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The 2017–18 AWIHL season is the 11th season of the Australian Women's Ice Hockey League (AWIHL). It ran from 28 October 2017 until 18 March 2018. Four teams competed in 24 regular season games followed by 4 playoff games, making up the AWIHL Finals weekend. The Sydney Sirens claimed the premiership title for finishing top of the regular season standings, while the Melbourne Ice claimed the Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy championship title by winning the grand final. Melbourne finished runner-up in the season standings while Sydney lost the grand final. Adelaide Rush came last in the regular season and claimed the wooden spoon.

Teams

In 2017–18 the AWIHL had four teams from four Australian state capital cities competing, stretching across the east coast and southern Australian mainland. Perth Inferno was added as an exhibition team only for the 2017–18 season, as they looked to meet criteria set down by the AWIHL Commission to be granted a full licence for 2018–19.

2017–18 AWIHL teams

Team	City	Arena	Head Coach	Captain
Adelaide Rush	Adelaide	IceArenA	Josef Rezek	Ashley Pelkey
Brisbane Goannas	Brisbane	Boondall Iceworld	Terry Kiliwnik	Veronica Watson
Melbourne Ice	Melbourne	O'Brien Icehouse	Marcus Wong	Shona Powell
Sydney Sirens	Sydney	Macquarie Ice Rink	Troy Morgan	Amelia Matheson
Exhibition teams
Perth Inferno	Perth	Cockburn Ice Arena	Paul Graham

League Business

The official AWIHL gameday schedule was released at the start of September 2017. The season structure remained unchanged from 2016-17, each team competing in a four game series against each other team, playing two games at home and two games away. Looking to become the first AWIHL expansion team, Perth Inferno, was admitted to the league on a provisional licence to play two exhibition games against the Sydney Sirens. The first of these two exhibition games, at Canterbury Olympic Ice Rink, was to be live streamed by Thought Fox Media Group with commentary by Eric Brookes. Ahead of the season, the AWIHL announced the continuation of their sponsorship agreement with Skaters Network in November 2017. The agreement would continue the company’s status as preferred equipment supplier to the AWIHL and the naming rights holder for the player of the month award. Ice Hockey Australia also announced the establishment and go-live of the league's new website, hosted on the Ice Hockey Australia's website, it contains separate pages for each team, news, history and is linked to the eSportsdesk website that contains all information on games, players, scores and stats. Every AWIHL game of the 2017-18 season would be live streamed on the new website. In December 2017, AWIHL commissioner, Melissa Rulli, announced the league had secured a event assistance grant under the Victorian Government's Significant Sporting Events Program, to host the AWIHL Finals weekend in Melbourne at O'Brien Group Arena.

Regular season

Fixtures and results

Running between 28 October 2017 and 4 March 2018, the AWIHL regular season consisted of 24 games in total, with teams playing 12 games each, 4 games (2 home and 2 away) against each opponent. There additionally was two exhibition games scheduled for Sydney in February 2018 between the Sydney Sirens and prospective expansion side Perth Inferno. The Sirens won both games comfortably against the exhibition Perth team, scoring sixteen goals and conceding five.

October

November

December

January

February

March

Standings

Player stats

The season's league leader statistics for skaters and goaltenders.

Goals No. Name Pos G 1 Stephenie Cochrane Forward 15 2 Jessica Pinkerton Forward 14 3 Sharna Godfrey Forward 11 4 Christina Julien Forward 11 5 Natalie Ayris Forward 11

Assists No. Name Pos A 1 Kristelle van der Wolf Forward 14 2 Jessica Pinkerton Forward 12 3 Amelia Matheson Defender 11 4 Sharna Godfrey Forward 10 5 Erin Beaver Defender 10

Points No. Name Pos P 1 Jessica Pinkerton Forward 26 2 Sharna Godfrey Forward 21 3 Stephenie Cochrane Forward 19 4 Kristelle van der Wolf Forward 19 5 Natalie Ayris Forward 18

Penalty minutes No. Name Pos PIM 1 Rylie Ellis Defender 33 2 Nicole Jones Forward 24 3 Tracy Hocutt Forward 24 4 Kirsty Venus Defender 22 5 Sharnita Crompton Forward 18

Save percentage No. Name Pos SV% 1 Imogen Perry Goaltender 0.943 2 Ella Licari Goaltender 0.936 3 Jenelle Carson Goaltender 0.936 4 Ruth Brophy Goaltender 0.895 5 Ashleigh Brown Goaltender 0.886

Goals against average No. Name Pos GAA 1 Ella Licari Goaltender 1.13 2 Imogen Perry Goaltender 1.46 3 Jenelle Carson Goaltender 1.53 4 Ruth Brophy Goaltender 1.67 5 Paula Morris Goaltender 2.75

Season awards

Below lists the 2017–18 AWIHL regular season award winners.

Award	Name	Team
Skaters Network Most Valuable Player	Stephanie Cochrane	Sydney Sirens
Best Forward	Ashley Pelkey	Adelaide Rush
Best Defence	Erin Beaver	Sydney Sirens
Best Goaltender	Keesha Aitkins	Adelaide Rush
Nellie Gee Rookie of the Year	Marnie Pullin	Melbourne Ice

Joan McKowen playoffs

The top four teams in the AWIHL regular season qualify for the Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy playoffs. The playoffs is held on a single weekend and uses Australian conventions of being called Finals. The playoff system used by the AWIHL is a four team single game semi-finals and grand final system where the semi-final winners progress to the grand final and the losers playoff for third place. Semi-finals are played on the Saturday and the third place playoff and grand final is played on the Sunday. The prize for being crowned AWIHL Champions for winning the grand final is the Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy.

In 2017–18, the Adelaide Rush, Sydney Sirens, Brisbane Goannas and Melbourne Ice qualified for the finals weekend. The event was held on 17 and 18 March 2018 in host city Melbourne at O’Brien Group Arena. On Saturday, Sydney won the first semi final in a high scoring affair against Adelaide. In the second semi-final, the Melbourne Ice made light work of Brisbane to advance to the grand final. On Sunday, first up, the Goannas won a close contest against the Rush to secure bronze medals for the Queenslanders. In the grand final, Melbourne Ice secured their record equaling sixth championship title and lifted the Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy, after defeating the Sydney Sirens 4–2, with Jessica Pinkerton scoring all four goals for the winners.

Semi-finals

Third place playoff

Final

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Melbourne Ice	Sydney Sirens	Brisbane Goannas

References

1. Longmuir, Alyssa (25 October 2017). "AWIHL : 2017-18 Season Preview". theicegarden.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
2. Montroy, Liz (9 August 2018). "Perth Inferno Becomes the AWIHL's First Expansion Team". womenshockeylife.com. Archived from the original on 13 July 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
3. ^ Collins, Lee (6 September 2017). "2017-18 AWIHL schedule released". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
4. ^ Collins, Lee (26 October 2017). "Perth Inferno established". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
5. Collins, Lee (10 February 2018). "AWIHL news: 10 February 2018". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
6. "Ongoing commitment to AW". Ice Hockey Australia. 3 November 2017. Archived from the original on 24 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
7. "Our new AWIHL site is live!". Ice Hockey Australia. 17 November 2017. Archived from the original on 24 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
8. "Get your game face on, the AWIHL is back!!". Ice Hockey Australia. 27 October 2017. Archived from the original on 24 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
9. "Victorian Government supports women in sport – AW Finals in Melbourne". Ice Hockey Australia. 8 December 2017. Archived from the original on 24 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
10. Collins, Lee (17 February 2018). "2017-18 AWIHL season: Sydney v Perth". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. Archived from the original on 24 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
11. "Scoring Leaders". Australian Women's Ice Hockey League. Archived from the original on 16 October 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
12. "Goalie Leaders". Australian Women's Ice Hockey League. Archived from the original on 16 October 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
13. ^ Collins, Lee (17 March 2018). "2018 AWIHL playoffs". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
14. "Australian Women's Ice Hockey League (AWIHL) Regulations" (PDF). Ice Hockey Australia. 1 January 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 October 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
15. "Joan Mckowen Memorial Cup". Ice Hockey Australia. Archived from the original on 15 August 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
16. Collins, Lee (3 March 2018). "2017-18 AWIHL season: Round 10". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
17. Longmuir, Alyssa (13 March 2018). "2018 AWIHL Finals Preview". theicegarden.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
18. Longmuir, Alyssa (18 March 2018). "Melbourne Ice Cement a Dynasty". theicegarden.com. Archived from the original on 23 October 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2022.

External links

• Australian Women's Hockey League Archived 4 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine
• Ice Hockey Australia

• Ice hockey
• Australia

v t e Ice hockey in Australia
National teams	Men's national team Women's national team Men's under-20 national team Men's under-18 national team Australian men's national para ice hockey team Women's under-18 national team
National leagues	Australian Ice Hockey League Australian Women's Ice Hockey League Australian Junior Ice Hockey League
Governing bodies	Ice Hockey Australia Australian Capital Territory Ice Hockey Association New South Wales Ice Hockey Association Ice Hockey Queensland South Australia Ice Hockey Association Ice Hockey Tasmania Victorian Ice Hockey Association Western Australian Ice Hockey Association
Awards and trophies	Current Goodall Cup H Newman Reid Trophy Wilson Cup Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy Stephanie Boxall Trophy Jim Brown Shield Former F.C. Brown Memorial Shield V.I.P. Cup West Lakes Trophy
Ice skating venues	Current The Big Banana Fun Park Canterbury Olympic Ice Rink Cockburn Ice Arena Erina Ice Arena Hunter Ice Skating Stadium IceArenA iceHQ Ice World Boondall Liverpool Catholic Club Ice Rink Macquarie Ice Rink O'Brien Icehouse Perth Ice Arena Phillip Ice Skating Centre Former Adelaide Glaciarium Glenorchy Ice Skating Rink Melbourne Glaciarium Penrith Ice Palace St. Moritz Ice Rink Sydney Glaciarium Sydney Ice Arena
Other tournaments	Pacific Hockey League Australian International Ice Hockey Cup

• Australian Women's Ice Hockey League seasons
• 2017–18 in women's ice hockey leagues
• 2017 in Australian women's sport
• 2018 in Australian women's sport