2003 AIHL season


The 2003 AIHL season was the fourth season of the Australian Ice Hockey League. 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.

League business

In 2003, AIHL President Tony Lane introduced the 'top four' finals 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.

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.

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 with the final placings coming from hockeyarchives.
Team
Adelaide Avalanche7700004316+2714
Newcastle North Stars6600004717+3012
Sydney Bears6100052334−112
Western Sydney Ice Dogs7400023824+88
Melbourne Ice6200042032−124
Canberra Knights8000081664−480

Statistics

Scoring leaders

List shows the ten top skaters sorted by points, then goals.
PlayerTeam
Newcastle North Stars6811192F
Newcastle North Stars6107178C
Adelaide Avalanche61071710F
Newcastle North Stars687152
Sydney Bears459140F
West Sydney Ice Dogs62101231F
Adelaide Avalanche61111212D
West Sydney Ice Dogs6831122F
Sydney Bears655108F
Adelaide Avalanche5461031F

Leading goaltenders

Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage.
PlayerTeam
Adelaide Avalanche135:007062.0091.430
Adelaide Avalanche135:007072.3390.000
Newcastle North Stars270:00166172.8389.760
West Sydney Ice Dogs224:10132163.2187.881
Melbourne 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 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. The Goodall Cup was won by Newcastle North Stars 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.

All times are

Semi-finals

3rd place

Final