The AIHL recently announced further details regarding the AIHL Finals for 2024. Let’s talk about what’s in store for us at the AIHL FInals in late August. The AIHL Finals format change this year has unsurprisingly caught the attention of AIHL fans and sparked debate.

This change is the latest in a line of alterations to the Finals format by the AIHL since the resumption of the league post the enforced COVID break.

The league is working hard to find a suitable six-team format that suits everyone. This task has proven harder than originally envisaged. The continued amendments show that the AIHL is willing to take on stakeholder feedback and adapt.

This is a positive step for a league who, in the past, has seemed less open to listen to stakeholder feedback. The AIHL is demonstrating a new level of maturity, it is encouraging to see.

What’s On Offer in 2024?

Finals is the glitz and glamour of the season, an event like no other in the AIHL calendar. In 2024, the AIHL is expanding its tried and trusted Finals weekend format. In late August, O’Brien Icehouse, in Docklands, Melbourne, will play host for the 11th time since 2010.

For the fans, it will be the first time that six sets of fans will fly, drive, sail, and ride the rails to the crescendo of AIHL hockey for the year. We can expect a festival atmosphere with long lines to the bar and food counters.

A sell out arena is likely, but let’s hope for improvements to the release of tickets and packages compared to 2023. With tickets set to go on sale in May, it will be anyone’s guess as to who will be qualified at that time. But that won’t stop people dreaming and booking hotels and travel for August 23-25 ‘just in case’.

On the ice, six teams will qualify for Finals, three teams from each conference. There will be five games over three days to soak in all the blood, sweat and tears of AIHL Finals action. Traditions and superstitions will be running rampant.

The first two days will see four single-game elimination finals contested before the final two teams go head-to-head for the right to hoist the one, the only, the fabled Goodall Cup.

The league is yet to release the official game guide for Finals. We do not yet know who and when each qualified team will play.

However, fans, sponsors, organisers, special guests and volunteers alike will witness the raising of multiple trophies and awards throughout the weekend. Proud players, in front of boisterous fans, will hoist the H Newman Reid Trophy, Goodall Cup and Rurak and Hellyer conference trophies high into the sky.

What’s Different from 2023?

The AIHL has made the decision to compress the 2024 Finals schedule compared to 2023. The league has done away with its two weekend five game format as Hockey Hype Australia reported.

The two venues in two different states format will not be returning from 2023. Newcastle misses out on hosting any Finals in 2024. Northstars fans will have to travel to the AIHL Finals mecca in Melbourne. Newcastle fans still turned out in strong numbers last year despite their team failing to qualify. That passion and support from 2023 is unlikely to change.

This move does represent a shift by the AIHL back to what they know well, a single destination weekend. This was the league’s format of choice for twenty years between 2002 and 2022.

However, the AIHL is retaining its 2023 adoption of six qualified teams rather than the traditional four. A decision that divides opinion within the Australian hockey community. Is it a good thing to see more teams and fans participating in a larger Finals event? Or is it bad to see more than half the 10-team league qualify for Finals?

The increased numbers and format does pose difficulties in hosting the event on a single weekend. In 2022 the league trialled a three-day event to mixed reception and reviews. Without the extra weekend in 2024, the league will once again try and make the three day event schedule work.

t’s great for fans but a tough ask on players and staff. Five games in three consecutive days, rather than having this split up. Some teams will need to play three games in three days to have a chance to win the Goodall Cup.

The AIHL Finals Unknowns

Without the League’s game guide, we are unable to determine any more differences or similarities to 2023 or earlier. The questions top of mind that are still to be answered include:

• Will the AIHL drop or continue with the play-in final conference cross-over?
• Will the conference winners skip day one of Finals to advance straight to the semi-finals on day two again?
• Will we see the return of the combined league table position finish determine opponents?
• What media access and events will be organised at Finals?

No one knows the answers to these questions yet at this point. It will be interesting to see what transpires between now and the end of August.

AIHL Finals Future

I would not count on this season’s final format being the last one the league will try. There are improvements still to be made. To this end, I want to pitch what I believe would be the best format in the future.

My key objectives with Finals:

• Expand the reach of Finals to more people, more sponsors and more places
• Retain the carnival festival atmosphere
• Make Finals competitive with every qualified team having a good shot at success
• Raise the profile of the conference trophies

In the near term I would implement a three week Finals series with the following format:

• Six teams qualify, three from each conference
• Three round series – conference play-offs, conference finals, Goodall Cup final (grand final)
• Best of three game series in each round
• Higher ranked teams host for the first two rounds, destination selected to host the Goodall Cup Final Series
• Round winners advance and losers are eliminated
• Conference second and third finishers enter in week one, conference top finishers enter in week two
• Rurak and Hellyer Conference trophies awarded to winners of the Conference Finals
• Goodall Cup awarded to the winner of the grand final

The beauty about this format is it retains the great points of the current and past formats. Namely a destination location for the grand final. However, it opens finals to more fans by bringing it to more venues.

It meets my objectives listed above. It increases the total number of games in Finals from five to between 10 and 15 games. This provides more opportunity for sponsors to advertise and for the carnival atmosphere to build.

The three game series makes each stage competitive, meaning one bad night at the office does not end with your bags packed heading home. Each team has a genuine chance at winning titles. And lastly, the conference trophies get their own dedicated series. This raises the stakes and potentially allows more fans to celebrate the success of a title win.

In the medium to long term, I would split the conference play-offs and conference Final rounds. Playing each round over two weeks, resulting in the whole format running over five weeks. This change would enable a true home and away best of three series for these rounds. The lower ranked team hosts one game in week one. The higher ranked team hosts games two and three (if needed) in the second week.

I recognise there are obstacles to overcome to enable such a Finals format. Not least the tight season schedule to fit within the overseas pro-league and uni schedules. Not to mention, the requirement for players to take off extra work time to fit in Friday night games. The longer format helps address this second issue, however the first issue is hard to overcome. I would go as far as to say, I would be happy to shorten the regular season to enable a longer post-season to work. But that is easy to say as long as your team regularly makes Finals.