2013 AIHL season

The 2013 AIHL season is the 14th season of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). It will run from 20 April 2013 until 1 September 2013, with the Goodall Cup finals following on the 7th and 8 September. The Sydney Ice Dogs won both the H Newman Ried Trophy for finishing first in the regular season, and the Goodall Cup after defeating the Newcastle North Stars in the final.
==League business==
In October 2012 it was announced that the 2013 season would be played with eight teams as the Gold Coast Blue Tongues license was suspended due to the team being unable to secure a home venue for 2013. The Blue Tongues where forced out of their arena during the 2012 season when the AIHL deemed it to not be up to specifications for the league forcing the team to temporarily relocate to Brisbane for the remainder of the season. It was also announced that the suspension on the Sydney Ice Dogs had been lifted allowing the team to ice four imports again. The Ice Dogs were restricted to three for the 2012 season by the league due to breaches of the league's code of conduct. Following the Annual General Meeting (AGM) it was announced that the third period of play has been increased from 15 minutes to 20 minutes, while the first two remain 15 minutes in length. The change was in response to fans calling for the league to align itself with international hockey which plays three 20 minute periods. The Melbourne Mustangs revealed their new logo and jerseys for the start of the season featuring a redesigned mustang horse, holding an ice hockey stick. The new jerseys include a white home jersey, a black away jersey and an orange third jersey which is being released as off-ice apparel only. The Sydney Ice Dogs also revealed their new jerseys with an aqua green away jersey and a white home jersey. The change in colours was made as part of a deal with corporate naming sponsor Reach Crane Trucks and will be in place for three years, the duration of their deal with Reach Crane Trucks. Their previous colours of maroon, yellow, blue, black and white will remain as the team's corporate colours.
On 17 February the AIHL announced that it had entered into a partnership with Fox Sports in which a game of the week will be aired on the network as part of a 60-minute program which also includes league and state federation news and AIHL highlights. The Canberra Knights held an exhibition game on 23 March 2013 with the team competing against a team of former Knights' players for the Soldier On charity. The Knights won the game 6–5.
===Personnel changes===
Following the AGM the AIHL announced that Tyler Lovering had been re-elected to the commission as Assistant Commissioner until 2014. Ben Kiely and Alexandra Lata had both received a one-year extension to their terms on the commission, with Lata being appointed Deputy Commissioner. The AIHL have also elected Robert Bannerman and Joshua Chye to the commission to serve as Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner respectively. In December 2012 the Melbourne Mustangs announced that they had appointed Brad Vigon as head coach, replacing Steve Laforet who had been fired at the end of the 2012 season. Following the end of the 2012 season the Melbourne Ice announced that both president Andy Lamrock and head coach Paul Watson had stepped down from their positions. In November 2012 the Ice announced that former Ice Hockey Victoria president Emma Poynton as successor to Lamrock as the club's president. In February 2013 the Ice appointed assistant coach Sandy Gardner to the head coach position.
==Regular season==
The regular season started on 20 April 2013 and ran through to 1 September 2013 before the top four teams compete in the Goodall Cup playoff series.
The Sydney Ice Dogs won the H Newman Reid Trophy after finishing the regular season with the most points, 61. Newcastle North Stars' Jeff Martens won the Most Valuable Player award, after finishing as the league's top scorer with 67 points. Anthony Kimlin of the Sydney Ice Dogs was named the Australian Player of the Year and Best Goaltender, finishing with a save percentage 0.919. The Sydney Bears' Cameron Todd won the award for Best Rookie and John Gordon of the Melbourne Ice was named Best Defenceman.
===April===
Game	Date 	Time 	Away 	Score	Home 	Location 	Attendance	Recap
1 	20 April	17:45	Newcastle North Stars	6 – 2	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Baulkham Hills	500 	
2 	20 April	17:00	Melbourne Ice 	7 – 2	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	1300 	
3 	20 April	17:30	Adelaide Adrenaline 	2 – 3	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	750 	
4 	21 April	15:30	Adelaide Adrenaline 	9 – 2	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	 	
5 	27 April	16:30	Melbourne Ice 	5 – 2	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
6 	27 April	17:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	6 – 4	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	750 	
7 	27 April	18:00	Sydney Ice Dogs 	5 – 4	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	 	
8 	28 April	16:30	Melbourne Ice 	9 – 3	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
9 	28 April	17:00	Melbourne Mustangs 	4 – 5	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	300 	
10 	28 April	17:00	Sydney Bears 	1 – 2	Newcastle North Stars	Newcastle 	 	
===May===
Game	Date 	Time 	Away 	Score 	Home 	Location 	Attendance	Recap
11 	4 May 	17:00	Perth Thunder 	2 – 13 	Newcastle North Stars	Newcastle 	 	
12 	4 May 	17:00	Sydney Ice Dogs 	3 – 4 (SO)	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	575 	
13 	4 May 	18:00	Canberra Knights 	1 – 6 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	 	
14 	5 May 	15:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	4 – 3 (SO)	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	1100 	
15 	5 May 	15:30	Perth Thunder 	5 – 2 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	 	
16 	11 May	17:00	Adelaide Adrenaline 	6 – 4 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	1100 	
17 	11 May	17:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	5 – 1 	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	 	
18 	11 May	18:00	Newcastle North Stars	1 – 2 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	 	
19 	12 May	15:00	Adelaide Adrenaline 	3 – 9 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	 	
20 	12 May	17:00	Canberra Knights 	4 – 3 	Newcastle North Stars	Newcastle 	 	
21 	12 May	17:00	Melbourne Mustangs 	2 – 4 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	200 	
22 	18 May	17:00	Perth Thunder 	0 – 3 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	200 	
23 	18 May	17:00	Newcastle North Stars	4 – 2 	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	600 	
24 	18 May	17:30	Sydney Bears 	6 – 1 	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	 	
25 	19 May	15:30	Newcastle North Stars	2 – 0 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	1000 	
26 	19 May	15:30	Perth Thunder 	4 – 3 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	 	
27 	25 May	16:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	5 – 3 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
28 	25 May	17:00	Canberra Knights 	1 – 9 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	780 	
29 	25 May	17:00	Adelaide Adrenaline 	4 – 7 	Newcastle North Stars	Newcastle 	 	
30 	26 May	15:30	Adelaide Adrenaline 	2 – 6 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	 	
31 	26 May	15:30	Canberra Knights 	3 – 5 	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	400 	
32 	26 May	16:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	5 – 6 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
===June===
Game	Date 	Time 	Away 	Score 	Home 	Location 	Attendance	Recap
33 	1 June 	16:30	Sydney Bears 	3 – 6 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	425 	
34 	1 June 	17:00	Perth Thunder 	5 – 6 	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	350 	
35 	1 June 	17:00	Melbourne Ice 	3 – 4 	Newcastle North Stars	Newcastle 	 	
36 	1 June 	17:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	5 – 3 	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	 	
37 	2 June 	15:30	Perth Thunder 	9 – 3 	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	290 	
38 	2 June 	16:30	Sydney Bears 	4 – 2 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	390 	
39 	2 June 	17:00	Melbourne Ice 	3 – 4 (SO)	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	300 	
40 	6 June 	20:00	Melbourne Mustangs 	1 – 2 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	1150 	
41 	8 June 	16:30	Adelaide Adrenaline 	6 – 7 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
42 	8 June 	17:00	Sydney Bears 	1 – 2 (SO)	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	300 	
43 	8 June 	17:30	Newcastle North Stars	9 – 1 	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	 	
44 	9 June 	16:30	Adelaide Adrenaline 	6 – 8 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
45 	9 June 	17:00	Sydney Bears 	2 – 4 	Newcastle North Stars	Newcastle 	 	
46 	9 June 	17:00	Canberra Knights 	1 – 6 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	250 	
47 	15 June	16:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	2 – 3 (SO)	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	350 	
48 	15 June	17:00	Newcastle North Stars	3 – 4 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	300 	
49 	15 June	17:30	Melbourne Ice 	12 – 1 	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	 	
50 	16 June	15:30	Melbourne Ice 	4 – 3 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	 	
51 	16 June	16:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	6 – 5 (SO)	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	362 	
52 	16 June	17:00	Sydney Ice Dogs 	0 – 1 	Newcastle North Stars	Newcastle 	 	
53 	22 June	17:00	Canberra Knights 	1 – 10 	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	400 	
54 	22 June	17:00	Adelaide Adrenaline 	5 – 3 	Newcastle North Stars	Newcastle 	600 	
55 	23 June	15:30	Canberra Knights 	0 – 16 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	1100 	
56 	23 June	17:00	Adelaide Adrenaline 	4 – 1 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	400 	
57 	29 June	16:30	Canberra Knights 	1 – 3 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
58 	29 June	16:30	Newcastle North Stars	3 – 2 (SO)	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	350 	
59 	29 June	17:00	Sydney Bears 	3 – 7 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	1000 	
60 	30 June	15:30	Sydney Bears 	2 – 6 	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	500 	
61 	30 June	16:30	Canberra Knights 	2 – 3 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
62 	30 June	16:30	Newcastle North Stars	5 – 4 (SO)	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	300 	
===July===
Game	Date 	Time 	Away 	Score 	Home 	Location 	Attendance	Recap
63 	6 July 	16:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	2 – 5 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
64 	6 July 	17:30	Adelaide Adrenaline 	5 – 4 (SO)	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	 	
65 	7 July 	16:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	4 – 2 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
66 	7 July 	17:00	Adelaide Adrenaline 	3 – 6 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	250 	
67 	13 July	16:30	Canberra Knights 	0 – 6 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	378 	
68 	13 July	17:00	Perth Thunder 	5 – 6 (SO)	Newcastle North Stars	Newcastle 	 	
69 	13 July	17:00	Sydney Bears 	2 – 5 	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	400 	
70 	14 July	15:30	Sydney Bears 	3 – 7 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	900 	
71 	14 July	16:30	Canberra Knights 	2 – 8 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	342 	
72 	14 July	17:00	Perth Thunder 	6 – 4 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	350 	
73 	20 July	16:30	Newcastle North Stars	2 – 6 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
74 	20 July	17:00	Adelaide Adrenaline 	5 – 4 (SO)	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	320 	
75 	20 July	17:30	Melbourne Ice 	4 – 2 	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	 	
76 	20 July	18:00	Sydney Ice Dogs 	3 – 0 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	400 	
77 	21 July	15:30	Adelaide Adrenaline 	6 – 7 (SO)	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	330 	
78 	21 July	16:30	Newcastle North Stars	3 – 2 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
79 	21 July	17:00	Melbourne Ice 	3 – 6 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	300 	
80 	27 July	16:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	6 – 4 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	213 	
81 	27 July	17:00	Perth Thunder 	3 – 5 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	1100 	
82 	27 July	17:00	Melbourne Mustangs 	2 – 1 	Newcastle North Stars	Newcastle 	 	
83 	28 July	15:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	10 – 3 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	180 	
84 	28 July	15:30	Perth Thunder 	6 – 5 (SO)	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	900 	
85 	28 July	16:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	1 – 5 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	216 	
86 	28 July	17:00	Canberra Knights 	5 – 9 	Newcastle North Stars	Newcastle 	 	
===August & September===
Game	Date 	Time 	Away 	Score 	Home 	Location 	Attendance	Recap
87 	3 August 	17:00	Sydney Ice Dogs 	5 – 3 	Newcastle North Stars	Newcastle 	800 	
88 	3 August 	17:00	Melbourne Mustangs 	4 – 2 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	1200 	
89 	3 August 	17:30	Sydney Bears 	3 – 2 	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	 	
90 	4 August 	15:30	Newcastle North Stars	7 – 1 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	300 	
91 	4 August 	17:00	Canberra Knights 	1 – 8 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	250 	
92 	10 August 	16:30	Perth Thunder 	6 – 4 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	368 	
93 	10 August 	17:00	Melbourne Ice 	4 – 8 	Newcastle North Stars	Newcastle 	 	
94 	10 August 	18:00	Canberra Knights 	1 – 3 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	 	
95 	11 August 	15:30	Melbourne Ice 	5 – 2 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	200 	
96 	11 August 	16:30	Perth Thunder 	4 – 3 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	289 	
97 	15 August 	20:00	Melbourne Ice 	4 – 3 	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	1000 	
98 	17 August 	16:30	Sydney Bears 	0 – 4 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
99 	17 August 	17:00	Sydney Ice Dogs 	5 – 3 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	900 	
100 	17 August 	17:30	Newcastle North Stars	8 – 0 	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	 	
101 	18 August 	15:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	3 – 1 	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	600 	
102 	18 August 	16:30	Sydney Bears 	3 – 5 	Perth Thunder 	Perth 	 	
103 	24 August 	16:30	Melbourne Ice 	6 – 5 (SO)	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	352 	
104 	24 August 	17:00	Sydney Bears 	1 – 4 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Liverpool 	400 	
105 	24 August 	17:00	Melbourne Mustangs 	1 – 6 	Newcastle North Stars	Newcastle 	 	
106 	24 August 	17:30	Perth Thunder 	7 – 2 	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	 	
107 	25 August 	15:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	6 – 2 	Sydney Bears 	Baulkham Hills	200 	
108 	25 August 	16:30	Melbourne Ice 	5 – 2 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide 	329 	
109 	25 August 	17:30	Perth Thunder 	6 – 2 	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	 	
110 	31 August 	17:00	Newcastle North Stars	5 – 1 	Melbourne Ice 	Melbourne 	1100 	
111 	31 August 	17:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	8 – 2 	Canberra Knights 	Canberra 	 	
112 	1 September	15:30	Newcastle North Stars	4 – 5 (SO)	Melbourne Mustangs 	Melbourne 	800 	
===Standings===
	Qualified for the playoffs
Team 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Sydney Ice Dogs 	28	18	3	1	6 	117	80 	+37 	61
Newcastle North Stars	28	17	3	1	7 	132	75 	+57 	58
Perth Thunder 	28	17	1	1	9 	127	114	+13 	54
Melbourne Ice 	28	16	1	3	8 	147	93 	+54 	53
Melbourne Mustangs 	28	12	4	2	10	118	103	+15 	46
Adelaide Adrenaline 	28	8 	3	5	12	125	124	+1 	35
Sydney Bears 	28	7 	0	1	20	73 	120	–47 	22
Canberra Knights 	28	2 	0	1	25	51 	181	–130	7
Source
==Goodall Cup playoffs==
The 2013 playoffs will start on 7 September 2013, with the Goodall Cup final being held on 8 September. Following the end of the regular season the top four teams will advance to the playoff series. All three games will be held at the Medibank Icehouse in Docklands, Victoria, the home of the Melbourne Ice and Melbourne Mustangs. The series will be a single game elimination with the two winning semi-finalists advancing to the Goodall Cup final.
===Semi-finals===
All times are UTC+10:00
===Final===
==References==
==External links==
*The Australian Ice Hockey League
Category:2013 in ice hockey
2013