2011 AIHL season
| 2011 AIHL season | |
|---|---|
| League | Australian Ice Hockey League |
| Sport | Ice hockey |
| Duration | 14 April – 4 September 2011 |
| Regular season | |
| H Newman Reid Trophy | Melbourne Ice |
| Season MVP | Jason Baclig (Melbourne) |
| Top scorer | Addison DeBoer (Canberra) |
| Goodall Cup | |
| Champions | Melbourne Ice |
| Runners-up | Newcastle North Stars |
| Qualified for the playoffs |
The 2011 AIHL season is the 12th season of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). It ran from 14 April 2011 until 28 August 2011, with the Goodall Cup finals following on 3 and 4 September. The Melbourne Ice won the H Newman Ried trophy after finishing first in the regular season standings with 65 points. The Ice also won the Goodall Cup final series after defeating the Newcastle North Stars in the final.
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. 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. 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.
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. 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.
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.
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. 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. 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. In September the Newcastle North Stars traveled to Perth to play the Thunder in a two-game series. The Thunder won both the first and second game 4–2.
...
Wikipedia