Australian Junior Ice Hockey League

The Australian Junior Ice Hockey League (AJIHL) is an elite amateur national ice hockey league in Australia, open to players 20 years of age or younger.

Australian Junior Ice Hockey League (AJIHL)
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2019–20 AJIHL season
SportIce Hockey
Founded18 September 2012
Inaugural season2012
Owner(s)Ice Hockey Australia
No. of teams6
CountryAustralia
Most recent
champion(s)		Sydney Sabres
Official websitehttp://www.iha.org.au/ajihl

History

The Australian Junior Ice Hockey League was first announced on 18 September 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 20 October 2012 at the Medibank Icehouse in Melbourne and ran until March 2013 with the finals to be held on 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]

On 22 August 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]

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.

By October 2016 no information about the 2016-17 AJIHL season had been released and it was not until the very end of the month that information began to surface over social media involving a weekend schedule involving only the Sydney-based teams and the new expansion teams from Canberra and Brisbane. It was later revealed that the league would adopt a new state based weekend mini tournament style format with 2 conferences in order to minimise the added expenditure involved in having 3 additional cities joining the League. In the first week of December Canberra Junior Brave withdrew from the scheduled weekend tournament, leaving the remaining 3 teams to only play 4 games instead of the scheduled 6 and the status of the Canberra Junior Brave unknown for the remainder of the season. On 17 December 2016, Brisbane Blitz goaltender Imogen Perry became the first female to play in the Australian Junior Ice Hockey League, facing 38 shots on goal against the Sydney Sabres and winning 7 - 1.

On 6 January 2017, the next schedule was released involving the remaining teams in Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide. Due to a shrinking junior talent pool, the Melbourne Whalers suspended operations for the 2016-17 AJIHL season and only the Melbourne Glaciers would compete. No ice time was reserved to schedule AJIHL games in Melbourne. The Perth Pelicans also suspended operation for the 2016-17 AJIHL season, leaving only the Perth Sharks to compete.[17]

Teams

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

Australian Junior Ice Hockey League teams.
Adelaide Generals
Brisbane Blitz
Brisbane Blitz
Melbourne Glaciers
Melbourne Glaciers
Perth Sharks
Perth Sharks
Sydney Sabres
Sydney Sabres
Sydney Wolf Pack
Sydney Wolf Pack
Teams currently in the AJIHL.
Team City/Area Arena Coordinates Founded Joined Former Name
Australian Junior Ice Hockey League
Adelaide Generals Adelaide, SA Ice Arena (Adelaide) 34.919653°S 138.578596°E / -34.919653; 138.578596 (Adelaide Generals) 2016
Brisbane Blitz Brisbane, QLD Ice World Acacia Ridge 27.340352°S 153.05831°E / -27.340352; 153.05831 (Brisbane Blitz) 2016
Melbourne Glaciers Melbourne, VIC O'Brien Group Arena 37.8124°S 144.9356°E / -37.8124; 144.9356 (Melbourne Glaciers) 2012 Melbourne Red Wings (2012-2013)
Perth Sharks Perth, WA Xtreme Ice Arena 31.868182°S 115.855733°E / -31.868182; 115.855733 (Perth Sharks) 2013
Sydney Sabres Sydney, NSW Penrith Ice Palace 33.768832°S 150.672969°E / -33.768832; 150.672969 (Sydney Sabres) 2012 Sydney Lightning (2012-2013)
Sydney Wolf Pack Sydney, NSW Penrith Ice Palace 33.768832°S 150.672969°E / -33.768832; 150.672969 (Sydney Wolf Pack) 2012 Sydney Maple Leafs (2012-2013)

There are currently 3 AJIHL teams that will be inactive since the 2016-17 AJIHL season.

Inactive Australian Junior Ice Hockey League teams.
Canberra Junior Brave
Canberra Junior Brave
Melbourne Whalers
Melbourne Whalers
Perth Pelicans
Perth Pelicans
Teams Innactive in the AJIHL.
Team City/Area Arena Coordinates Founded Joined Former Name
Inactive Teams
Canberra Junior Brave Canberra, ACT Phillip Ice Skating Centre 31.868182°S 115.855733°E / -31.868182; 115.855733 (CBR Junior Brave) 2015 | 2016
Melbourne Whalers Melbourne, VIC O'Brien Group Arena 37.8124°S 144.9356°E / -37.8124; 144.9356 (Melbourne Whalers) 2012 Melbourne Blackhawks (2012-2013)
Perth Pelicans Perth, WA Xtreme Ice Arena 31.868182°S 115.855733°E / -31.868182; 115.855733 (Perth Pelicans) 2013

Champions
Sydney Wolf Pack AJIHL Championship Team March 1, 2015.

See also

References
  1. "Australian Junior Ice Hockey League (AJIHL) Launch". Ice Hockey Australia. 22 October 2012. Archived from the original on 5 December 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 3 February 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
  3. "AJIHL is here". Hewitt Sports Network. 18 September 2012. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  4. "AJIHL Teams Announced". Hewitt Sports Network. 20 September 2012. Archived from the original on 6 December 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 19 April 2013. 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 14 March 2016. 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 19 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 19 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 19 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 18 February 2014. 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 26 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.
  17. "Glaciers Ready To Go for 2017". Ice Hockey Victoria. 7 January 2017. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
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