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

Statistics

Scoring leaders

List shows the ten top skaters sorted by points, then goals.[5]

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.[5]

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.[6] The Goodall Cup was won by Newcastle North Stars (1st title) who defeated the Western Sydney Ice Dogs 4–1 in the final. The hosts, Sydney Bears, secured third spot with a high scoring 10–5 victory over league Premiers Adelaide Avalanche.[4]

 
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
6 September 2003Newcastle North Stars7–4
(3–2, 1–1, 3–1)		Sydney BearsSydney Ice Arena

3rd place
7 September 2003Adelaide Avalanche5–10
(1–4, 3–2, 1–4)		Sydney BearsSydney Ice Arena

Final
7 September 2003Western Sydney Ice Dogs1–4
(0–1, 1–2, 0–1)		Newcastle North StarsSydney Ice Arena
Attendance: 800
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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 (french)". hockeyarchives.info. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  5. "2003 AIHL Statistics". Ice Hockey Australia. Archived from the original on 9 April 2010. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  6. Lane, Tony. "First AIHL Finals Series 2003". Australian Ice Hockey League. Retrieved 6 March 2020.


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