The 2016–17 AJIHL season is the fifth

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

of the

Australian Junior Ice Hockey League The Australian Junior Ice Hockey League (AJIHL) is an elite amateur national ice hockey league in Australia, open to players 20 years of age or younger. History The Australian Junior Ice Hockey League was first announced on 18 September 2012 by ...

. It will run from 17 December 2016 until a yet to be determined date in 2017, with the formal structure of the league having been changed to incorporate 3 additional teams, each from a different state or territory. The AJIHL is the highest Australian national junior ice hockey competition.

League business

Ice Hockey Australia The Australian Ice Hockey Federation, currently trading as Ice Hockey Australia (IHA), is the official national governing body of ice hockey in Australia and is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. It was first established in 190 ...

made the announcement that the

would be expanding in the 2016–17 season. It planned to include teams from

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

and

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

into the regular season format after the previous season using a Tier 2 tournament for the 3 new teams. Due to cost of travel after adding 3 additional cities to the league, the season format was changed to a multiple weekend tournament format and the league was divided into 2 conferences. Two other issues faced at the beginning of the season were that there was no ice availability reserved in

Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung–Taungurung language, Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the St ...

to schedule games for the Melbourne Glaciers and Adelaide was again experiencing issues with its main rink cooling system. With the first schedule originally announced and ready for December, the Canberra Junior Brave pulled out of the weekend and it is unknown if they would return later in 2017 in a future weekend tournament. With a shrinking junior talent pool in Melbourne, the Melbourne Whalers suspended operations for the 2016–17 season, leaving only the Melbourne Glaciers to participate. The

Perth Pelicans The Perth Pelicans are an Australian junior ice hockey team based in Perth, Western Australia playing in the Australian Junior Ice Hockey League. They represent one of the two junior ice hockey teams from Western Australia currently playing in ...

would also suspend operations for the 2016–17 season, leaving the

Perth Sharks The Perth Sharks are an Australian junior ice hockey team based in Perth, Western Australia playing in the Australian Junior Ice Hockey League. They represent one of the two junior ice hockey teams from Western Australia currently playing in t ...

as the only representation for junior talent in Western Australia.

Exhibition Games

Exhibition games were planned for both the

Sydney Sabres The Sydney Sabres are an Australian junior ice hockey team based in Sydney playing in the Australian Junior Ice Hockey League. They represent one of the two junior ice hockey teams from New South Wales currently playing in the AJIHL, which is th ...

and the

Sydney Wolf Pack The Sydney Wolf Pack are an Australian junior ice hockey team based in Sydney playing in the Australian Junior Ice Hockey League. They represent one of the two junior ice hockey teams from New South Wales currently playing in the AJIHL, which is ...

to keep the teams active as neither team had any training sessions allocated for them to use. These games did not count as regular season games.

February

Regular season

The regular season began on 15 December 2016 and will run as a weekend style tournament format for 2017.

December

January

March

April

Standings

''Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; SW = Shootout Wins; SL = Shootout losses; L = Losses; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GDF = Goal differential; PTS = Points'' The regular season league standings are as follows:

References

External links

Ice Hockey AustraliaAJIHL Coverage - Hewitt Sports
{{DEFAULTSORT:2016-17 AJIHL season

AJIHL The Australian Junior Ice Hockey League (AJIHL) is an elite amateur national ice hockey league in Australia, open to players 20 years of age or younger. History The Australian Junior Ice Hockey League was first announced on 18 September 2012 by ...

Australian Junior Ice Hockey League