The 2023–24 AWIHL season is the 15th season of the Australian Women's Ice Hockey League (AWIHL). It ran from 28 October 2023 until 10 March 2024. Five teams competed in 40 regular season games followed by 4 playoff games, making up the AWIHL Finals weekend. The Perth Inferno claimed the Gower Memorial Shield premiership title, their maiden title, for finishing top of the regular season standings. The Melbourne Ice claimed their eighth Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy championship title by winning the grand final. Perth Inferno collected silver with Adelaide Rush claimed bronze. Defending champions, the Sydney Sirens, claimed the wooden spoon.
Teams
In 2023–24 the AWIHL had five teams from five Australian state capital cities competing, stretching east to west of the continent.[1]
Ahead of the 2023–24 season, IceHQ's Melbourne Ducks announced their bid to join the AWIHL.[2] The official AWIHL gameday schedule was released in early September 2023.[3] The season structure was amended from 2022 to 2023, with each team now playing eight home and eight away games for a total of sixteen games over the regular season. An increase from the previous six home and away games.[4] The trophy for the Premiership, winners of the regular season, was also amended in 2023. The Gower Memorial Shield replaced the previous Premiers trophy, the Stephanie Boxall Trophy.[5] In late September, the AWIHL broadcast partner, Clutch.TV, went into administration and ceased all operations.[6] The league was left little time to look for a new broadcaster for season 2023–24. On 24 October, the AWIHL announced a deal with Sportscast Australia to become the league's new broadcast partner for season 2023–24.[7] A few days later the AWIHL and Sportscast Australia launched AWIHL.TV to deliver region-unlocked live and on-demand streaming of all regular season and finals games on a custom built website and YouTube.[8] In January 2024, the AWIHL announced player equipment rule changes and a new equipment supplier agreement with Skaters Network.[9] Neck laceration protective equipment was made mandatory, bringing the league into policy alignment with Ice Hockey Australia (IHA) and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).[10] The deal with Skaters network, also covers sponsorship of player of the month and end of season player awards.[9]
Exhibition games
To support the Melbourne Ducks application to join the league, the AWIHL approved the team to setup an exhibition series against existing AWIHL teams, including the Sydney Sirens, Melbourne Ice and Adelaide Rush, during season 2023–24.[11] The Sydney Sirens also arranged a pre-season exhibition against a select team from their sponsor Wayward Brewing Company[12]
Running between 28 October 2023 and 25 February 2024, the AWIHL regular season consisted of 40 games in total, with teams playing 16 games each.[3] Game 34 of the regular season was first postponed and then cancelled by the AWIHL following a carbon monoxide poisoning incident at Adelaide’s IceArenA.[13] At least 42 people, including players from both AWIHL teams, were treated for poisoning with dozens hospitalised by the incident.[14] The LPG gas-powered Zamboni was identified as the source of the leak that led to the poisoning.[15] The game was declared a tie with each team awarded one point each.[16]
Source: AWIHLElite 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
Player stats
The season's league leader statistics for skaters and goaltenders.[17]
Goals
No.
Name
Pos
G
1
Elizabeth Scala
Forward
22
2
Sarah Edney
Forward
22
3
Emma Wuthrich
Forward
15
4
Sharna Godfrey
Forward
14
5
Danielle Butler
Forward
14
Assists
No.
Name
Pos
A
1
Michelle Clark-Crumpton
Forward
27
2
Sara Sammons
Forward
24
3
Ashlie Aparicio
Forward
23
4
Sharna Godfrey
Forward
17
5
Kaitlyn Malthaner
Forward
15
Points
No.
Name
Pos
P
1
Michelle Clark-Crumpton
Forward
38
2
Sara Sammons
Forward
33
3
Sharna Godfrey
Forward
31
4
Ashlie Aparicio
Forward
31
5
Elizabeth Scala
Forward
29
Penalty minutes
No.
Name
Pos
PIM
1
Maya Tupper
Defender
41
2
Emma Wuthrich
Forward
39
3
Samantha Brophy
Defender
37
4
Molly Lukowiak
Forward
26
5
Gabrielle Arps
Defender
26
Save percentage
No.
Name
Pos
SV%
1
Sasha King
Goaltender
.923
2
Madison Smith
Goaltender
.888
3
Emma Moonen
Goaltender
.875
4
Katie Meyer
Goaltender
.868
5
Makayla Peers
Goaltender
.859
Goals against average
No.
Name
Pos
GAA
1
Sasha King
Goaltender
2.86
2
Katie Meyer
Goaltender
3.23
3
Madison Smith
Goaltender
3.40
4
Emma Moonen
Goaltender
3.85
5
Amelia Knott
Goaltender
4.60
Season awards
Below lists the 2023–24 AWIHL regular season league award winners.[18]
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 playoff and grand final is played on the Sunday.[19] The prize for being crowned AWIHL Champions for winning the grand final is the Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy.[20]
In 2023–24, the Inferno, Rush, Ice and Lightning qualified for the finals weekend.[21] The event was held on the weekend of 9–10 March 2024 in host city Melbourne at O’Brien Icehouse.[22] Perth and Melbourne won the semi-final games on Saturday to progress to the grand final on Sunday.[23] The defeated teams, Adelaide and Brisbane, progressed to the bronze medal game on Sunday.[23] In the third-place play-off, the Adelaide Rush defeated the Brisbane Lightning to clinch the bronze medal. In the grand final, the regular season Premiers were defeated in an upset to the Melbourne Ice. The surprise victory for the Ice saw them hoist the Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy for a record setting eighth time.[24] After the grand final, Danielle Butler, of the Melbourne Ice, was named AWIHL Finals MVP.[18]
^Macdougall, Andrew (11 February 2024). "AWIHL game postponed". hockeyhypeaustralia.com.au. Archived from the original on 12 February 2024. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
^ abcCollins, Lee (10 March 2024). "2023–24 AWIHL season awards". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. Archived from the original on 10 March 2024. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
