2003 AIHL season

The 2003 AIHL season was the fourth season of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). It ran from 3 May 2003 until 29 August 2003, with the Goodall Cup finals following on 6 and 7 September 2003. The Adelaide Avalanche won the Premiership after finishing the regular season first in the league standings. The Newcastle North Stars won the Goodall Cup for the first time by defeating the Western Sydney Ice Dogs in the final.

2003 AIHL season
LeagueAustralian Ice Hockey League
SportIce hockey
Duration3 May 2003 – 7 September 2003
Regular season
PremiersAdelaide Avalanche (2nd title)
Season MVPDylan Martini (Avalanche)
Top scorerPavel Shtefan (North Stars)
Goodall Cup
ChampionsNewcastle North Stars
  Runners-upWestern Sydney Ice Dogs

League business

In 2003, AIHL President Tony Lane introduced the 'top four' finals (playoff) format that replaced the one off final format used in the first three seasons of the AIHL. The new format saw the top four placed teams in the regular season standings qualify for the finals weekend where first would play fourth and second would face off against third in a single match elimination with the two winning teams advancing to the Goodall Cup final and he two losing teams advancing to the third place play-off, however this only occurred in 2003 and was dropped from the format in future years.[1]

Regular season

The regular season began on 3 May 2003 and ran through to 29 August 2003 before the top four teams advanced to compete in the Goodall Cup playoff series.[2]

Fixtures and results

The 2003 season consisted of 60 fixtures that were scheduled between 3 May and 29 August.[3] Each of the six teams where scheduled to play 20 games, with four games designated double-points games, where the one result counts towards two games, to save on travel costs.[4][5][6] Game 58 between the Canberra Knights and Adelaide Avalanche was cancelled due to ice problems at the rink inside Snowdome Adelaide. It was decided game 59 on the Sunday between the two teams would count as a double-points game instead, raising the number of double-points games for the 2003 season to five.[7]

May
May
Game # Date Time Away Score Home Location
13 May 200317:30Ice Dogs8–0KnightsPhillip Ice Skating Centre
23 May 200317:00Bears4–7North StarsHunter Ice Skating Stadium
34 May 200317:30Ice Dogs9–6BearsSydney Ice Arena
410 May 200317:30Knights3–8Ice DogsBlacktown Ice Arena
510 May 200318:00North Stars9–3IceOlympic Ice Skating Centre
611 May 200315:00North Stars9–0IceBendigo Ice Skating Stadium
717 May 200316:30Ice3–8AvalancheSnowdome Adelaide
817 May 200317:30Bears3–5Ice DogsBlacktown Ice Arena
917 May 200317:30North Stars7–3KnightsPhillip Ice Skating Centre
1018 May 200316:15Ice3–5AvalancheSnowdome Adelaide
1118 May 200317:30Knights3–7BearsSydney Ice Arena
1224 May 200317:30Avalanche12–1KnightsPhillip Ice Skating Centre
13-1425 May 200317:30Avalanche4–3Ice DogsBlacktown Ice Arena
1525 May 200317:00Knights4–11North StarsHunter Ice Skating Stadium
1631 May 200316:30Bears1–4AvalancheSnowdome Adelaide
1731 May 200318:00Knights1–7IceOlympic Ice Skating Centre
1831 May 200317:00Ice Dogs2–4North StarsHunter Ice Skating Stadium

June
June
Game # Date Time Away Score Home Location
191 Jun 200315:00Knights0–4IceBendigo Ice Skating Stadium
201 Jun 200316:30Bears2–6AvalancheSnowdome Adelaide
Bye for all teams - Long weekend
2114 Jun 200317:30Ice Dogs3–5KnightsPhillip Ice Skating Centre
2214 Jun 200318:00Avalanche4–2IceOlympic Ice Skating Centre
2315 Jun 200315:00Avalanche4–1IceBendigo Ice Skating Stadium
2415 Jun 200317:00Knights1–5North StarsHunter Ice Skating Stadium
2515 Jun 200317:30Ice Dogs2–4BearsSydney Ice Arena
2621 Jun 200316:30Ice Dogs3–2AvalancheSnowdome Adelaide
27-2821 Jun 200317:30Ice3–1KnightsPhillip Ice Skating Centre
2921 Jun 200317:00Bears1–2North StarsHunter Ice Skating Stadium
3022 Jun 200316:15Ice Dogs6–7AvalancheSnowdome Adelaide
3122 Jun 200317:00Ice1–7BearsSydney Ice Arena
Bye for all teams - Brown Trophy tournament

July
July
Game # Date Time Away Score Home Location
325 Jul 200317:30Ice3–3Ice DogsBlacktown Ice Arena
335 Jul 200317:30Bears2–8KnightsPhillip Ice Skating Centre
346 Jul 200317:00Ice Dogs2–8North StarsHunter Ice Skating Stadium
356 Jul 200317:00Ice1–3BearsSydney Ice Arena
3612 Jul 200317:30Avalanche5–2KnightsPhillip Ice Skating Centre
3713 Jul 200317:00Avalanche9–5North StarsHunter Ice Skating Stadium
3819 Jul 200316:30North Stars2–10AvalancheSnowdome Adelaide
3920 Jul 200316:15North Stars4–8AvalancheSnowdome Adelaide
4026 Jul 200317:30North Stars6–5Ice DogsBlacktown Ice Arena
4126 Jul 200317:30Bears4–1KnightsPhillip Ice Skating Centre
4227 Jul 200317:30North Stars3–2BearsSydney Ice Arena

August
August
Game # Date Time Away Score Home Location
432 Aug 200317:30Knights1–9Ice DogsBlacktown Ice Arena
442 Aug 200318:00Bears9–5IceOlympic Ice Skating Centre
453 Aug 200315:00Bears5–0IceBendigo Ice Skating Stadium
463 Aug 200317:30North Stars4–2Ice DogsBlacktown Ice Arena
479 Aug 200317:30Ice1–11Ice DogsBlacktown Ice Arena
489 Aug 200317:00Avalanche10–3North StarsHunter Ice Skating Stadium
49-5010 Aug 200317:00Avalanche5–6BearsSydney Ice Arena
51-5210 Aug 200317:00Ice1–9North StarsHunter Ice Skating Stadium
5316 Aug 200317:30North Stars7–5KnightsPhillip Ice Skating Centre
5416 Aug 200318:00Ice Dogs4–3IceOlympic Ice Skating Centre
5517 Aug 200315:00Ice Dogs5–0IceBendigo Ice Skating Stadium
5617 Aug 200317:30Knights2–8BearsSydney Ice Arena
5723 Aug 200317:30Bears3–6Ice DogsBlacktown Ice Arena
5823 Aug 200316:30KnightsCancelled[7]AvalancheSnowdome Adelaide
5924 Aug 200316:15Knights1–12AvalancheSnowdome Adelaide
6024 Aug 200317:30North Stars2–7BearsSydney Ice Arena

Key:

WinnerTie

Standings

The 2003 AIHL season statistics and standings are incomplete. No one source has all the information and the AIHL has not published official statistics on www.theaihl.com. The Statistics for the following table comes from Elite Prospects[8] with the final placings coming from hockeyarchives.[9]

Team GP W T OTW OTL L GF GA GDF PTS
Adelaide Avalanche7700004316+2714
Newcastle North Stars6600004717+3012
Sydney Bears6100052334−112
Western Sydney Ice Dogs7400023824+88
Melbourne Ice6200042032−124
Canberra Knights8000081664−480
Qualified for the Goodall Cup playoffs Premiership winners

The statistics for the following table comes from the Newcastle North Stars and includes double point games.[4]

Team GP W T OTW OTL L GF GA GDF PTS
Adelaide Avalanche181500039852+4630
Newcastle North Stars1914000510176+2528
Sydney Bears181100077464+1022
Western Sydney Ice Dogs181010089064+2621
Melbourne Ice194100144692−469
Canberra Knights1810001745106−612
Qualified for the Goodall Cup playoffs Premiership winners

Scoring leaders

List shows the ten top skaters sorted by points, then goals.[10]

Player Team GP G A Pts PIM POS
Pavel ShtefanNewcastle North Stars6811192F
Daryl BatNewcastle North Stars6107178C
Greg OddyAdelaide Avalanche61071710F
Jake LudvigNewcastle North Stars687152
Vladimir RubesSydney Bears459140F
Chris SekuraWest Sydney Ice Dogs62101231F
Dylan MartiniAdelaide Avalanche61111212D
Phillipe RoussellWest Sydney Ice Dogs6831122F
Murray WandSydney Bears655108F
Trevor WalshAdelaide Avalanche5461031F

Leading goaltenders

Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage.[10]

Player Team MIP SOG GA GAA SVS% SO
Bill BenedictsonAdelaide Avalanche135:007062.0091.430
Eric LeinAdelaide Avalanche135:007072.3390.000
Trevor BattagliaNewcastle North Stars270:00166172.8389.760
Alan BeckenWest Sydney Ice Dogs224:10132163.2187.881
Stuart DenmanMelbourne Ice135:0089155.0083.150

Goodall Cup playoffs

The 2003 playoffs, known in 2003 as the 'Canadian Club On Ice Finals Series' for sponsorship reasons, was scheduled for 6 September with the Goodall Cup final and 3rd place play-off held on 7 September 2003. Following the end of the regular season the top four teams advanced to the playoff series which was held at the Sydney Ice Arena (then known as the new Sydney Glaciarium, but not to be confused with the original Sydney Glaciarium that closed in 1955) in Sydney. The series was a single game elimination with the two winning semi-finalists advancing to the Goodall Cup final and the two losing teams advancing to the third place play-off.[11] The Goodall Cup was won by Newcastle North Stars (1st title) who defeated the Western Sydney Ice Dogs 4–1 in the final.[9] The hosts, Sydney Bears, who were without their number one goaltender Joel Gibson for the weekend due to injury, secured third spot with a high scoring 10–5 victory over league Premiers Adelaide Avalanche.[12]

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
6 September –
 
 
Adelaide Avalanche 1
 
7 September –
 
Western Sydney Ice Dogs 4
 
Western Sydney Ice Dogs 1
 
6 September –
 
Newcastle North Stars 4
 
Newcastle North Stars 7
 
 
Sydney Bears 4
 
Third place
 
 
7 September –
 
 
Adelaide Avalanche 5
 
 
Sydney Bears 10

All times are UTC+10:00

Semi-finals
6 September 2003Adelaide Avalanche1–4
(1–2, 0–0, 0–2)		Western Sydney Ice DogsSydney Ice Arena
Game reference
Eric LeinGoaliesAllan Becken
0–1Martin Jesko (Jason Haakstad, Kris Galloux)
(Trevor Walsh, Dylan Martini) Greg Oddy1–1
1–2Brett Thomas (Chris Sekura, Andrew Petrie)
1–3Martin Jesko (Andrew White, Anthony Wilson)
1–4Jason Haakstad (unassisted)
31Shots22
6 September 2003Newcastle North Stars7–4
(3–2, 1–1, 3–1)		Sydney BearsSydney Ice Arena
Game reference
Trevor BattagliaGoaliesNick Windle
0–1Jakub Petr (Paul Shumak, Vladimir Rubes)
(Trevor Battaglia) Jake Ludvig1–1
1–2Vladan Stransky (Vladimir Rubes, Tyler Lovering)
(Trevor Battaglia) Pavel Shtefan2–2
(Andrew Ogilvie, Daryl Bat) Jake Ludvig3–2
(Henry Acres, Pavel Shtefan) Daryl Bat4–2
4–3Andrew Truman (Vladimir Rubes)
(Trevor Battaglia, Ray Sheffield) Pavel Shtefan5–3
(Trevor Battaglia, Henry Acres) Daryl Bat6–3
(unassisted) Jake Ludvig7–3
7–4Vladimir Rubes (Murray Wand)
25Shots37

3rd place
7 September 2003Adelaide Avalanche5–10
(1–4, 3–2, 1–4)		Sydney BearsSydney Ice Arena
Game reference
Bill BenidictsonGoaliesNick Windle
0–1Murray Wand (Tyler Lovering)
0–2Bret Nelson-Bond (Carl Di Pizza, Paul Shumak)
0–3Vladan Stransky (Vladimir Rubes)
0–4Vladimir Rubes (Mark Acheson, Dean Eisler)
(Luke Thilthorpe, Travis Watt) James Keane1–4
Greg Oddy2–4
Greg Oddy3–4
Greg Oddy4–4
4–5Don Burke
4–6Jakub Petr
4–7Paul Shumak
4–8Jakub Petr
(Dylan Martini) Derek DeCosty5–8
5–9Carl Di Pizza
5–10Vladimir Rubes
18Shots45

Final
7 September 2003Western Sydney Ice Dogs1–4
(0–1, 1–2, 0–1)		Newcastle North StarsSydney Ice Arena
Attendance: 800
Game reference
Allan BeckenGoaliesTrevor Battaglia
0 – 13:08 – Sheffield (PP) (Bat, Shtefan)
0 – 215:56 – Bat (Sheffield, McInnes)
0 – 316:50 – McInnes (Sheffield, Shtefan)
17:36 – Jesko (PP) (Wilson, Haakstad)1 – 3
1 – 436:50 – Ludvig (Duchemin)
2 minPenalties2 min
35Shots34

References
  1. "AIHL History". hockeywise.com.au. Archived from the original on 5 September 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  2. "2003 AIHL Schedule". theaihl.com. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  3. "2003 AIHL Competition Draw". NSW Ice Hockey. Archived from the original on 3 August 2003. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  4. "2003 AIHL Draw". Newcastle North Stars. Archived from the original on 3 August 2004. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  5. "AIHL Draw 2003 (Dated 1/3/03)". The Sydney Bears. 24 August 2003. Archived from the original on 20 October 2003. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  6. "AIHL Game Report: Games 22 & 23". Ice Hockey Australia. 15 June 2003. Archived from the original on 14 November 2003. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  7. "AIHL Game Report: Game 58.59". Ice Hockey Australia. 24 August 2003. Archived from the original on 12 November 2003. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  8. "2003 AIHL season standings". eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  9. "Championnat d'Australie 2003" [Championship of Australia 2003] (in French). hockeyarchives.info. Archived from the original on 6 February 2023. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  10. "2003 AIHL Statistics". Ice Hockey Australia. Archived from the original on 24 November 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  11. Lane, Tony. "First AIHL Finals Series 2003". Australian Ice Hockey League. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
  12. "AIHL Reports: Finals Series". Ice Hockey Australia. Archived from the original on 8 October 2003. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
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