Australian Junior Ice Hockey League

Australian Junior Ice Hockey League (AJIHL)

Current season, competition or edition: 2015–16 AJIHL season
Sport	Ice Hockey
Founded	September 18, 2012
Inaugural season	2012
Owner(s)	Ice Hockey Australia
No. of teams	6
Country	Australia
Most recent champion(s)	Sydney Sabres
Official website	http://www.iha.org.au/ajihl

The Australian Junior Ice Hockey League (AJIHL) is an Australian junior ice hockey league sanctioned by Ice Hockey Australia. The league is open to players 20 years of age or younger and is a national competition competing during the summer season in Australia. The league was formed in 2012 and its first season starting in the same year with the commencement of the 2012 AJIHL season which ran from October 20, 2012 to March 17 2013. The AJIHL season runs from October to March.

The AJIHL currently has six teams based in the cities of Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.

History

The Australian Junior Ice Hockey League was first announced on September 18, 2012 by Ice Hockey Australia.^[1][2][3] The inaugural season consisted of four teams – Melbourne Blackhawks, Melbourne Red Wings, Sydney Lightning and the Sydney Maple Leafs, with teams being operated by their respective state governing body.^[4][5][6] The first season started on October 20, 2012 at the Medibank Icehouse in Melbourne and ran until March 2013 with the finals to be held on the 9 and 10 March 2013.^[3]

The Sydney Maple Leafs won the inaugural AJIHL finals after beating the Melbourne Red Wings in a tie-breaking sudden overtime period after the teams leveled the two game series.^[7] The Maple Leafs had defeated the Sydney Lightning the week before in the Sydney semi-final, while the Red Wings won the Melbourne semi-final against the Blackhawks 7–3 to progress into the final.^[8][9]

In August 22, 2013 it was announced that Ice Hockey Victoria were renaming the two Melbourne teams for the 2013–14 season.^[10] The Melbourne Blackhawks were renamed as the Melbourne Whalers and the Melbourne Red Wings became the Melbourne Glaciers.

The following month the Sydney Maple Leafs were renamed the Sydney Wolf Pack and the Sydney Lightning changed their name to the Sydney Sabres.^[11][12] The changes were made in response to the National Hockey Leagues concern about the AJIHL using their team names and logos, as well as an opportunity to create new history for the teams.^[10]

First Expansion

In October 2013 the league expanded to six teams with two teams from Perth, the Sharks and the Pelicans, joining for the start of the 2013–14 season. It is expected that the AJIHL will further expand in 2015-16 to include 3 new teams from Adelaide, Brisbane and Canberra. ^[13]

The Sydney-based teams play their homes games at the Penrith Ice Palace in Penrith, New South Wales, the Melbourne-based teams play out of the O'Brien Group Arena in Docklands, Victoria.^[14][15] and the Perth-based teams play out of the Xtreme Ice Arena in Mirrabooka, Western Australia.

Second Expansion

At the beginning of the 2015-16 AJIHL season, a proposal for the next expansion in the AJIHL was made by Ice Hockey Australia to include teams from the Australian states of Queensland and South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. A Wild Card entry was created in the AJIHL playoff structure, but no further public information would be made available for months despite plans to form junior teams in each of these states being underway.^[16]

Teams

There are Currently 6 teams in the AJIHL, representing the Australian cities Perth, Melbourne and Sydney.

Melbourne Glaciers

Melbourne Whalers

Perth Pelicans

Perth Sharks

Sydney Sabres

Sydney Wolf Pack

Teams currently in the AJIHL.

Team	City/Area	Arena	Coordinates	Founded	Joined	Former Name
Australian Junior Ice Hockey League
Melbourne Glaciers	Melbourne, VIC	O'Brien Group Arena	37°48′45″S 144°56′08″E / 37.8124°S 144.9356°E	2012		Melbourne Red Wings (2012-2013)
Melbourne Whalers	Melbourne, VIC	O'Brien Group Arena	37°48′45″S 144°56′08″E / 37.8124°S 144.9356°E	2012		Melbourne Blackhawks (2012-2013)
Perth Pelicans	Perth, WA	Xtreme Ice Arena	31°52′05″S 115°51′21″E / 31.868182°S 115.855733°E	2013
Perth Sharks	Perth, WA	Xtreme Ice Arena	31°52′05″S 115°51′21″E / 31.868182°S 115.855733°E	2013
Sydney Sabres	Sydney, NSW	Penrith Ice Palace	33°46′08″S 150°40′23″E / 33.768832°S 150.672969°E	2012		Sydney Lightning (2012-2013)
Sydney Wolf Pack	Sydney, NSW	Penrith Ice Palace	33°46′08″S 150°40′23″E / 33.768832°S 150.672969°E	2012		Sydney Maple Leafs (2012-2013)

On the 21 January 2016 a Tier 2 extension of the AJIHL was announced which would consist of a round robin style tournament and playoff to pick a wild card entry into the AJIHL finals. Currently 3 teams are in the AJIHL Tier 2 league, representing the Australian cities Adelaide, Brisbane and Canberra.

Adelaide Generals

Brisbane Blitz

CBR Junior Brave

Teams currently in the AJIHL Tier 2.

Team	City/Area	Arena	Coordinates	Founded	Joined	Former Name
Australian Junior Ice Hockey League Tier 2
Adelaide Generals	Adelaide, SA	Ice Arena (Adelaide)	34°55′11″S 138°34′43″E / 34.919653°S 138.578596°E	2016
Brisbane Blitz	Brisbane, QLD	Ice World Boondall	27°20′25″S 153°03′30″E / 27.340352°S 153.05831°E	2016
Canberra Junior Brave	Canberra, ACT	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	31°52′05″S 115°51′21″E / 31.868182°S 115.855733°E	2015 | 2016

Champions

Sydney Wolf Pack AJIHL Championship Team March 1 2015.

• 2013 Sydney Maple Leafs
• 2014 Sydney Sabres
• 2015 Sydney Wolf Pack
• 2016 Sydney Sabres

See also

• Ice Hockey Australia
• Australian Women's Ice Hockey League
• Australian Ice Hockey League
• Jim Brown Trophy
• Goodall Cup
• Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy

References

1. "Australian Junior Ice Hockey League (AJIHL) Launch". Ice Hockey Australia. 22 October 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
2. Harris, Myles (19 September 2012). "Ice Hockey Australia Launches the AJIHL (Australian Junior Ice Hockey League)". The Armchair Selector. Archived from the original on 2 December 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
3. "AJIHL is here". Hewitt Sports Network. 18 September 2012. Archived from the original on 22 September 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
4. "AJIHL Teams Announced". Hewitt Sports Network. 20 September 2012. Archived from the original on 22 September 2012. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
5. Lee, Chris (18 September 2012). "Green light for Australian Junior Ice Hockey League". Vancouver Canucks Australia. Archived from the original on 2 December 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
6. McQualter, Tegan (29 September 2012). "Youth league ready for lift off". On the Fly Hockey. Archived from the original on 2 December 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
7. Hewitt, Andrew (10 March 2013). "Cinderella Finish For Maple Leafs at AJIHL Finals". Hewitt Sports Network. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
8. McMurty, Andrew (5 March 2013). "Maple Leafs dominate way into AJIHL Final". Hewitt Sports Network. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
9. Hewitt, Andrew (5 March 2013). "Wings Soar into AJIHL Final". Hewitt Sports Network. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
10. Macdougall, Andrew (22 August 2013). "New look for Melbourne and the AJIHL". On the Fly Hockey. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
11. "Formerly the Sydney Maple Leafs". Sydney Wolf Pack. 25 September 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
12. "Coaches Welcome the Sydney Sabres". Sydney Sabres. 25 September 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
13. "AJIHL National Junior League Kicks Off in Perth". Ice Hockey WA. 21 October 2013. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
14. "Sydney Lightning vs Sydney Maple Leafs". Pointstreak Sports Technologies. 10 November 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
15. "Melbourne Blackhawks vs Melbourne Red Wings". Pointstreak Sports Technologies. 9 November 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
16. "League Schedule". Ice Hockey Australia. 1 March 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2016.

External links

• Ice Hockey Australia website