2015 AIHL season

The 2015 AIHL season was the 16th season of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). It ran from 25 April 2015, until 23 August 2015, with the Goodall Cup finals following on 29 and 30 August. The Newcastle North Stars won both the H Newman Reid Trophy for finishing first in the regular season, and the Goodall Cup after defeating the Melbourne Ice in the final.

Teams

In 2015 the AIHL had 8 teams competing in the league.

League business

The Gold Coast Blue Tongues licence expired two years after they were suspended from the AIHL due to their inability to organise a new ice rink. In response, the league has started making enquiries in Brisbane to gauge interest in placing a team back in the city. The Central Coast Rhinos who played in the AIHL between 2005 and 2008 applied to re-enter the league at the 2014 Annual General Meeting. Their application however was rejected for undisclosed reasons. The Sydney Bears announced that they were moving from the Sydney Ice Arena to the Penrith Ice Palace. The Bears previously played at the Ice Palace from 2007 to 2011 before relocating to the Ice Arena. The team's move comes after the Ice Arena's land was approved for redevelopment. In January 2015, the Sydney Ice Dogs announced a deal with DGB Media Group to produce a highlights program for their home games which will be aired on the Television Sydney station. On 4 February, the Canberra Institute of Technology announced that they had signed on with the CBR Brave as a major sponsor with a deal that would include the Institutes logo on the team jerseys and their students working with the players as part of their training. The Brave also signed Anytime Fitness as a sleeve sponsor, Benchmarc Financial Group as a pants sponsor and Smoque restaurant as the club's official post match partner. In April 2015, the Sydney Ice Dogs signed Southern Cross Group Services as a new sponsor for the club. In March the league revealed new branding which included a new logo and slogan “Fast, Fierce, Full-on”. The new logo which is designed to represent the Australian Commonwealth star and a blade of an ice hockey stick was developed by Coordinate. The CBR Brave announced that they had established a junior affiliate club, known as the Junior Brave, in conjunction with Ice Hockey ACT to compete in the NSW Midget Ice Hockey League. On 17 March Hards Transport signed a deal with the Adelaide Adrenaline to become the club's naming rights sponsor. In April the Sydney Bears signed a deal with TGI Fridays Macquarie Centre restaurant to sponsor the bar located at the Penrith Ice Palace. They also announced a partnership with apparel company Ryzer for 2015 with the company supplying the home and away uniforms. The league changed one rule for the 2015 season, adopting the hybrid icing rule to allow players to better prepare for International Ice Hockey Federation competitions and mitigate risks associated with end wall collisions.

In May, watchmakers Haigh & Hastings signed a deal with the AIHL to become a sponsor for the 2015 season, expanding their activity in the league with the company already a major sponsor of the Perth Thunder. Also in May the Perth Thunder announced Ryan Laurel Resourcing, Sandalford Wines and Smartclub as a new sponsors of the club and the CBR Brave changed their official post match partner from Smoque restaurant to the Hellenic Club's Trattoria restaurant in order to accommodate the number of fans. In June, Sydney Ice Dogs head coach Anders Jespersen due to unknown reasons and was replaced by Sydney Bears player Mario Passarelli. The head coach position was then handed to Tim Flynn after Passarelli opted to play for the Ice Dogs as a skater. In July, the league signed a deal with TGI Fridays Australia which saw them named as the official restaurant of the AIHL. The deal includes TGI Fridays showing the Fox AIHL Games of the Week and the Melbourne Central restaurant hosting the official after part of the 2015 playoffs. Also in July the Perth Thunder announced that Zarraffa's Coffee and Nova 93.7 had signed on with the club as sponsors.

Exhibition games

The first exhibition game was held on 21 March between the Adelaide Adrenaline and an Ice Hockey South Australia A-Grade All Stars team at the Adelaide Ice Arena. The Adrenaline defeated the All Stars 5–1. In April 2015 the Perth Thunder competed in a three-game exhibition series against the New Zealand national team at the Perth Ice Arena. The three games were held as part of the New Zealand team's preparation for the 2015 IIHF World Championship Division II Group B tournament. The Thunder won the series two games to one, winning the opening two games before being beaten in the third. The Wilson Cup tournament was held for the second year in a row and again featured all three New South Wales based clubs. The number of games was increased from four to seven with a double round-robin being held before a final between the two top ranked teams. The Sydney Bears finished first in the round robin, winning three of their four games, and were drawn against the Newcastle North Stars in the final. The North Stars won the final 4–3, claiming their first Wilson Cup title. On 18 April the Melbourne Ice and Melbourne Mustangs competed in a preseason game at the Medibank Icehouse

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