2007 AIHL season

2007 AIHL season
League	Australian Ice Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	14 April 2007 – 2 September 2007
Regular season
V.I.P. Cup	Adelaide Avalanche (4th title)
Season MVP	Tommy Powell (Ice)
Top scorer	Brad Wanchulak (69 points) (North Stars)
Goodall Cup
Champions	The Bears
Runners-up	Newcastle North Stars
Finals MVP	Pekka Kankaanranta (The Bears)

The 2007 AIHL season was the eighth season of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). It ran from 14 April 2007 until 26 August 2007, with the Goodall Cup finals following on 1 and 2 September 2007. The Adelaide Avalanche won the V.I.P. Cup after finishing the regular season first in the league standings. The Bears won the Goodall Cup for the second time by defeating the Newcastle North Stars in the final.

Regular season

The regular season began on 14 April 2007 and ran through to 26 August 2007 before the top four teams advanced to compete in the Goodall Cup playoff series.

Standings

Team	GP	W	SOW	SOL	L	GF	GA	GDF	PTS
Adelaide Avalanche	28	17	1	3	7	124	99	+25	56
Melbourne Ice	28	14	4	3	7	111	84	+27	53
Newcastle North Stars	28	13	5	4	6	117	96	+21	53
The Bears	28	14	4	2	7	113	87	+26	49
Brisbane Blue Tongues	28	15	0	4	8	126	111	+15	46
Western Sydney Ice Dogs	28	10	7	1	9	113	99	+14	42
Canberra Knights	28	6	0	2	20	87	132	-45	20
Central Coast Rhinos	28	2	0	2	24	80	163	-83	8

Qualified for the Goodall Cup playoffs

V.I.P. Cup winners

Notes:

Source

Statistics

Scoring leaders

List shows the ten top skaters sorted by points, then goals. Current as of 2 September 2007

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	POS
Brad Wanchulak	Newcastle North Stars	23	31	38	69	26	F
Matt Amado	Brisbane Blue Tongues	20	39	23	62	56	F
Tomas Landa	The Bears	25	20	42	62	49	F
Greg Oddy	Adelaide Avalanche	20	24	19	43	109	F
Ryan Remillard	Adelaide Avalanche	23	22	20	42	24	F
Vladimir Rubes	The Bears	24	15	26	41	34	F
Håkan Olsson	Central Coast Rhinos	22	11	27	38	28	C
Brian Ballman	Adelaide Avalanche	21	17	20	37	40	LW
Robert Starke	Newcastle North Stars	26	7	28	35	67	D
Thomas Powell	Melbourne Ice	23	16	18	34	4	F

Leading goaltenders

Only the top five goaltenders, based on save percentage with a minimum 40% of the team's ice time. Current as of 2 September 2007

Player	Team	MIP	SOG	GA	GAA	SVS%	SO
Matthew Ezzy	Newcastle North Stars	992	674	69	3.48	0.898	3
Lanny Ramage	Western Sydney Ice Dogs	681	431	46	3.38	0.893	0
Pekka Kankaanranta	The Bears	1103	584	69	3.13	0.882	2
Olivier Martin	Adelaide Avalanche	994	594	70	3.52	0.882	1
Stuart Denman	Melbourne Ice	1039	536	66	3.18	0.877	1

Notes

• The Newcastle North Stars vs Canberra Knights game scheduled for 10 June was postponed by six weeks, due to power cuts caused by wild storms.
• The Adelaide Avalanche set an impressive record on 1 July against West Sydney, scoring four goals (all even-strength) in just thirty-four seconds; the comparable record in the NHL is eighty seconds, and is over sixty years old.
• The inaugural MVP award was presented to Tommy Powell of the Melbourne Ice. While Powell ranked only tenth amongst scorers (23 games, 16 goals, 18 assists), he dominated Melbourne's attack during the first half of the season, when they were at their most successful.

Goodall Cup playoffs

The 2007 playoffs was scheduled for 1 September with the Goodall Cup final held on 2 September 2007. Following the end of the regular season the top four teams advanced to the playoff series which was held at the Penrith Ice Palace in Penrith, New South Wales. The series was a single game elimination with the two winning semi-finalists advancing to the Goodall Cup final. The Goodall Cup was won by The Bears (2nd title) who defeated the Newcastle North Stars 3–2 in overtime after the two teams finished regulation time locked at 2–2. Bear's goaltender, Pekka Kankaanranta, was named the finals most valuable player (MVP).

	Semifinals					Final
	1	The Bears	4
	4	Adelaide Avalanche	1
						The Bears		3
						Newcastle North Stars		2
	3	Newcastle North Stars	6
	2	Melbourne Ice	3

All times are UTC+10:00

Semi-finals

1 September 2007 16:00

The Bears

4–1 (2–0, 0–0, 2–1)

Adelaide Avalanche

Penrith Ice Palace

Game reference
	Pekka Kankaanranta	Goalies	Olivier Martin	Referee: Rob Duchemin Linesmen: Tim Bell Gordon Young
	Schlamp (Lovering, Rubes) 1 – 0 Jayawardene (unassisted) 2 – 0 2 – 1 Ballman (SH) (Ryan Remillard) Jayawardene (PP) (unassisted) 3 – 1 Rubes (Schlamp) 4 – 1
	26 min	Penalties	37 min
	25	Shots	29

1 September 2007 19:00

Newcastle North Stars

6–3 (2–0, 2–1, 2–2)

Melbourne Ice

Penrith Ice Palace

Game reference
	Matthew Ezzy	Goalies	Stuart Denman	Referee: David Ast Linesmen: Ivan Manco Tomas Zavisky
	Corcoran (Wanchulak, Starke) 1 – 0 Corcoran (SH) (Wanchulak, Starke) 2 – 0 Corcoran (Smith, Hawkins) 3 – 0 Corcoran (SH) (Wanchulak, Ezzy) 4 – 0 4 – 1 Webster (PP) (Abrams, Matus) Wanchulak (PP) (Corcoran, McKenna) 5 – 1 5 – 2 V.Hughes (Hardy, Street) Corcoran (PP) (McKenna, Hawkins) 6 – 2 6 – 3 Webster (unassisted)
	10 min	Penalties	33 min
	23	Shots	32

Final

2 September 2007 16:00

The Bears

3–2 (OT) (0–0, 1–0, 1–2, 1–0)

Newcastle North Stars

Penrith Ice Palace

Game reference
	Pekka Kankaanranta	Goalies	Matthew Ezzy	Referee: David Ast Linesmen: Ivan Manco Tomas Zavisky
	Rubes (Schlamp) 1 – 0 Jayawardene (Sonter, Nelson-Bond) 2 – 0 2 – 1 Wanchulak (Starke, Smith) 2 – 2 Corcoran (PP) (Starke, Wanchulak) Pasminka (PP) (Rubes, Schlamp) 3 – 2
	14 min	Penalties	16 min
	27	Shots	17

External links

• Official website of the AIHL
• NHL.com's report of Opening Weekend by Rick Williams
• NHL.com's report on the Bears Goodall Cup win by Peter Lambert