perth Thunder 	4 – 7 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	350 	
108 	26 August	17:00	Melbourne Mustangs 	1 – 7 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	 	
==Standings==
	Qualified for the playoffs
===Bauer Conference===
Team 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Newcastle North Stars	24	16	2	0	6 	120	78 	+42	52
Sydney Ice Dogs 	24	12	1	2	9 	96 	99 	–3 	40
Sydney Bears 	24	9 	2	1	12	92 	93 	–1 	32
Canberra Knights 	24	4 	4	2	14	73 	116	–43	22
===Easton Conference===
Team 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Melbourne Ice 	24	15	3	0	6 	109	68 	+41	51
Adelaide Adrenaline 	24	13	1	2	8 	96 	76 	+20	43
Gold Coast Blue Tongues	24	10	0	3	11	81 	85 	–4 	33
Perth Thunder 	24	10	0	2	12	81 	80 	+1 	32
Melbourne Mustangs 	24	5 	1	2	16	54 	107	–53	19
Source
==Playoffs==
The 2012 playoffs started on 1 September 2012, with the Goodall Cup final being held on 2 September. Following the end of the regular season the top two teams from each conference advance to the playoff series with the winner of each conference playing in the semi-final round against the runner-up of the other conference. All three games were held at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium in Warners Bay, New South Wales, the home of the Newcastle North Stars. The series was a single game elimination with the two winning semi-finalists advancing to the Goodall Cup final. The Melbourne Ice won the Goodall Cup for the third year in a row after defeating the Newcastle North Stars in the final. Todd Graham of the Melbourne Ice was named the finals MVP.
All times are UTC+10:00
===Semi-finals===
===Final===
==References==
==External links==
*The Australian Ice Hockey League
Category:2012 in ice hockey 
2012