The story of the 2003 AIHL Season Grail. Since seriously getting into the AIHL in 2015, and having a hobby of updating Wikipedia pages, I have been interested in recording the history of the AIHL in Wikipedia.
It’s not been an easy journey documenting the league’s history, especially with pre-2010 information sparse. AIHL information is a minefield full of pitfalls and gems. Contradictory information from multiple official and unofficial sources is the biggest obstacle to overcome. I have spent far too many hours scouring website archives of dead AIHL websites for information.
Needless to say, the missing 2003 AIHL season results and standings information has been a holey grail for me to try and solve for many years now.
Initially I could not comprehend why an entire season’s information was missing. Over the years I have attempted to track it all down. Until last week, I had been unable to complete the entire season’s picture.
In the first place, the easily found sources had limited data and information. It became easy to understand why the AIHL itself hadn’t added the data to their own website.
My first break in my quest came a couple of years ago. I was searching for information on the history of the Newcastle Northstars when I stumbled upon a treasure trove of information about the 2003 season. Buried in the archives of the old Northstars websites was a page with all but the final day of information from the season. Amazing, but still incomplete.
The search continued.
Success at last
Last year, while recovering from COVID, I decided to give the search another go. I initially found it difficult to find anything new, but after some digging I found an old Melbourne Ice news article that mentioned something being cancelled in the final round of 2003. It was unclear if it was the entire round or a single game. I was stoked to find some new information.
The hunt felt back on. The games I was searching for were a double header between the Adelaide Avalanche and the Canberra Knights and two Sydney Bears games in Sydney vs the Ice Dogs and Newcastle.
The missing Bears games
The Bears are a tricky club to locate information for in the old archives since they had more websites than most other AIHL teams. I scoured the Bears websites I had identified again in search for something new.
Success! I found an attached document in one of them that contained the games results from the final round of 2003. I then found game reports on the IHA website for the two game results (game 57 and game 60) to add to the evidence. You beauty. Two down and two to go.
The missing Knights / Avalanche games
The Knights and Avalanche was proving harder to track down than the Bears. I somehow had made my way onto an old Ice Hockey Australia (IHA) website from an old AIHL website. Within the news section I saw game reports. I opened the hyperlink, it brought up a number of game report articles from a later year. I looked up and noticed they had versions of the page that went back to early 2004, I clicked as far back as I could.
Success! I found reports for some of the final round games, including the two games that I was missing as well as the Bears games. I could not believe my luck. The Melbourne Ice news article was correct, there had been a cancellation. The Saturday game between the Knights and Avs was cancelled due to a hole in the ice that could not be fixed in time. The Sunday game would be a double-points game instead.
Discrepancy
I did find a small discrepancy between the game reports and one of the results from the Bears website. On the Bears website, they lost to the Ice Dogs on Saturday 3-5. In the report on the IHA website, they lost to the Ice Dogs 3-6. I chose to use the IHA result for the data set as the report contained more information about the game and was written from the Bears perspective. It likely came from the Bears themselves.
I had finally done it, I had found all the 2003 season results data to complete the full and final league standings table.
2003 AIHL Season Fixtures and Results
| Game # | Date | Time | Away Team | Away Score | Home Score | Home Team | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 May 2003 | 17:30 | Ice Dogs | 8 | 0 | Knights | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 2 | 3 May 2003 | 17:00 | Bears | 4 | 7 | North Stars | Hunter Ice Skating Stadium |
| 3 | 4 May 2003 | 17:30 | Ice Dogs | 9 | 6 | Bears | Sydney Ice Arena |
| 4 | 10 May 2003 | 17:30 | Knights | 3 | 8 | Ice Dogs | Blacktown Ice Arena |
| 5 | 10 May 2003 | 18:00 | North Stars | 9 | 3 | Ice | Olympic Ice Skating Centre |
| 6 | 11 May 2003 | 15:00 | North Stars | 9 | 0 | Ice | Bendigo Ice Skating Stadium |
| 7 | 17 May 2003 | 16:30 | Ice | 3 | 8 | Avalanche | Snowdome Adelaide |
| 8 | 17 May 2003 | 17:30 | Bears | 3 | 5 | Ice Dogs | Blacktown Ice Arena |
| 9 | 17 May 2003 | 17:30 | North Stars | 7 | 3 | Knights | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 10 | 18 May 2003 | 16:15 | Ice | 3 | 5 | Avalanche | Snowdome Adelaide |
| 11 | 18 May 2003 | 17:30 | Knights | 3 | 7 | Bears | Sydney Ice Arena |
| 12 | 24 May 2003 | 17:30 | Avalanche | 12 | 1 | Knights | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 13-14 | 25 May 2003 | 17:30 | Avalanche | 4 | 3 | Ice Dogs | Blacktown Ice Arena |
| 15 | 25 May 2003 | 17:00 | Knights | 4 | 11 | North Stars | Hunter Ice Skating Stadium |
| 16 | 31 May 2003 | 16:30 | Bears | 1 | 4 | Avalanche | Snowdome Adelaide |
| 17 | 31 May 2003 | 18:00 | Knights | 1 | 7 | Ice | Olympic Ice Skating Centre |
| 18 | 31 May 2003 | 17:00 | Ice Dogs | 2 | 4 | North Stars | Hunter Ice Skating Stadium |
| 19 | 1 Jun 2003 | 15:00 | Knights | 0 | 4 | Ice | Bendigo Ice Skating Stadium |
| 20 | 1 Jun 2003 | 16:30 | Bears | 2 | 6 | Avalanche | Snowdome Adelaide |
| Bye | Long weekend | ||||||
| 21 | 14 Jun 2003 | 17:30 | Ice Dogs | 3 | 5 | Knights | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 22 | 14 Jun 2003 | 18:00 | Avalanche | 2 | 4 | Ice | Olympic Ice Skating Centre |
| 23 | 15 Jun 2003 | 15:00 | Avalanche | 1 | 4 | Ice | Bendigo Ice Skating Stadium |
| 24 | 15 Jun 2003 | 17:00 | Knights | 1 | 5 | North Stars | Hunter Ice Skating Stadium |
| 25 | 15 Jun 2003 | 17:30 | Ice Dogs | 2 | 4 | Bears | Sydney Ice Arena |
| 26 | 21 Jun 2003 | 16:30 | Ice Dogs | 3 | 2 | Avalanche | Snowdome Adelaide |
| 27-28 | 21 Jun 2003 | 17:30 | Ice | 3 | 1 | Knights | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 29 | 21 Jun 2003 | 17:00 | Bears | 1 | 2 | North Stars | Hunter Ice Skating Stadium |
| 30 | 22 Jun 2003 | 16:15 | Ice Dogs | 6 | 7 | Avalanche | Snowdome Adelaide |
| 31 | 22 Jun 2003 | 17:00 | Ice | 1 | 7 | Bears | Sydney Ice Arena |
| Bye | Brown Trophy | ||||||
| 32 | 5 Jul 2003 | 17:30 | Ice | 3 | 3 | Ice Dogs | Blacktown Ice Arena |
| 33 | 5 Jul 2003 | 17:30 | Bears | 2 | 8 | Knights | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 34 | 6 Jul 2003 | 17:00 | Ice Dogs | 2 | 8 | North Stars | Hunter Ice Skating Stadium |
| 35 | 6 Jul 2003 | 17:00 | Ice | 1 | 3 | Bears | Sydney Ice Arena |
| 36 | 12 Jul 2003 | 17:30 | Avalanche | 5 | 2 | Knights | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 37 | 13 Jul 2003 | 17:00 | Avalanche | 9 | 5 | North Stars | Hunter Ice Skating Stadium |
| 38 | 19 Jul 2003 | 16:30 | North Stars | 2 | 10 | Avalanche | Snowdome Adelaide |
| 39 | 20 Jul 2003 | 16:15 | North Stars | 4 | 8 | Avalanche | Snowdome Adelaide |
| 40 | 26 Jul 2003 | 17:30 | North Stars | 6 | 5 | Ice Dogs | Blacktown Ice Arena |
| 41 | 26 Jul 2003 | 17:30 | Bears | 4 | 1 | Knights | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 42 | 27 Jul 2003 | 17:30 | North Stars | 3 | 2 | Bears | Sydney Ice Arena |
| 43 | 2 Aug 2003 | 17:30 | Knights | 1 | 9 | Ice Dogs | Blacktown Ice Arena |
| 44 | 2 Aug 2003 | 18:00 | Bears | 9 | 5 | Ice | Olympic Ice Skating Centre |
| 45 | 3 Aug 2003 | 15:00 | Bears | 5 | 0 | Ice | Bendigo Ice Skating Stadium |
| 46 | 3 Aug 2003 | 17:30 | North Stars | 4 | 2 | Ice Dogs | Blacktown Ice Arena |
| 47 | 9 Aug 2003 | 17:30 | Ice | 1 | 11 | Ice Dogs | Blacktown Ice Arena |
| 48 | 9 Aug 2003 | 17:00 | Avalanche | 10 | 3 | North Stars | Hunter Ice Skating Stadium |
| 49-50 | 10 Aug 2003 | 17:00 | Avalanche | 5 | 6 | Bears | Sydney Ice Arena |
| 51-52 | 10 Aug 2003 | 17:00 | Ice | 1 | 9 | North Stars | Hunter Ice Skating Stadium |
| 53 | 16 Aug 2003 | 17:30 | North Stars | 7 | 5 | Knights | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 54 | 16 Aug 2003 | 18:00 | Ice Dogs | 4 | 3 | Ice | Olympic Ice Skating Centre |
| 55 | 17 Aug 2003 | 15:00 | Ice Dogs | 5 | 0 | Ice | Bendigo Ice Skating Stadium |
| 56 | 17 Aug 2003 | 17:30 | Knights | 2 | 8 | Bears | Sydney Ice Arena |
| 57 | 23 Aug 2003 | 17:30 | Bears | 3 | 6 | Ice Dogs | Blacktown Ice Arena |
| 58 | 23 Aug 2003 | 16:30 | Knights | – | – | Avalanche | Snowdome Adelaide |
| 59 | 24 Aug 2003 | 16:15 | Knights | 1 | 12 | Avalanche | Snowdome Adelaide |
| 60 | 24 Aug 2003 | 17:30 | North Stars | 2 | 7 | Bears | Sydney Ice Arena |
Note: Game 58 was cancelled due to a hole in the ice that could not be fixed in time. Game 59 acted as a double points game instead.
2003 AIHL season standings
I entered all the data into a spreadsheet and calculated the standings. It is important to remember back in 2003 wins were worth 2 points and ties 1 point. Due to the cancelled game, the total number of games played by Adelaide and Canberra is 1 less than the other teams.
The 1 goal discrepancy issue for the Ice Dogs and Bears plays no material difference to the final standings either way.
The Adelaide Avalanche finish top of the standings in 2003 on 36 points to claim the league premiership title. Newcastle North Stars finished second with 30 points. The two Sydney teams, Bears and Ice Dogs, round out the Finals qualification placings with the Melbourne Ice and Canberra Knights a fair way behind.
| Ranking | Team | Games | Wins | Ties | Losses | Goals For | Goals Against | Goal Difference | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Adelaide Avalanche | 19 | 16 | 0 | 3 | 115 | 46 | +69 | 36 |
| 2 | Newcastle North Stars | 20 | 14 | 0 | 6 | 107 | 79 | +28 | 30 |
| 3 | Sydney Bears | 20 | 12 | 0 | 8 | 84 | 72 | +12 | 26 |
| 4 | Western Sydney Ice Dogs | 20 | 11 | 1 | 8 | 96 | 67 | +29 | 23 |
| 5 | Melbourne Ice | 20 | 4 | 1 | 15 | 41 | 97 | -56 | 11 |
| 6 | Canberra Knights | 19 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 42 | 122 | -80 | 2 |
2003 AIHL Season Finals
The Finals series in 2003 was a unique series in the history of the AIHL. Canadian Club sponsored the series and called it the ‘Canadian Club On Ice Finals Series’ . It was the only time a bronze final contested with bronze medals handed out.
The Sydney Ice Arena hosted the series, the only time the venue hosted Finals. In 2003, the venue was known as the Sydney Glaciarium, but don’t be confused it is not the original Sydney Glaciarium that closed in 1955.
What would be familiar with modern AIHL fans, is the single-game elimination format with the semi-final winners advancing to the grand final to compete for the championship title and to hoist the historic Goodall Cup.
Semi-finals
Semi-final one produced a classic AIHL Finals upset with the fourth-placed Western Sydney Ice Dogs defeating the league premiers, Adelaide Avalanche. Newcastle then defeated the host team, Sydney Bears in semi-final two. The Bears were without normal starting goaltender, Joel Gibson, due to injury.
Bronze game
In the bronze game, goals were the name of the game with both teams throwing caution to the wind to entertain the crowd. The Sydney Bears ran out winners in a high-scoring affair with the Adelaide Avalanche, winning the game 10 goals to five. Bears favourites Jakub Petr and Vladimir Rubes bagging doubles each. This gives the Bears the distinction of being the only AIHL team to win bronze medals.
Grand Final
In the grand final game, a capacity crowd of 800 watched on as Newcastle took on the Western Sydney Ice Dogs. Neither team had won the league championship before, so no matter what happened, something historic would take place. Newcastle took the lead in the first period through club captain Ray Sheffield on the power play. The Stars extended their lead in the second period to 3-0 before the Ice Dogs got on the board through Martin Jesko. However, the North Stars were too strong for Western Sydney and a Jake Ludvig goal in the third period finished the game off and secured the 4-1 win for Newcastle.
It was the first AIHL championship title success for Newcastle. Northstars legend and club captain Ray Sheffield lifted the Goodall Cup.
Bracket
For more in the slot column articles about the AIHL and hockey in Australia, similar to this on on the 2003 AIHL Season Holy Grail, please check out our website.
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