2019–20 AWIHL season

The 2019–20 AWIHL season is the thirteenth season of the Australian Women's Ice Hockey League (AWIHL). It ran from 26 October 2019 until 2 February 2020. Five teams competed in 30 regular season games followed by 4 playoff games, making up the AWIHL Finals weekend. The Sydney Sirens claimed the double by winning both the premiership title for finishing top of the regular season standings and the Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy championship title by winning the grand final. Adelaide Rush finished runner-up to both titles and the Brisbane Goannas claimed the wooden spoon.

2019–20 AWIHL season
League	Australian Women's Ice Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	26 October 2019 – 2 February 2020
Regular season
Premiers	Sydney Sirens
Season MVP	Tash Farrier (Adelaide Rush)
Top scorer	Kayla Nielsen (31 points) (Sydney Sirens)
Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy
Champions	Sydney Sirens (2nd title)
Runners-up	Adelaide Rush

Teams

In 2019–20 the AWIHL had five teams from five Australian state capital cities competing, stretching east to west of the continent.

2019–20 AWIHL teams

Team	City	Arena	Head Coach	Captain
Adelaide Rush	Adelaide	IceArenA	Hayden Crafter	Kirsty Venus
Brisbane Goannas	Brisbane	Boondall Iceworld	Darryl Dunsford	Jess Wytrykusz
Melbourne Ice	Melbourne	O'Brien Icehouse	Marcus Wong	Christina Julien
Perth Inferno	Perth	Cockburn Ice Arena	Paul Graham	Courtney Moulton
Sydney Sirens	Sydney	Liverpool Catholic Club Ice Rink	Jayden Ryan	Stephenie Cochrane

League Business

The official AWIHL gameday schedule was released at the end of September 2019. The season structure remained unchanged from 2018-19, with each team playing two of the four opponents in a four game series with the other two teams being played twice during the season. The AWIHL announced on 4 October a new travel partnership with SportsLink Travel, that would provide the five teams in the league a cost equalisation program for airfares and bus transfers. In November 2019, the league struck an agreement with Kayo Sports to stream a 'game of the week' and 20 minutes of highlights and player interviews for the 2019–20 season on Kayo's nationally available streaming service.

Regular season

Fixtures & results

Running between 26 October 2019 and 19 January 2020, the AWIHL regular season consisted of 30 games in total. On 17 January 2020, the AWIHL commission made the decision to treat the 12 January 2020 game between Melbourne Ice and Perth Inferno as a draw and award both teams 1 point each. Initially the Inferno were awarded 2 points for winning in overtime, however the game did not progress to a shootout and a 3v3 overtime period was played instead, against league regulations.

October

October
Game #	Date	Time	Away	Score	Home	Location	Recap
1	26 October 2019	16:00	Perth Inferno	4–7	Adelaide Rush	IceArenA	[1]
2	27 October 2019	09:30	Perth Inferno	5–6	Adelaide Rush	IceArenA	[2]

November

November
Game #	Date	Time	Away	Score	Home	Location	Recap
3	2 November 2019	16:00	Melbourne Ice	3–1	Brisbane Goannas	Boondall Iceworld	[3]
4	2 November 2019	17:00	Perth Inferno	9–10	Sydney Sirens	Liverpool Catholic Club Ice Rink	[4]
5	3 November 2019	09:30	Perth Inferno	3–7	Sydney Sirens	Liverpool Catholic Club Ice Rink	[5]
6	3 November 2019	15:15	Melbourne Ice	1–3	Brisbane Goannas	Boondall Iceworld	[6]
7	9 November 2019	17:30	Adelaide Rush	7–5	Perth Inferno	Cockburn Ice Arena	[7]
8	10 November 2019	08:15	Adelaide Rush	4–3	Perth Inferno	Cockburn Ice Arena	[8]
9	16 November 2019	17:00	Brisbane Goannas	1–12	Sydney Sirens	Liverpool Catholic Club Ice Rink	[9]
10	17 November 2019	09:30	Brisbane Goannas	1–10	Sydney Sirens	Liverpool Catholic Club Ice Rink	[10]
11	23 November 2019	16:00	Brisbane Goannas	1–7	Adelaide Rush	IceArenA	[11]
12	23 November 2019	16:00	Sydney Sirens	3–2	Melbourne Ice	O'Brien Icehouse	[12]
13	24 November 2019	09:30	Brisbane Goannas	0–7	Adelaide Rush	IceArenA	[13]
14	24 November 2019	13:15	Sydney Sirens	3–1	Melbourne Ice	O'Brien Icehouse	[14]
15	30 November 2019	16:00	Adelaide Rush	2–0	Brisbane Goannas	Boondall Iceworld	[15]

December

December
Game #	Date	Time	Away	Score	Home	Location	Recap
16	1 December 2019	15:15	Adelaide Rush	6–2	Brisbane Goannas	Boondall Iceworld	[16]
17	7 December 2019	16:00	Perth Inferno	4–6	Melbourne Ice	O'Brien Icehouse	[17]
18	7 December 2019	16:00	Sydney Sirens	3–4 (SO)	Adelaide Rush	IceArenA	[18]
19	8 December 2019	09:30	Sydney Sirens	6–5 (SO)	Adelaide Rush	IceArenA	[19]
20	8 December 2019	13:15	Perth Inferno	4–7	Melbourne Ice	O'Brien Icehouse	[20]
21	14 December 2019	20:30	Melbourne Ice	3–4 (SO)	Sydney Sirens	Penrith Ice Palace	[21]
22	15 December 2019	09:30	Melbourne Ice	7–5	Sydney Sirens	Liverpool Catholic Club Ice Rink	[22]

January

January
Game #	Date	Time	Away	Score	Home	Location	Recap
23	11 January 2020	16:00	Sydney Sirens	5–1	Brisbane Goannas	Boondall Iceworld	[23]
24	11 January 2020	18:00	Melbourne Ice	7–2	Perth Inferno	Cockburn Ice Arena	[24]
25	12 January 2020	12:30	Melbourne Ice	6–7 (OT)	Perth Inferno	Cockburn Ice Arena	[25]
26	12 January 2020	15:15	Sydney Sirens	7–4	Brisbane Goannas	Boondall Iceworld	[26]
27	18 January 2020	16:00	Adelaide Rush	2–4	Melbourne Ice	O'Brien Icehouse	[27]
28	18 January 2020	18:00	Brisbane Goannas	1–4	Perth Inferno	Cockburn Ice Arena	[28]
29	19 January 2020	12:30	Brisbane Goannas	1–9	Perth Inferno	Cockburn Ice Arena	[29]
30	19 January 2020	13:15	Adelaide Rush	2–3	Melbourne Ice	O'Brien Icehouse	[30]

Key:

Winner

Draw

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	OTW	D	OTL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Sydney Sirens (C)	12	8	2	0	1	1	75	41	+34	29	2020 Joan McKowen Finals
2	Adelaide Rush	12	8	1	0	1	2	59	36	+23	27
3	Melbourne Ice	12	7	0	1	1	3	50	39	+11	23
4	Perth Inferno	12	2	0	1	0	9	58	69	−11	7
5	Brisbane Goannas	12	1	0	0	0	11	16	73	−57	3

Source: AWIHL Elite Prospects
Rules for classification:
Tie-break: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
Points: 3 points for regulation win; 2 points for OT or SO win; 1 point for OT or SO loss or tie/draw; 0 points for regulation loss
(C) Champion

Player stats

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

Goals No. Name Pos G 1 Kayla Nielsen Forward 17 2 Nadine Edney Forward 17 3 Natasha Farrier Forward 16 4 Nora Maclaine Forward 13 5 Christina Julien Forward 12

Assists No. Name Pos A 1 Kayla Nielsen Forward 14 2 Nadine Edney Forward 13 3 Natasha Farrier Forward 12 4 Sharna Godfrey Forward 12 5 Michelle Clark-Crumpton Forward 11

Points No. Name Pos P 1 Kayla Nielsen Forward 31 2 Nadine Edney Forward 30 3 Natasha Farrier Forward 28 4 Nora Maclaine Forward 23 5 Sharna Godfrey Forward 22

Penalty minutes No. Name Pos PIM 1 Tracy Hocutt Forward 40 2 Sarah Dash Defender 37 3 Nicole Jones Forward 36 4 Rylie Ellis Defender 34 5 Courtney Moulton Forward 30

Save percentage No. Name Pos SV% 1 Tina Girdler Goaltender 0.915 2 Makayla Peers Goaltender 0.911 3 Jenelle Carson Goaltender 0.893 4 Sasha King Goaltender 0.882 5 Michelle Coonan Goaltender 0.881

Goals against average No. Name Pos GAA 1 Tina Girdler Goaltender 2.20 2 Makayla Peers Goaltender 2.33 3 Joanne Phillis Goaltender 2.57 4 Michelle Coonan Goaltender 3.05 5 Jenelle Carson Goaltender 3.13

Season awards

Below lists the 2019–20 AWIHL regular season award winners.

Award	Name	Team
Skaters Network Most Valuable Player	Natasha Farrier	Adelaide Rush
Best Forward	Kayla Nielsen	Sydney Sirens
Best Defence	Sarah Edney	Sydney Sirens
Best Goaltender	Michelle Coonan	Adelaide Rush
Nellie Gee Rookie of the Year	Courtney Mahoney	Brisbane Goannas

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 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 2019–20, the Sirens, Rush, Ice and Inferno qualified for the finals weekend. In late January 2020, the AWIHL released an annual finals promo video to promote the event as well as naming the officials for the weekend. The event was held on 1 and 2 February 2020 in host city Melbourne at O’Brien Icehouse. Sydney and Adelaide won on Saturday to advance to the Joan McKowen Final, with Perth and Melbourne heading to the third place playoff. Melbourne Ice won playoff on Sunday to secure third place for the season, Perth finishing fourth. In the grand final, Sydney Sirens produced a strong display to shutout the Rush and secure the Championship title and the Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy. It is the second championship title in Sirens history.

	Semi-finals				Joan McKowen Final
	1 February - Melbourne
	Perth Inferno	8
					2 February - Melbourne
	Sydney Sirens	14
					Adelaide Rush	0
	1 February - Melbourne
					Sydney Sirens	3
	Melbourne Ice	2
	Adelaide Rush	4
					Third place
					2 February - Melbourne
					Perth Inferno	3
					Melbourne Ice	4

Semi-finals

1 February 2020 15:00

Perth Inferno

8–14 (3–6, 3–6, 2–2)

Sydney Sirens

O’Brien Icehouse

Game reference
	Sydney Fricker	Goalies	Tina Girdler	Referees: Grainge Phillips Casper Russelhuber Linesmen: Cien Pereira Rob Lowery
	0 – 1 S.Edney (N.Edney) (Moulton) Maclaine 1 – 1 1 – 2 Nielsen (N.Edney) 1 – 3 Nielsen (Matheson, N.Edney) (Clark-Crumpton, Sharp) Scala 2 – 3 2 – 4 Brunt (Matheson, Godfrey) 2 – 5 Godfrey (Unassisted) (Unassisted) Moulton 3 – 5 3 – 6 S.Edney (N.Edney) (Moulton, Malcolm) Maclaine 4 – 6 4 – 7 Godfrey (Matheson) 4 – 8 N.Edney (S.Edney, Chia) 4 – 9 Godfrey (S.Edney) 4 – 10 Badaoui (Calabria) (Maclaine) Moulton 5 – 10 5 – 11 Nielsen (Chia) 5 – 12 S.Edney (Godfrey) (Maclaine, Moulton) Malcolm 6 – 12 (Maclaine) Clark-Crumpton 7 – 12 (Maclaine) Scala 8 – 12 8 – 13 N.Edney (Godfrey, Matheson) 8 – 14 Badaoui (Unassisted)
	14 min	Penalties	12 min
	39	Shots	55

1 February 2020 17:30

Melbourne Ice

2–4 (1–0, 1–1, 0–3)

Adelaide Rush

O’Brien Icehouse

Game reference
	Jenelle Carson	Goalies	Michelle Coonan	Referees: Gabby Aston Nick Air Linesmen: Beth Bowshall Hamish Young
	(Unassisted) Ellis 1 – 0 (Aparicio, Moore) Julien 2 – 0 2 – 1 Lutz (Farrier) 2 – 2 Farrier (Lutz) 2 – 3 Lutz (Farrier, Ayris) 2 – 4 Farrier (Lutz)
	16 min	Penalties	18 min
	28	Shots	28

Third place playoff

2 February 2020 15:00

Perth Inferno

3–4 (1–0, 1–3, 1–1)

Melbourne Ice

O’Brien Icehouse

Game reference
	Sasha King	Goalies	Makayla Peers	Referees: Grainge Phillips Nick Air Linesmen: Rob Lowery Hamish Young
	(Unassisted) Maclaine 1 – 0 1 – 1 Julien (Aparicio) 1 – 2 Gallacher (Green, Pullin) (Unassisted) Sharp 2 – 2 2 – 3 Pullin (Unassisted) 2 – 4 Aparicio (Julien) (Scala, Moulton) Maclaine 3 – 4
	8 min	Penalties	20 min
	28	Shots	43

Final

2 February 2020 17:30

Adelaide Rush

0–3 (0–2, 0–0, 0–1)

Sydney Sirens

O’Brien Icehouse

Game reference
	Michelle Coonan	Goalies	Tina Girdler	Referees: Gabby Aston Casper Russelhuber Linesmen: Beth Bowshall Cien Pereira
	0 – 1 Cochrane (Godfrey, S.Edney) 0 – 2 Matheson (Calabria, Walker) 0 – 3 S.Edney (Godfrey)
	16 min	Penalties	12 min
	23	Shots	32

Gold	Silver	Bronze
Sydney Sirens	Adelaide Rush	Melbourne Ice

External links

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