Welcome to the 2026 AIHL season preview. Season 2026 of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) is upon us. Today let’s look at some of the big changes, transfers and talking points about the season ahead.
Sydney Welcomed Back
The AIHL is back to a 10 team 155 game season in 2026 with both Sydney based teams, Bears and Ice Dogs, returning to competitive action.
The new look Macquarie Ice Rink is back up and running after a year of renovations were completed in December 2025. With new everything, anticipation is building across the country for how Sydney is going to look and play this season. OHM cannot wait to hear from fans with how the gameday experience has changed and from the players/staff on the new ice and facilities.
Membership numbers are looking strong in Sydney, so we can expect some big crowds to watch the Ice Dogs and Bears coming out of hibernation.
Both teams have been busy in the off-season wheeling and dealing as they rebuild their rosters for this season. So far, the Ice Dogs have made a big splash with the announcement of Kale Costa returning, while the Bears re-signing import Lucas Herrmann is impressive.
Regular Season Changes
With the additions of the two Sydney teams returning, the number of regular season games in 2026 has increased since last year. There will be an additional 33 regular season games this year, an increase from 117 total games to 150.
The season is starting two weeks later this year compared to 2025. Last year the season started in the first weekend of April, this year the AIHL is starting mid-April. This does reduce the time national team players are away from their AIHL teams for World Championship tournaments. This benefit is reduced in 2026 with Australia withdrawing from their tournament, but we will still see some Kiwi players affected less than in 2025.
The two in-season weekend breaks have been sacrificed for the later start. This ensures the season can still finish in time for Finals to occur on the last weekend of August.
One Wild Weekend for Perth
Any eagle eyes out there may have noticed a quinkydink weekend scheduled this year for the Perth Thunder. Don’t worry, you are not going crazy and you have not mis-read the schedule. Perth Thunder will be playing 3 games in 3 days in 3 different cities. They start in Sydney on Friday, travel up to Erina on Saturday before heading further north for a game on Sunday in Brisbane.
This will surely go down as one of the most gruelling scheduled weekends for any AIHL team in the league’s history. Wild stuff.
AIHL Attendance Record up for Breaking Again in 2026
Last year we saw the Canberra Brave and Adelaide Adrenaline set a new AIHL attendance record when 2,964 people turned out for the opening night AIHL action at the AIS Arena in Canberra.
With additional seating capacity being setup at the AIS Arena this season, we could see the AIHL attendance record break for the second season running.
A Season of BIG Transfers
The 2026 silly season has so far given us several BIG player transfers. Brody Lindal returning to Melbourne with the Mustangs from the Sydney Bears springs to mind immediately. The Newcastle Northstars keeping hold of Brian Funes from the Bears and Canberra Brave retaining Cameron Todd and Bray Crowder following the completion of their loans from the Sydney Ice Dogs do to.
But the big transfers don’t stop there. Daniel Chen switching Adelaide for the Ice Dogs and Casey Kubara leaving Newcastle to return to Canberra raised eyebrows. However, the two biggest transfers to date involve a pair of Aussie goaltenders.
Charlie Smart ending 6 years of association with the Newcastle Northstars to head west to the Perth Thunder. The move takes Charlie home to Perth, which is where he is from. He links up with fellow Australian international Aleksi Toivonen to form one of the most formidable goalie tandem partnerships in the league.
Then, Matus Trnka unexpectedly leaving the Brisbane Lightning and heading south to the Northstars in Newcastle. Trnka had an outstanding season in Brisbane in 2025. His partnership with Doornbos was one of the best in the AIHL. The move sees him replace the space between the pipes Charlie has left behind. A big move for one of Australia’s brightest developing tender talents.
AIHL Finals Location and Format
The Finals weekend is back in Melbourne once more in 2026. The O’Brien Icehouse will once again host the event of the season over three big days of AIHL hockey action. The format is the same as last season. 6 teams will make the trip to Docklands with 2 preliminary finals played on Friday, 2 semi-finals played on Saturday, and the grand final played on Sunday.
The whole event is single game eliminations with the winners advancing. The top two teams from the regular season enter in the semi-finals with the 3rd to 6th ranked teams entering in the preliminaries. The winner gets to hoist the Goodall Cup and is crowned Australian champions. The Canberra Brave and Melbourne Ice have made the last 2 grand finals, with both teams taking turns to lift the Cup. Will we see this repeated in 2026 or will we get new finalists?
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