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]

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[3] with the final placings coming from hockeyarchives.[4]

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.[5]

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.[6]

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.[6]

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.[7] The Goodall Cup was won by Newcastle North Stars (1st title) who defeated the Western Sydney Ice Dogs 4–1 in the final.[4] 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.[8]

 
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 season standings". eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  4. "Championnat d'Australie 2003" [Championship of Australia 2003] (in French). hockeyarchives.info. Archived from the original on 6 February 2023. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  5. "2003 AIHL Draw". Newcastle North Stars. Archived from the original on 3 August 2004. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  6. "2003 AIHL Statistics". Ice Hockey Australia. Archived from the original on 24 November 2009. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  7. Lane, Tony. "First AIHL Finals Series 2003". Australian Ice Hockey League. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
  8. "AIHL Reports: Finals Series". Ice Hockey Australia. Archived from the original on 8 October 2003. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
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