The Adelaide Avalanche was a
semi-professional
Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a conside ...
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...
club based in the
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
suburb of
Thebarton, South Australia
Thebarton ( ), formerly Theberton, on Kaurna land, is an inner-western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of West Torrens. The suburb is bounded by the River Torrens to the north, Port Road and Bonython Park to the east, Kintore S ...
. The Avalanche, founded in 1999, was a founding member of the
Australian Ice Hockey League
The Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) is Australia's top-level ice hockey league. Established in 2000, the AIHL is sanctioned by Ice Hockey Australia (a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation). The league is run by its own board of ...
(AIHL). The team’s home venue was the
Snowdome Adelaide
The Ice Arena (stylised as IceArenA) is an ice sports and public skate centre, opened on 17 September 1981 and located in Thebarton, Adelaide, South Australia. The Ice Arena is South Australia's premier ice skating facility located just minutes ...
(now known as IceArenA). The Avalanche competed in the AIHL for eight years, from its inaugural season in 2000 until 17 June 2008, when the club was replaced with the Snowdome's own team,
Adelaide A's (later rebranded Adelaide Adrenaline), after its AIHL licence was revoked due to financial issues. During the club's lifetime, the Avalanche won four AIHL premierships and two AIHL championships.
History
Foundation and ECSL (1999–00)
The ''Adelaide Avalanche'' was founded in May 1999 by the Oddy and Thilthorpe families to secure national ice hockey competition for
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 their sons. Steve Oddy and James Thilthorpe headed the fledgling club as owners and directors, Steve Oddy taking on the role of club chairman.
The Avalanche appointed John Botterill as inaugural head coach. He would be assisted by Neil Boyle.
Australian international defenceman, Pavel Bohacik, was appointed the club’s maiden captain.
Adelaide quickly joined the de-facto national league,
East Coast Super League
The East Coast Super League (ECSL), is an ice hockey league in New South Wales, Australia. The league was formed in 2002 by New South Wales Ice Hockey's amalgamation of the former Junior and Senior A leagues. It is Australia's second highest le ...
(ECSL) in 1999, in what would prove to be the
NSW
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
administered ECSL’s last season. The Avalanche’s first ever competitive game was on the road in Sydney against the
Canterbury Eagles. Adelaide defeated the Eagles 7-5 to register the club’s inaugural victory. Steve’s son Greg Oddy led the South Australian outfit’s opening performance, registering two goals. Oddy and Thilthorpe personally arranged and paid for the travel of east coast teams to Adelaide in 1999. On 15 May 1999, Adelaide hosted its first competitive home game at the
Snowdome
The Snowdome is an indoor ski slope just off the A5 road in Tamworth, Staffordshire, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Iris ...
in
Thebarton
Thebarton ( ), formerly Theberton, on Kaurna land, is an inner-western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of West Torrens. The suburb is bounded by the River Torrens to the north, Port Road and Bonython Park to the east, Kintore ...
.
AIHL era (2000–08)
Along with the
Sydney Bears
The Sydney Bears (formally ''Macquarie Bears'') is an Australia, Australian semi-professional ice hockey team from Sydney, New South Wales. Established in 1982, the Bears are the only remaining founding member of the Australian Ice Hockey League ...
and
Canberra Knights
The Canberra Knights were a semi-professional ice hockey team in the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). The team played its home games at the Phillip Swimming & Ice Skating Centre in Phillip, a suburb of Australia's capital city, Canberra. I ...
, the Avalanche were one of the founding members of the AIHL in 2000. They finished first out of the three teams that year and claimed the inaugural AIHL championship. In 2001, the club enjoyed the same success in winning their second consecutive title.
In 2002, the
Melbourne Ice
The Melbourne Ice is an Australian semi-professional ice hockey team from Melbourne, Victoria, based at the Icehouse in the Docklands precinct of central Melbourne. Founded in 2000, the Ice have been a member of the Australian Ice Hockey Leag ...
,
Western Sydney Ice Dogs, and
Newcastle North Stars
The Newcastle Northstars (formally ''Newcastle North Stars'') is an Australian semi-professional ice hockey team from Newcastle, New South Wales. The Northstars are a member of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL), joining as an expansion tea ...
joined the AIHL, expanding it to six teams. The
Goodall Cup
The Goodall Cup is a perpetual trophy that is, currently, annually awarded to the playoff champions of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). The trophy is named after Australian born player John Edwin Goodall who originally donated the cup.
...
, Australia's top prize in ice hockey, also became part of the AIHL that year. Adelaide again finished second in the overall standings and lost to the Bears in the Goodall Cup final.
The Avalanche finished the 2003 season with their fourth straight minor premiership but lost to the Ice Dogs in the first round of a newly introduced four-team playoff system. They would lose in the semifinals again in 2004 to the North Stars in double overtime.
As two more teams—the
Brisbane Blue Tongues
The Gold Coast Blue Tongues (formerly the Brisbane Blue Tongues) was a semi-professional ice hockey team based in Bundall, Queensland, Australia. The team was a member of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). The Blue Tongues were founded in ...
and
Central Coast Rhinos
The Central Coast Rhinos is a semi-professional ice hockey team based in Erina, New South Wales, Australia. The team is a member of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). The team was founded in 2005 as an expansion AIHL team and played in th ...
—entered the league in 2005, the Avalanche returned to dominance by finishing first overall in the regular season standings. The "curse of the minor premiers" again haunted the team. Despite winning through to the Goodall Cup final for the first time in three years, they were defeated 3–1 by the North Stars in that game.
The Avalanche have retooled for 2006 in the quest for their first-ever Goodall Cup, with their current roster boasting
Mighty Roos players Greg Oddy and brothers Ben & Luke Thilthorpe. They finished second after the regular season and hosted the finals series, beating the
Ice Dogs 5–2 to reach the final but losing the final 0-4 to the
North Stars
The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for m ...
.
Members of the Adelaide Avalanche were featured on episode 11 of
Network Ten
Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...
's ''Cyber Shack TV'' on 10 October 2006. Both David Huxley and
Brad Wanchulak played and reviewed the new ''
NHL 2K6
''NHL 2K6'' is an ice hockey simulation made by 2K Sports, and published on the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and Xbox 360 consoles. It features goaltender Marty Turco on the cover of games sold in the United States, and forward Mats Sundin on the cover o ...
'' on
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...
.
The Avalanche came into financial difficulties in 2008, and after being able to host several game at the start of the season, could not meet its road commitments, forcing the team to withdraw from the remainder of the season on 17 June. The team's players were transferred to the newly formed
Adelaide A's, who in a deal with the AIHL was allowed to play the remainder of the Avalanche's season.
In 2022 the name of the Adelaide Avalanche was revived by a new team competing in the
Pacific Hockey League : ''For the 1990s semi-professional ice hockey league, see Pacific Hockey League (1994).''
The Pacific Hockey League was a low-level minor professional hockey league that existed for two seasons in 1977–78, and 1978–79. Its member teams from C ...
.
Season-by-season record
Notes:
Notes References:
Honours
Championships
*AIHL Championships (2000–01)
1
: Champions (2):
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
,
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
: Runners-Up (0):
*
Goodall Cup
The Goodall Cup is a perpetual trophy that is, currently, annually awarded to the playoff champions of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). The trophy is named after Australian born player John Edwin Goodall who originally donated the cup.
...
: Champions (0):
: Runners-Up (3):
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
,
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
,
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
*
V.I.P. Cup
The V.I.P. Cup is a retired trophy that was awarded to the minor premiers of each season in the Australian Ice Hockey League from 2004 to 2009; that is, the team that finishes first overall in the standings at the end of the regular season. The t ...
(2004–07)
2
: Premiers (4):
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
,
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
,
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
,
2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
: Runners-Up (2):
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
,
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
:
1 The first two season's of the AIHL did not have the Goodall Cup
The Goodall Cup is a perpetual trophy that is, currently, annually awarded to the playoff champions of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). The trophy is named after Australian born player John Edwin Goodall who originally donated the cup.
...
as the Championship prize. The Adelaide Avalanche is the only AIHL team to win the AIHL and not be crowned Goodall Cup Champions.
:
2 This list also includes Premierships won prior to the first trophy (VIP Cup) for Premiers came into existence in 2004.
Franchise Awards
Each season, between 1999 and 2007, the Avalanche held an annual awards night where the team awarded a number of player awards.
Players
Last roster
''Team roster for the 2008 AIHL season''
NHL players
''A list of players that have played at least one game for the Avalanche and who have also played at least one game in the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
(NHL).''
References:
International players
''A list of players that have played at least one game for the Avalanche and who have also played at least one game for an international team at the
World Championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
organised by the
IIHF
The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 m ...
.''
References:
Player records
Avalanche all-time, season and game player records.
All-time
Season
Single game
Leaders
Team captains
The Avalanche had three captains in the team's known history. The captain in 1999 and between 2002-03 are currently unknown.
References:
Head coaches
The Avalanche had four head coaches in the team's history.
References:
General managers
The Avalanche had two general manager groups (GMs) in the team's history.
References:
References
External links
Adelaide Avalanche's websiteAIHL official web siteElite Prospects Team Profile
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