2019 AIHL season

The 2019 AIHL season is the 20th season of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). It will run from 20 April 2019 until 25 August 2019, with the Goodall Cup finals following on 31 August and 1 September 2019.
==League business==
In January the Newcastle Northstars signed a three-year naming rights deal with Newcastle Rescue and Consultancy. Proski, the former naming rights holder, will continue to sponsor the club at a lower level. In March the Newcastle Northstars unveiled a new red-coloured third jersey design featuring an alternative logo. The logo is made up an upper-case letter N on top of a five pointed star. On 19 March the Adelaide Adrenaline signed a naming rights deal with Agile Group. The deal starts in the 2019 season and runs through to the end of the 2021 season. On 28 March it was announced that the CBR Brave had been acquired by the Canberra Cavalry, a baseball team that plays in the Australian Baseball League. Cavalry management took over operations of the Brave immediately while full ownership is expected to be transferred later in the year. 3 April 2019, O’Brien Group announced the completion of upgrades to their Melbourne stadium including 1,361 solar panels, two water tanks and an environmentally-friendly heating system. The new facilities would generate 400Kw of power, providing a 25% saving on the stadium's power bill. To mark the completion of the new upgrades the stadium was renamed O’Brien Icehouse, invoking and recognising the stadium's original name. On 19 April the CBR Brave signed a naming rights deal with the The Signal Co. Wireless for the 2019 season. The deal increases The Signal Co. Wireless' level of sponsorship having been a major sponsor in 2018. On 31 May it was announced that the Melbourne Mustangs had signed an affiliation with the Melbourne Chargers of the Australian Women's Tier 2 Show Case Series, Australia's second highest women's ice hockey league.
===Exhibition games===
On 30 and 31 March the Melbourne Ice hosted Hockey X 2019 at the O'Brien Icehouse. Hockey X, previously known as the Hockey Festival, included the CBR Brave, Melbourne Ice, Melbourne Mustangs and an All-Star team from Queensland. Day one of the festival saw each team compete in a round-robin competition to determine the playoff spots on day two. The Melbourne Mustangs finished the round-robin at the top of the standings, three points ahead of the Melbourne Ice. The CBR Brave finished in third and the Queensland All-Stars in last place. Day two included two games, a final between first and second and a placement game for third place. The Melbourne Mustangs defeated the Melbourne Ice 3–1 in the final to claim the Warrior Cup, while the CBR Brave beat the Queensland All-Stars 3–0 to finish third. On 13 April the Melbourne Ice and Melbourne Mustangs held their annual exhibition match at the O'Brien Icehouse. The Mustangs defeated the Ice 4–2. On the same day the Adelaide Adrenaline held an exhibition game against a South Australian All Stars team which the Adrenaline won 4–3. The following day the Newcastle Northstars held a practice match against their affiliate club, the Newcastle North Stars ECSL at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium. The Northstars won the match 10–2.
===Personnel changes===
On 23 November the Melbourne Ice announced the signing of Johan Steenberg to the position of Director of Operations. Steenberg returns to the Ice after a year with the CBR Brave where he acted as their Director of Player Development and Player Personnel. Steenberg was previously the Ice's goaltender coach from 2014 to 2017. The following month the Melbourne Ice appointed Australian men's national team head coach Brad Vigon to the position of head coach. Vigon replaces interim head coach Sandy Gardner who had been in the role since June 2018. Gardner was subsequently appointed an assistant coach role along with Brent Laver and Glen Mayer Laver moves into the role having been the development coach for the last two seasons and Mayer was previously an assistant coach at the Ice from 2014 to 2016. On 7 December the AIHL announced that Rob Bannerman had stepped down as commissioner due to a career move in the United States. Bannerman had been in the position for the past six years. In March the Melbourne Ice appointed Mark Smith to the position of general manager. Smith is currently head coach of the Melbourne Ice Women's team. On 28 February the Newcastle Northstars announced the signing of John Kennedy as head coach following his retirement as a player. Kennedy will be assisted by associated coaches Joe Theriault and Ray Sheffield. On 10 April the CBR Brave announced the signing of former Ligue Magnus player Max Ross to the position of assistant coach.
==Regular season==
The regular season began on 20 April 2019 and will run through to 25 August 2019 before the top four teams advance to compete in the Goodall Cup playoff series.
===April===
Date 	Time 	Away 	Score 	Home 	Location 	Recap
20 April	16:45	Sydney Bears 	8–3 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
20 April	17:00	Adelaide Adrenaline	2–6 	Melbourne Mustangs 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
21 April	16:00	Adelaide Adrenaline	5–6 	Melbourne Ice 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
21 April	17:00	CBR Brave 	4–1 	Sydney Bears 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
27 April	16:30	CBR Brave 	6–3 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide Ice Arena 	
27 April	16:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	5–0 	Perth Thunder 	Perth Ice Arena 	
27 April	16:45	Melbourne Ice 	2–3 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
27 April	17:00	Sydney Bears 	3–4 	Newcastle Northstars	Hunter Ice Skating Stadium	
28 April	16:00	Melbourne Ice 	0–6 	Newcastle Northstars	Hunter Ice Skating Stadium	
28 April	16:30	CBR Brave 	6–2 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide Ice Arena 	
28 April	16:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	0–1 (SO)	Perth Thunder 	Perth Ice Arena 	
===May===
Date 	Time 	Away 	Score 	Home 	Location 	Recap
4 May 	17:00	Adelaide Adrenaline 	0–8 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
4 May 	17:00	Perth Thunder 	3–5 	Newcastle Northstars	Hunter Ice Skating Stadium	
4 May 	17:30	Sydney Bears 	4–3 	CBR Brave 	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	
5 May 	16:00	Adelaide Adrenaline 	2–6 	Newcastle Northstars	Hunter Ice Skating Stadium	
5 May 	17:00	Perth Thunder 	5–3 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
10 May	17:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	4–3 	Melbourne Ice 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
11 May	16:30	Newcastle Northstars	10–3 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide Ice Arena 	
11 May	16:30	CBR Brave 	5–1 	Perth Thunder 	Perth Ice Arena 	
11 May	17:00	Sydney Ice Dogs 	4–3 (SO)	Melbourne Mustangs 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
12 May	14:00	Sydney Ice Dogs 	7–6 	Melbourne Ice 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
12 May	16:30	Newcastle Northstars	8–2 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide Ice Arena 	
12 May	16:30	CBR Brave 	5–1 	Perth Thunder 	Perth Ice Arena 	
18 May	17:00	Melbourne Mustangs 	4–5 	Sydney Bears 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
18 May	17:00	Melbourne Ice 	1–4 	Newcastle Northstars	Hunter Ice Skating Stadium	
18 May	17:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	3–4 	CBR Brave 	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	
19 May	16:00	Melbourne Mustangs 	3–2 	Newcastle Northstars	Hunter Ice Skating Stadium	
19 May	17:00	Melbourne Ice 	1–4 	Sydney Bears 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
25 May	16:30	Sydney Bears 	4–3 (OT)	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide Ice Arena 	
25 May	17:00	CBR Brave 	6–4 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
25 May	17:00	Newcastle Northstars	4–3 	Melbourne Mustangs 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
26 May	14:00	Newcastle Northstars	6–4 	Melbourne Ice 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
26 May	16:30	Sydney Bears 	4–5 	Perth Thunder 	Perth Ice Arena 	
31 May	17:30	Melbourne Ice 	5–4 (SO)	Melbourne Mustangs 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
===June===
Date 	Time 	Away 	Score 	Home 	Location 	Recap
1 June 	17:00	Sydney Ice Dogs 	3–6 	Sydney Bears 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
1 June 	17:00	Adelaide Adrenaline 	2–4 	Melbourne Ice 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
1 June 	17:30	Perth Thunder 	0–7 	CBR Brave 	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	
2 June 	14:00	Adelaide Adrenaline 	2–10 	Melbourne Mustangs 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
2 June 	16:30	Perth Thunder 	2–6 	CBR Brave 	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	
2 June 	17:00	Newcastle Northstars	3–2 	Sydney Bears 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
8 June 	16:30	Melbourne Ice 	2–5 	Perth Thunder 	Perth Ice Arena 	
8 June 	17:30	Sydney Bears 	2–5 	CBR Brave 	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	
9 June 	16:00	Sydney Ice Dogs 	4–5 	Newcastle Northstars	Hunter Ice Skating Stadium	
9 June 	16:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	4–11 	CBR Brave 	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	
9 June 	16:30	Melbourne Ice 	3–1 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide Ice Arena 	
22 June	16:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	4–1 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide Ice Arena 	
22 June	17:00	Perth Thunder 	4–5 (OT)	Sydney Bears 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
22 June	17:00	Melbourne Mustangs 	2–3 	Melbourne Ice 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
22 June	17:00	CBR Brave 	6–2 	Newcastle Northstars	Hunter Ice Skating Stadium	
23 June	16:00	Perth Thunder 	1–6 	Newcastle Northstars	Hunter Ice Skating Stadium	
23 June	16:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	6–3 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide Ice Arena 	
23 June	17:00	CBR Brave 	6–3 	Sydney Bears 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
29 June	16:30	Adelaide Adrenaline 	3–7 	Perth Thunder 	Perth Ice Arena 	
29 June	17:00	Melbourne Ice 	4–6 	Sydney Bears 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
29 June	17:00	CBR Brave 	4–2 	Melbourne Mustangs 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
29 June	17:00	Sydney Ice Dogs 	4–5 (OT)	Newcastle Northstars	Hunter Ice Skating Stadium	
30 June	14:00	CBR Brave 	4–2 	Melbourne Mustangs 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
30 June	16:30	Adelaide Adrenaline 	2–5 	Perth Thunder 	Perth Ice Arena 	
30 June	16:45	Melbourne Ice 	6–4 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
===July===
Date 	Time 	Away 	Score 	Home 	Location 	Recap
6 July 	16:30	Perth Thunder 	4–2 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide Ice Arena 	
6 July 	17:00	Sydney Ice Dogs 	4–6 	Sydney Bears 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
6 July 	17:00	Newcastle Northstars	3–4 	Melbourne Ice 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
7 July 	14:00	Newcastle Northstars	4–1 	Melbourne Mustangs 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
7 July 	16:30	Perth Thunder 	7–1 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide Ice Arena 	
7 July 	16:45	CBR Brave 	7–1 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
12 July	19:30	Newcastle Northstars	3–1 	Sydney Bears 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
13 July	17:00	Perth Thunder 	3–6 	Melbourne Mustangs 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
13 July	17:30	Melbourne Ice 	4–8 	CBR Brave 	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	
13 July	17:30	Adelaide Adrenaline 	1–10 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
14 July	14:00	Perth Thunder 	4–3 	Melbourne Mustangs 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
14 July	16:30	Melbourne Ice 	1–5 	CBR Brave 	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	
14 July	17:00	Adelaide Adrenaline 	4–6 	Sydney Bears 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
19 July	19:30	Melbourne Ice 	1–5 	Melbourne Mustangs 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
20 July	16:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	5–7 	Perth Thunder 	Perth Ice Arena 	
20 July	17:00	Sydney Bears 	5–4 	Melbourne Ice 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
20 July	17:30	Newcastle Northstars	2–3 	CBR Brave 	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	
21 July	14:00	Sydney Bears 	8–4 	Melbourne Mustangs 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
21 July	16:00	CBR Brave 	4–2 	Newcastle Northstars	Hunter Ice Skating Stadium	
21 July	16:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	0–5 	Perth Thunder 	Perth Ice Arena 	
26 July	19:30	Newcastle Northstars	4–7 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
27 July	16:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	8–3 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide Ice Arena 	
27 July	17:00	CBR Brave 	2–3 (SO)	Melbourne Ice 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
27 July	17:00	Perth Thunder 	5–7 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
27 July	17:00	Sydney Bears 	5–0 	Newcastle Northstars	Hunter Ice Skating Stadium	
28 July	14:00	CBR Brave 	7–2 	Melbourne Ice 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
28 July	16:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	5–3 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide Ice Arena 	
28 July	17:00	Perth Thunder 	4–3 	Sydney Bears 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
===August===
Date 	Time 	Away 	Score 	Home 	Location 	Recap
3 August 	16:30	Newcastle Northstars	3–5 	Perth Thunder 	Perth Ice Arena 	
3 August 	17:00	Sydney Bears 	6–3 	Melbourne Ice 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
3 August 	17:00	Melbourne Mustangs 	3–1 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
3 August 	17:30	Adelaide Adrenaline 	2–7 	CBR Brave 	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	
4 August 	14:00	Sydney Bears 	2–6 	Melbourne Mustangs 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
4 August 	16:30	Adelaide Adrenaline 	4–5 	CBR Brave 	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	
4 August 	16:30	Newcastle Northstars	7–3 	Perth Thunder 	Perth Ice Arena 	
10 August	16:30	Melbourne Ice 	7–6 (OT)	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide Ice Arena 	
10 August	17:00	Melbourne Mustangs 	4–1 	Sydney Bears 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
10 August	17:30	Sydney Ice Dogs 	5–12 	CBR Brave 	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	
11 August	16:30	Melbourne Ice 	3–9 	Perth Thunder 	Perth Ice Arena 	
11 August	16:30	Melbourne Mustangs 	4–7 	CBR Brave 	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	
11 August	16:45	Newcastle Northstars	5–4 (SO)	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
17 August	16:30	Sydney Bears 	1–5 	Perth Thunder 	Perth Ice Arena 	
17 August	17:00	Sydney Ice Dogs 	6–4 	Melbourne Ice 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
17 August	17:30	Newcastle Northstars	1–6 	CBR Brave 	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	
18 August	14:00	Sydney Ice Dogs 	6–1 	Melbourne Mustangs 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
18 August	16:30	Sydney Bears 	8–3 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	Adelaide Ice Arena 	
23 August	19:30	Sydney Bears 	4–3 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
24 August	17:00	Adelaide Adrenaline 	3–8 	Sydney Bears 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
24 August	17:00	Perth Thunder 	8–1 	Melbourne Ice 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
24 August	17:00	Melbourne Mustangs 	2–3 (OT)	Newcastle Northstars	Hunter Ice Skating Stadium	
25 August	14:00	Perth Thunder 	7–3 	Melbourne Ice 	O'Brien Icehouse 	
25 August	16:00	Adelaide Adrenaline 	3–14 	Newcastle Northstars	Hunter Ice Skating Stadium	
25 August	16:45	Melbourne Mustangs 	4–3 (OT)	Sydney Ice Dogs 	Macquarie Ice Rink 	
===Standings===
Team 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
CBR Brave 	28	26	0	1	1 	161	67 	+94 	79
Newcastle Northstars	28	16	3	0	9 	127	89 	+38 	54
Perth Thunder 	28	16	1	1	10	116	103	+13 	51
Sydney Bears 	28	15	2	0	11	121	102	+19 	49
Melbourne Mustangs 	28	12	1	4	11	108	99 	+9 	42
Sydney Ice Dogs 	28	10	1	3	14	122	128	–6 	35
Melbourne Ice 	28	6 	3	0	19	90 	140	–50 	24
Adelaide Adrenaline 	28	0 	0	2	26	71 	188	–117	2
Qualified for the Goodall Cup playoffs	H Newman Reid Trophy winners
Source
==Goodall Cup playoffs==
The 2019 playoffs are scheduled to begin on 31 August with the Goodall Cup final held on 1 September. Following the end of the regular season the top four teams advance to the playoff series which is to be held at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium in Newcastle, New South Wales. The series is a single game elimination with the two winning semi-finalists advancing to the Goodall Cup final.
All times are UTC+10:00
===Semi-finals===
===Final===
==All-Star weekend==
The 2019 AIHL All-Star Weekend was held at the International Convention Centre Sydney on 14 and 15 June 2019. The format of the weekend is unchanged from 2018 with a skills competition on 14 June and an all-stars game on 15 June. The teams however were re-aligned on a North/South basis. Team North included players from the CBR Brave, Newcastle Northstars, Sydney Bears and Sydney Ice Dogs. Team South included players from the Adelaide Adrenaline, Melbourne Ice, Melbourne Mustangs and Perth Thunder. Sydney Bears' Michael Schlamp and Perth Thunder's Jamie Woodman were initially announced as the team captains for Team North and Team South respectively. Schlamp was later replaced by Brian Funes of the Sydney Bears due to injury. The Sydney Bears' Ron Kuprowsky was named as Team North coach and Perth Thunder's David Ruck as coach of Team South. The weekend ran alongside the 2019 Ice Hockey Classic, an exhibition series featuring players from Canada and the United States.
The skills competition, originally organised for Friday 14 June was cancelled along with the Ice Hockey Classic match between the United States and Canada. As such, a cut down version of the skills competition involving just two of the originally planned events was contested on Saturday 15 June before the start of the 2019 All-Stars match. Jesse Gabrielle of the CBR Brave won the fastest skater competition. Danick Gauthier of the Sydney Bears won the hardest shot competition. Team North defeated Team South 11-9 in the All-Stars match and Perth Thunder's Keven Veilleux claimed the Mick McCormack Cup after being named the most valuable player.
===Skills competition===
*Fastest Skater: Jesse Gabrielle (CBR Brave) - 12.97 seconds
*Hardest Shot: Danick Gauthier (Sydney Bears)
===All-star game===
==External links==
*The Australian Ice Hockey League
Category:2019 in ice hockey