Melbourne Ice are AIHL Premiers for 2025

The Melbourne Ice are AIHL Premiers and lift the H Newman Reid Trophy for 2025. For the first time in six years the Ice are league premiers.

Run Away Success

The Ice cemented themselves at the top of the table early in the season. By round five they were top of the table, and they never looked back from that moment. The rest of the league was always chasing the Victorians. There was a moment deep into the season when it looked like the Ice would not concede a single regulation loss. They eventually did lose 2 games in regulation time in one weekend. But apart from this blip, they were rock solid consistent all season long.

22 wins and 6 losses from a 28-game season is a fine Premiership winning record. The Ice finished first, ahead of the Canberra Brave in second by a whopping 17 points.

Melbourne’s largest winning streak of the season was 11 games and stretched from the start of June to 19 July 2025.

Comeback Kings

The Ice were the comeback kings in 2025. The number of games they would go behind and be forced into a late stanza comeback to win was something to behold. They are a team who never gives up and never taps out. No situation is irredeemable.

One of the keys to this success was the deep roster depth the Ice had at their disposal. The Ice would always have four lines for home games and often three lines for away games. They were no overly reliant on one line to do the bulk of the scoring either. Seven players scored over 20 points for the season, with four of those scoring 60+ points. The production was huge, and often from players you would not expect. A player like Jamie Bourke is a perfect example. He scored 41 points, only the third time in his 14 year AIHL career he has reached the 40 points bar and the first time he has done so in five years.

Jamie Bourke skating during a game vs Newcastle Northstars at HISS in 2025. Photo by: Jamison O’Malley

Dad’s Army

There is no denying that the Ice has had the oldest average age roster of the AIHL in 2025 (29.17 years). Rival fans always break out the typical ‘Dad’s Army’ jokes. The situation is a two edged sword. Either the team is too old and slow and it hampers them in keeping up the pace and endurance of younger more nimble teams, or the experience and craftsmanship shines through.

For the Ice in 2025, it definitely was the later case. Veteran presence proved crucial to success. David Booth at 40 years old scored 64 points. Joey and Vinnie Hughes, also 40+, made big contributions in the shorter time they were with the team during the season. Let’s not forgot after all, Joey Hughes is the most successful player in AIHL history with 7 Goodall Cups to his name. Then you add to this with the likes of a returning Tommy Powell, Lliam Webster, Jamie Bourke, and Austin McKenzie, and you have years and hundreds of AIHL games experience. In fact if you add each player’s Goodall Cup successes together you have 24 Goodall Cup wins. That is a lot of winning know-how.

Of course, this can’t last forever. But it would be foolish to think it was not a contributing factor in the successful season and Melbourne Ice being named 2025 AIHL Premiers.

Overtime Chokers

It is perhaps a curious tidbit that a team so dominant in the regular season, who loses so rarely is so bad in the clutch overtime moments.

I can’t praise the Ice season so much without identifying the one area the Ice proved not to be too good at in 2025. That is overtime. The Ice took five games to overtime during the 2025 regular season. They came out of those five games with one win and four losses. Not ideal for a team who otherwise only lost twice in 23 games in regulation time.

Biggest Surprises

Kolton Shindle becoming such a league superstar was not on the bingo cards at the start of the season. He was not guaranteed a place on the Ice roster and played in the pre-season Good Friday Appeal charity game to prove his worth to the team. Needless to say, he not only proved his worth to the Ice, he became one of the most talked about players heading into Finals at the end of the season. Kolton’s numbers, attitude and drive spoke for itself and could not be ignored. A true league legend appeared to be born.

The early exits of Joey and Vinnie Hughes. If you had told me at the start of the season that there would be a falling out that would lead to the in-season exits of Joey and Vinnie Hughes from the Ice, I would have told you that you were crazy. Alas, this appears to have transpired. Suddenly, the brothers went from playing important roles in the team to disappearing into thin air without so much as a word from the team or the Hughes brothers.