2009 AIHL season

The 2009 AIHL season is the tenth eason of the Australian Ice Hockey League. The season open3e on 25 April 2009 with games in Liverpool and Canberra. Newcastle North Stars won the V.I.P. Cup after finishing atop the ladder in the regular season.
==League business==
The 2009 season was reduced to seven teams after the Central Coast Rhinos dropped out due to changes made in the licensing model. Two teams were renamed for the start of the season, Western Sydney Ice Dogs, dropped the Western part of the title to become the Sydney Ice Dogs and the Adelaide A's have been renamed for the start of the season, playing under the new name of Adelaide Adrenaline. The Sydney Ice Dogs have also been forced to relocate to Liverpool's Catholic Club’s ice rink after their former home at Baulkham Hills rink withdrew from the league.
On 25–26 July there was a week's break for the Junior Men’s national tournament, known as the Brown Tournament.
==Regular season==
|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
|Game No.||Home team||Score||Away team||Location||Date||Report
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|1||Sydney||6—1||Gold Coast||Liverpool||Saturday, 25 April|| 
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|2||Canberra||5—2||Bears||Canberra||Saturday, 25 April||
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|3||Newcastle||5—3||Sydney||Newcastle||Sunday, 26 April||
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|4||Bears||0—7||Gold Coast||Penrith||Sunday, 26 April||
|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
|Game No.||Home team||Score||Away team||Location||Date||Report
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|5||Melbourne Ice||3—4||Newcastle||Melbourne||Saturday, 2 May||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|6||Bears||1—5||Sydney||Penrith||Saturday, 2 May||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|7||Adelaide||7—3||Newcastle||Adelaide||Sunday, 3 May||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|8||Sydney||2—3 SO||Canberra||Liverpool||Sunday, 3 May||
|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
|Game No.||Home team||Score||Away team||Location||Date||Report
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|9||Canberra||1—5||Melbourne||Canberra||Saturday, 9 May||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|11||Newcastle||5—1||Gold Coast||Newcastle||Saturday, 9 May||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|12||Sydney||6—1||Bears||Liverpool||Saturday, 9 May||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|13||Newcastle||8—5||Gold Coast||Newcastle||Sunday, 10 May||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|14||Bears||4—3 SO||Melbourne||Penrith||Sunday, 10 May||
|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
|Game No.||Home team||Score||Away team||Location||Date||Report
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|39||Gold Coast||2—3 SO||Newcastle||Gold Coast||Saturday, 16 May||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|16||Adelaide||8—1||Canberra||Adelaide||Saturday, 16 May||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|42||Gold Coast||4—5 SO||Newcastle||Gold Coast||Sunday, 17 May||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|18||Melbourne||5—2||Canberra||Melbourne||Sunday, 17 May||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|41||Bears||1—5||Sydney||Penrith||Sunday, 17 May||
|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
|Game No.||Home team||Score||Away team||Location||Date||Report
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|20||Gold Coast||8—4||Bears||Gold Coast||Saturday, 23 May||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|21||Canberra||5—8||Newcastle||Canberra||Saturday, 23 May||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|22||Melbourne||2—5||Adelaide||Melbourne||Saturday, 23 May||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|23||Gold Coast||9—5||Bears||Gold Coast||Sunday, 24 May||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|24||Melbourne||2—4||Adelaide||Melbourne||Sunday, 24 May||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|25||Sydney||1—3||Canberra||Liverpool||Sunday, 24 May||
|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
|Game No.||Home team||Score||Away team||Location||Date||Report
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|26||Canberra||2—5||Newcastle||Canberra||Saturday, 30 May||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|27||Melbourne||4—5 SO||Sydney||Melbourne||Saturday, 30 May||
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|28||Adelaide||8—3||Sydney||Adelaide||Sunday, 31 May||
|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
|Game No.||Home team||Score||Away team||Location||Date||Report
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|30||Gold Coast||4—2||Adelaide||Gold Coast||Saturday, 6 June||
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|31||Newcastle||7—3||Bears||Newcastle||Saturday, 6 June||
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|10||Canberra||2—5||Melbourne||Canberra||Saturday, 6 June||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|33||Gold Coast||5—2||Adelaide||Gold Coast||Sunday, 7 June||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|34||Bears||3—5||Melbourne||Penrith||Sunday, 7 June||
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|Game No.||Home team||Score||Away team||Location||Date||Report
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|35||Adelaide||4—2||Bears||Adelaide||Saturday, 13 June||
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|36||Canberra||6—3||Sydney||Canberra||Saturday, 13 June||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|37||Melbourne||6—0||Bears||Melbourne||Sunday, 14 June||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|38||Sydney||4—6||Newcastle||Liverpool||Sunday, 14 June||
|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
|Game No.||Home team||Score||Away team||Location||Date||Report
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|15||Gold Coast||9—2||Sydney||Gold Coast||Saturday, 20 June||
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|40||Adelaide||5—1||Canberra||Adelaide||Saturday, 20 June||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|19||Bears||2—6||Newcastle||Penrith||Saturday, 20 June||
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|17||Gold Coast||8—4||Sydney||Gold Coast||Sunday, 21 June||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|43||Melbourne||8—3||Canberra||Melbourne||Sunday, 21 June||
|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
|Game No.||Home team||Score||Away team||Location||Date||Report
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|44||Adelaide||5—2||Melbourne||Adelaide||Saturday, 27 June||
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|45||Newcastle||9—4||Canberra||Newcastle||Saturday, 27 June||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|46||Sydney||4—1||Gold Coast||Liverpool||Saturday, 27 June||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|47||Adelaide||1—4||Melbourne||Adelaide||Sunday, 28 June||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|48||Bears||3—2 SO||Gold Coast||Penrith||Sunday, 28 June||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|49||Newcastle||3—2||Sydney||Newcastle||Sunday, 28 June||
|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
|Game No.||Home team||Score||Away team||Location||Date||Report
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|50||Newcastle||3—4||Adelaide||Newcastle||Saturday, 4 July||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|51||Canberra||1—4||Sydney||Canberra||Saturday, 4 July||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|52||Melbourne||3—4 SO||Gold Coast||Melbourne||Saturday, 4 July||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|53||Melbourne||5—4||Gold Coast||Melbourne||Sunday, 5 July||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|54||Sydney||5—3||Adelaide||Liverpool||Sunday, 5 July||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|29||Bears||2—7||Newcastle||Penrith||Sunday, 5 July||
|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
|Game No.||Home team||Score||Away team||Location||Date||Report
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|55||Melbourne||2—5||Newcastle||Melbourne||Saturday, 11 July||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|56||Canberra||1—5||Gold Coast||Canberra||Saturday, 11 July||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|57||Sydney||5—3||Bears||Liverpool||Saturday, 11 July||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|58||Adelaide||5—7||Newcastle||Adelaide||Sunday, 12 July||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|59||Canberra||1—3||Gold Coast||Canberra||Sunday, 12 July||
|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
|Game No.||Home team||Score||Away team||Location||Date||Report
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|60||Adelaide||9—3||Gold Coast||Adelaide||Saturday, 18 July||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|61 & 62||Newcastle||3—7||Melbourne||Newcastle||Saturday, 18 July||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|63||Adelaide||2—4||Gold Coast||Adelaide||Sunday, 19 July||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|64||Bears||5—4 SO||Canberra||Penrith||Sunday, 19 July||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|65 & 32||Sydney||3—5||Melbourne||Liverpool||Sunday, 19 July||
|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
|Game No.||Home team||Score||Away team||Location||Date||Report
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|66||Gold Coast||3—6||Canberra||Gold Coast||Saturday, 1 August||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|67||Adelaide||7—3||Bears||Adelaide||Saturday, 1 August||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|68||Gold Coast||5—1||Canberra||Gold Coast||Sunday, 2 August||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|69||Melbourne||10—3||Bears||Melbourne||Sunday, 2 August||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|70||Sydney||3—2||Newcastle||Liverpool||Sunday, 2 August||
|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
|Game No.||Home team||Score||Away team||Location||Date||Report
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|71||Newcastle||5—3||Adelaide||Newcastle||Saturday, 8 August||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|72||Canberra||6—4||Bears||Canberra||Saturday, 8 August||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|73 & 74||Bears||3—7||Adelaide||Penrith||Sunday, 9 August||
|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
|Game No.||Home team||Score||Away team||Location||Date||Report
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|75||Gold Coast||5—2||Melbourne||Gold Coast||Saturday, 15 August||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|76 & 77||Canberra||1—6||Adelaide||Canberra||Saturday, 15 August||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|84||Newcastle||5—3||Bears||Newcastle||Sunday, 23 August||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|78||Gold Coast||4—9||Melbourne||Gold Coast||Sunday, 16 August||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|79||Sydney||5—6 OT||Adelaide||Liverpool||Sunday, 16 August||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|80||Newcastle||5—2||Canberra||Newcastle||Sunday, 16 August||
|- bgcolor="#CCCCFF"
|Game No.||Home team||Score||Away team||Location||Date||Report
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|81||Adelaide||1-3||Sydney||Adelaide||Saturday, 22 August||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|82||Bears||6-4||Canberra||Penrith||Saturday, 22 August||
|- bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
|83||Melbourne||4-1||Sydney||Melbourne||Sunday, 23 August||
Note: "SO" indicates that a game was won through a shootout. Games schedule sourced from the AIHL.
===Standings===
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTW = Overtime Wins, OTL = Overtime Losses, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PTS = Points
	Qualified for the playoffs
Rk	Team 	GP	W 	OTW	OTL	L 	GF 	GA 	DIF	PTS
1 	Newcastle North Stars 	24	17	2 	0 	5 	122	85 	+37	55
2 	Melbourne Ice 	24	15	0 	3 	6 	113	77 	+36	48
3 	Adelaide Adrenaline 	24	15	1 	0 	8 	117	75 	+42	47
4 	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	24	13	1 	3 	7 	108	86 	+22	44
5 	Sydney Ice Dogs 	24	10	1 	2 	11	87 	90 	-3 	34
6 	Canberra Knights 	24	4 	1 	1 	18	60 	120	-60	15
7 	The Bears 	24	1 	3 	0 	20	66 	140	-74	9
==Playoffs==
The playoffs are scheduled to begin on 29 August, with the final to be held on 30 August. They will be held at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium in Warners Bay, New South Wales.
 
==References==
==External links==
*Official website of the AIHL
AIHL season 
Category:Australian Ice Hockey League seasons