2011 AIHL season

During the off-season the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) announced two new teams would be joining the league. The Mustangs IHC were announced to become the eighth team in the AIHL starting in the 2011 season.[1] The Mustangs are based at Docklands, Victoria, the home of the Melbourne Ice. The ninth team, Perth Thunder, were accepted into the league as a provisional member. The Thunder will play exhibition games against other AIHL teams during the 2011 season in order to gain the vote to be accepted for the 2012 season.[1] At the Annual General Meeting it was proposed to increase the length of the games periods from 15 minutes to 20 minutes to be inline with International Ice Hockey Federation rules however the proposal was unsuccessful due to reasons such as costs to the teams and the ability to fill the four lines with AIHL-level players.[2]

On 10 July the game between the Gold Coast Blue Tongues and the Sydney Ice Dogs was cancelled due to an unsafe surface at the Blue Tongues home venue, Bundall Iceland.[3] The AIHL deemed that the Blue Tongues have forfeited the game against the Ice Dogs 5–0, with the Ice Dogs being awarded the full three points.[4][5]

From 20–21 August the Australia men's national ice hockey team will field a team at the 2011 New Zealand Winter Games so only two games will be held for that weekend.[6][7]

Player transfers

Date	Player	New team	Previous team	Ref
18 January 2011	David Phillips	Adelaide Adrenaline	Toledo Walleye	[8]
19 January 2011	Kevin Phillips	Adelaide Adrenaline	Braehead Clan	[8]
10 February 2011	Kurtis Dulle	Sydney Bears	Hull Stingrays	[8]
24 February 2011	Sean Scarbrough	Adelaide Adrenaline	Canberra Knights	[8]
3 March 2011	Jordan Hale	Sydney Bears	Camrose Kodiaks	[8]
14 March 2011	Jacques Perreault	Melbourne Ice	Quad City Mallards	[8]
17 March 2011	Josef Rezek	Adelaide Adrenaline	HC Milevsko	[8]
23 March 2011	Bob Sannemo	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	Östersund Hockey	[8]
23 March 2011	Tobias Falk	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	Östersund Hockey	[8]
23 March 2011	Peter Cartwright	Newcastle North Stars	Dundee Stars	[8]
4 April 2011	Brook Robson	Sydney Ice Dogs	Peter North Stars	[8]
8 April 2011	Obi Aduba	Melbourne Ice	Quad City Mallards	[8]
11 April 2011	Tony Demelinne	Sydney Bears	HYS The Hague	[8]
14 April 2011	Justin Chwedoruk	Newcastle North Stars	Rødovre Mighty Bulls	[8]
14 April 2011	Scott Thauwald	Newcastle North Stars	Nijmegen Devils	[8]
20 April 2011	Justin Sawyer	Gold Coast Blue Tongues	Odessa Jackalopes	[8]
20 April 2011	Sheldon Baerg	Sydney Bears	Concordia Stingers	[8]
22 April 2011	Ricky Helmbrecht	Sydney Ice Dogs	Wasquehal Lions	[8]
22 April 2011	Mitch Bye	Sydney Ice Dogs	Marian University	[8]
7 June 2011	Geoff O'Hara	Sydney Bears	Bristol Pitbulls	[8]
24 June 2011	Anthony Ciraulo	Canberra Knights	Bloomington PrairieThunder	[8]
28 June 2011	Jason Lindner	Canberra Knights	Indiana Blizzard	[8]
	Addison DeBoer	Canberra Knights	Laredo Bucks	[9]

During the season three teams competed against the AIHL's provisional member, Perth Thunder, in order for the Thunder to gain entry into the league for the following season.[1] In May the Thunder travelled to Adelaide to compete in two games against the Adelaide Adrenaline. They drew the first game 2–2 and won the second 3–0.[10] In June the Melbourne Ice travelled to Perth to compete in two games against the Thunder at the Cockburn Ice Arena. The Ice won the first game 4–3 and lost the second game 3–6 after letting in six goals to none in the final period.[11][12] In September the Newcastle North Stars traveled to Perth to play the Thunder in a two-game series.[13] The Thunder won both the first and second game 4–2.[14]

The Melbourne Ice won the H Newman Reid Trophy after finishing first in the regular season standings with 65 points. Last years winners, the Newcastle North Stars finished second with 59 points.[15] Jason Baclig of the Melbourne Ice was named the 2011 AIHL MVP edging out the Gold Coast Blue Tongues' Matt Amado and Sydney Ice Dogs' Matt Monaghan.

The 2011 Finals weekend started on 3 September 2011, with the Goodall Cup final being held on 4 September 2011. Following the end of the regular season the top four teams advanced to the playoff series. Melbourne Ice who finished first in the standings was drawn against the Adelaide Adrenaline who finished fourth in the first semi-final match, while the second semi-final was played between the second and third ranked teams, Newcastle North Stars and Sydney Ice Dogs. The series was a single game elimination with the two winning semi-finalists advancing to the Goodall Cup final. All three games were held at the National Ice Sports Centre (Icehouse) in Melbourne, Victoria.[18] The Melbourne Ice went back-to-back and won the Goodall Cup for the second year in a row after defeating the Newcastle North Stars in the final 3–2. Australian forward, Joseph Hughes, of the Melbourne Ice was named the finals MVP after the final.[19]

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• The Australian Ice Hockey League