Pro Hockey in Australia - What is the AIHL and how good is it?
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- čas přidán 7. 07. 2024
- Pro Hockey in Australia? Yes, kinda, technically, it's real. Here we have a chat about the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) from a players perspective, some quirks and features of the league, how the league runs, where it sits in the landscape of elite hockey and my take on the league as a player.
The AIHL has been around for 20 years and has paved the way for elite ice hockey in the country. From a league of four teams in 2002 it has grown to nine and now eight full teams stretching across the continent. The level of play has gone from a mid tier senior mens league to an elite competitive league comparable to the level of Minor Pro in other non-traditional hockey countries. Undoubtedly the league has grown the game, given a high quality league for fans to appreciate and given elite players in the country a place to practice their talents and step into other leagues overseas.
However, as the league has grown and moved towards a more professional structure, not all teams have been able to capitalize and inequality between teams in the league is stark with some teams affording to pay almost all players and other teams requiring players to pay their registrations and travel expenses. Also the venue availability, venue quality, league marketing and ability for players to commit fully to the game are factors that are holding the league back and don't look to be getting overcome any time soon.
I was been a part of the AIHL for four seasons and have since moved over to the new Semi-Professional league in Australia called the Pacific Hockey League. Follow my year through Semi-pro hockey in Australia in my "Aussie Semi-Pro Hockey Life" Vlog series which can be found from my channel.
If you like this video please give me a like and subscribe for more Australian Ice Hockey Content!
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0:00 Intro
0:04 Teams and schedule
1:44 Imports and rosters
3:20 Arenas
5:09 Pay and benefits
7:30 Level of play
8:30 Why isn't it better?
10:50 Australia is very far away
11:40 Good and bad
12:38 As a player - Sport
Hockey crazy Canadian here who has been watching the AIHL since finals weekend 2012 and watched every livestreamed gamed since then. I have to say the league's growth since I started watching has been a joy to watch and I hope to continue to see it grow in the future. In the years of watching I have seen several Junior A and college players that I watched here in Alberta play down under including Hayden Dawes, Curtis Skip, Felix-Antoine Poulin, Beau Taylor and Connor McLaughlin to name a few. Honestly I find the league very enjoyable to watch and I know for us over in North America the games are very late but I definitely say they are worth staying up to watch. I know the Thunder and Adrenaline dropped out for this season but can't wait for next season when hopefully there is ten full time teams and hopefully a 36 game regular season so we get even more hockey from down under. But regardless I'm still looking forward to this season with six full time teams which about to get underway in a few hours. GO ICE!
Respect buddy 👊
If the NHL invested money here it could really work. Not a lot of venues for a team to tour though. But if they could put a temporary ice venue in one of our basketball arenas, there’d be a chance
I live in Japan and watch the Asian League here. But I miss watching live Canucks hockey. Happy Australia has a good league.
Very interesting. It’s great how you are raising some attention to the leagues out that way. I had never really heard much about these leagues until you started making videos. It’s VERY interesting seeing how the hockey operates over there as I’ve had the chance to climb the hockey ranks in Ontario and play through the system you were talking about (Minor, AAA, Junior, etc). Love the videos. Cant wait for the in-season videos!
Thanks dude! Yeah that lack of a development pathway is an issue, and because it's so difficult to find places to play overseas that is actually good quality hockey (especially for goaltenders) and the cost of doing that, really limits the pipeline of guys coming through to build that elite player base.
I always tell my kids we are so fortunate in our small Canadian town with 7 rinks to go to and our own Junior A team. I got back into hockey myself to help my kids on the ice and even joined a hockey adult school that runs a serious practice for many adult players who play in beer leagues 🍺. I could play everyday as an adult in local drop in sessions supported by the town or practice drills in my backyard outdoor rink. If I was super wealthy, I would help out the hockey scene in Australia. The game is just incredible.
Great video, looking forward to future ones
Thanks mate! Will be bringing out videos just like this but for both PHL and NHSL so keep an eye out for those!
Good video- very informative on the league down there.
Years ago, I used to read "Goal" magazine.
In the early 80's, they profiled a "semi-pro" league down there.
If I remember correctly, one of the teams was called the Flyers...
Great insight buddy, hopefully things get better 👍
perfect answer to my question, thank you
Listening to this while ice skating on the Bradbury rink at O’Brien icehouse in Melbourne
Just came across your channel by mistake looking for the Livestream for the PHL starting yesterday. Binged a few of your videos and have gotten so happy!! This is amazing! A player sharing their experience and live as a hockey player here in Australia. As still a grassroots sport in Australia, it is quite hard for fans with no inside scoop, connections within the game to really understand all things hockey in Australia. I mean the AIHL has always run the league with so many secrets and the fans are sooo often left in the dark about what is happening. Thank you!! Thank you for having a passion for the game as I do and wanting very much for the game to grow and teach professional level. You having a channel to create videos and share knowledge and inside scoop about developments on things happening is just really exciting!! P.S looking forward to going to today's game of the Coast and witnessing my first live match or the PHL. I was very sceptical at first but your interesting take on the league in your previous video actually makes me excited about the potential for the PHL to push the AIHL into exciting avenues and progress. We can already see that with Brisbane and CC being introduced within a matter of months after the PHL was announced. See what can be done with just some competitiveness. let's go!!
sorry for the long message...but just wanted to say how excited I am about your channel and watching your passion for the game
Cool video Tom. I think I remember you in the early -mid 2000s training with my young son Josh at Newcastle. That was the days of Al the goalie coach.
Interesting video! Greetings from Finland!
Great video mate, glad you decided to put up this video. Also great to see your subscribers number increasing week by week.
For another video, just cause i love these ones, how about a "What's in the bag?", and maybe a bit about the access to gear we have/don't necessarily have. (Average 1 shop per state, most gear bought overseas not via these shops etc)
Keep up the great work!!
Thanks heaps! Yes will do one for sure, thanks for the suggestion! I'll talk to the hockey shop situation in my next video 👍
Thanks for the support!!!
I've loved hockey since I was a kid watching Mighty Ducks day after day. I just wish it was more mainstream. It's such a fun and great sport to watch AND play! So much better than watching a ball getting kicked around.
I have a buddy from Brisbane who I've been trying to get into Ice Hockey, The biggest issue with getting him into it is that there wasn't a team until I started seeing this year with the Lightning. I do think a big thing to try to do is for some teams to try and have a "Junior Hockey" program like I see a lot of the local semi pro teams have here in the states. The biggest problem though is that there's not any ice rinks really anywhere in Australia. The AIHL and the PHL could start trying to get new ice rinks in some of the smaller cities. that may not have as many people and you don't need much, Capacity to play some kind of Hockey and a small place for spectators. the biggest cost would be just the building itself and the equipment to run things. tbf the best place to do this is probably in Malls but idk, I'm from the US and I don't know the ins and outs of Australia like other people would. it's hard to tell what to do when I'm basing everything off just my own experience in the US.
I played a national tournament at the ice house it was amazing. Such a good rink
Who are you?
Thanks for the info and can't wait to watch some games live when we visit from Canada. I'm wondering if there are rec leagues, or just pick-up for older adults in OZ. Wondering if I should drag my hockey equipment across the ocean when we visit in 2023
Great video. Lots of information. Looking forward to Pacific Hockey League videos. Do you know much about the National Hockey Super League ?
Not as much as I would like, I have reached out to the league for a chat but haven't got anything back. I am also planning on putting a video like this together for both NHSL and PHL but need more info before I do. I will probably have a chat to come guys I know who played to get some info for a video, but I am also wary about speaking to something I don't have an ok the ground appreciation for, especially in the NHSL case with everything that's going down in Adelaide right now. Last thing I want to do is stir controversy, just want to educate and bring more transparency into the game in Australia.
I play ice hockey in melbourne and obrien is so good to play on compared to the other rinks oakleigh is so run down feeling but it is so fun
I grew up playing hockey in Auckland New Zealand. I played a lot during my early teenage years and played in what was then, the premier league. This was before NZIHL even existed. Had two rinks near my home. Now living in Australia for 10 years. I use to go to scrummages at Sydney ice arena but it closed down, lost their lease. From my experience playing hockey in Sydney is next to impossible. The rinks get little public support, they are hard to get too, ice time is hard to come by. Playing hockey in New Zealand in comparison was a lot easier. I got stacks of ice time. It's hard playing the game in Australia for all the valid reasons you discussed. If you want to develop to a high level you must play overseas in a hockey nation. I still love the game and would play again in a heartbeat if they built a rink in the West Sydney Hills area. Unfortunately, this probably will never happen. Good video by the way.,very informative. Well done.
Thanks mate! Yeah I don't envy Sydney players, and I think it's difficult for fans too. When I was young I played at Sydney arena, Blacktown etc and seemed to be a bit more accessible. Spending time in Melbourne it's a lot easier with the icehouse and you can see it in the game attendance
Such a beautiful sport. Beautiful to watch. Its truly the only sport that gets my attention, and I'm really disappointed that it doesn't have a stronger profile in this country.
It’s the only sport my wife will watch with me, it easily holds her attention where nothing else does
Problem is the NHL doesn’t invest money overseas. A lot of people hate soccer here and are pissed that the NBL got rid of their teams
@@sliat1981 I read somewhere that the NHL does, or used to, give a token amount to the AIHL annually. My guess is that the NHL expects Australian Ice Hockey to get to stand on its own feet moreso first, before any further support will be offered.
@@dancingchicken4141 if they do it hasn’t been enough. Lots of people here hate soccer and cricket and need a break force on football once in a while
One of the players on the mustangs played for the Canterbury Red Devils in the nzihl Bradley Apps
The AIHL as an organisation really does nothing to build the sport. And you are right there are a lot of contributing factors to that, but at the end of the day it is not the job of rink owners, team sponsors or anyone else to build hockey here, it is the AIHLs. They need to stop getting in their own way and stop treating issues as 'too hard'.
Fining the Bears for rightfully being pissed off and forfeited because medical staff were nowhere to be seen when no points were at stake (CBR fan but against idiocy) says something about higher ups. They need to stop the cowboy players.
Very similar league structure to the British elite league. Hopefully the city's hosting 2 teams can build solid rivalries as these are crucial to further development. The imports wilbe crucial to raising the skill set and in Britain we found guys from the ECHL suited our game really well. It would be wise to bring in solid goalies to complement the home grown fellas as the inflated GAA can hurt confidence for future development. I recently found the NZ league and really enjoyed it. Hope your league does the same for the sport there and I wilbe watching with interest. If you Aussies get into it like the other sports it will really take off. 😊
Most goalies in AIHL are Imports, however that's causes its own issues because you really limit the ability for locals to get any kind of experience at that level then you have no high end local talent. I can't see the AIHL making meaningful changes, and maybe I'll get proven wrong on that, but the PHL which is a new league is building towards an EIHL like league. I'll be doing a video on the PHL (which is the league I play now) in the next week or two so keep and eye out for that!
@@Lasher75 The ideal solution would be to limit each team to 1 import goalie and 1 homegrown in each roster. The import vet would help teach the younger guys whilst helping keep games competitive. Back before import goalies became a thing in Britain our guys would regularly concede in excess of 7-8 goals in a win. Confidence remains low and errors magnified. A more moderate 3-4 GAA helps to improve defence and raise save percentages. More people start to play and homegrown talent increases and improves. Britain has grown (despite a few hiccups) rapidly over 25 years and is still fairly low key but sustainable and competitive in both domestic, European and international settings.
@@1bert719 access to adequate elite level coaching and having a stepping stone is a critical element for locals to break into those top leagues. You can't expect a goalie to go from what would be AA minor hoxkey level to playing with professionals, there is too much change in the way the game is played, the reads and the speed for most to do it successfully. Keeping in mind it's not the same as a young player that can hop on a 4th line, goalies have to face those imports every shift they are on the ice. NZ have a 60/40 rule requiring local goalies to play 40% of a seasons minutes which I think is great. But you also need the buy in from the local goalies to actually develop to that level where they can take the reins, I think we have a few in Australia at the moment which are in that place, but without the prospect of a paycheck someday and limited resources and assistance from teams it's difficult. That development aspect needs to be an integral part of the way the league operates.
@@Lasher75 This is true, back in the 90's in Britain we had a 3 import rule and often imported canadians forwards who were versatile. These would match up to the opponents imports whilst the rest of the lineup would be amateurs. We were often horrible out matched. We then went too far the other way with almost total imports that was far too expensive and ultimately collapsed the league, proving detrimental to the national set up. The current elite league format and semi pro national league feeder has allowed the sport to evolve. Britain (like Australia) has very few quality rinks and limited access to them. I played semi pro and would often play matches between 12 midnight and 6am before a days work.
The league once established will grow naturally (with caution) but a lot of thankless work must be put in by unpaid guys like yourself doing it for the love. It is a similar story with the many abortive attempts in north America with various womens leagues.
Nah its nothing like Britain. It’s based off the NHL
Excellent points. I'll add some additional problems that you missed, since imports are only a fraction of the players, here is what the bulk have to contend with:
1) Developing players and AAA quality players in their teens are housed on the same teams. By developing, I mean "Still learning to skate, can't lift the puck and can barely hockey stop". The lack of differentiation prevents better players from developing further as they are lulled in to a false sense of skill by easily being unchallenged typically by 95% of another team. Single players scoring 90% of a teams goals are common.
2) Clubs are run by volunteers, parents. Frequently this is solely to benefit their own kids, and very frequently opportunities are hidden from clubs own players. Your ability to join a club often boils down to your kids relationship with the club president\secretary's kids, their history, backstory, etc. Transfer decisions are frequently blocked as "your kids will make my kid look bad as they will be on the same team.". Once I saw a player blocked simple because there would be a clash on numbers. Bonkers. The sport is so small that you 100% will have some kind of 'relationship' with people from another club. If you beat them at the grand final last year, yes, that may count against you, or for you.
3) State and national authorities don't even bother contacting top players for national or international tournaments. Back channels of connected people are the only ways people even know something is available. Ice Hockey Australia recently 'advertised' for an international team nowhere other than their own website, at Christmas. States and Clubs were not even aware that the applications were conducted until after the windows were closed. How the hell does this even happen?
4) Referees do not honour IIHF standards when facilitating games. They have 'personal judgements' which diverge significantly from real international standards. International transfers would be at best confused by the calls, and worst simply laugh at them. One game in the past month had almost 20 penalties issued. No fights, no bad play. Another time I gathered statistics that one ref would swing 5:1 towards his own local club when making calls.
5) Oversized personalities dominate the sport. You cannot possibly have an expectation that a coach will have the players and teams best interests at heart. You can hope, and you might get lucky, you equally likely to get unlucky. Too many people who have been resident in the space for decades control what goes on via preference, not via any formula or rules or standards. You disagree with the call you just cut yourself off from half the teams as you risk being blacklisted.
6) Coaches in Australia seem unwilling or incapable of teaching systems and positional hockey so what we get is players who can skate and carry the puck and shoot. Passing becomes optional, nobody is in position, D's will be behind the nets 50% of the time. The most limited setups players come up with in the moment. You'll be amazed if a coach even covers a single breakout drill.
7) Secrets, special leagues, back channel comms, who you know and are you on 'good terms', extra training, special events... it's a maze you are can't see it. If you are not connected, you are left out. If you are a competitor, you are left out deliberately.
This is all of the junior grades from mites and atoms through to Midgets(u18). Australian players can try as hard as they want. Improve their fitness to peaks athletic standards, sink 100's of pucks a day, hours of golf ball work but still not even experience basic hockey IQ that north American peewees would be taught and the complicated mess above is borderline intolerable to navigate. So many players and families just leave because they just don't want to play politics or else be on the losing end of the stick 100% of the time.
The true tragedy of all this is that so many players want to be their best, to improve themselves but the complete lack of structure, standards and capability leaves ALL junior players in a state of being completely unprepared to compete in AIHL competition. Due to this, the parents of talented players have ONLY one option, send their the kids overseas. Once they do however... look around, how many kids go overseas, come back for the holidays and just refuse to be a part of the locals seasons.
The AIHL at best can select from those that fail to start a professional career and come home and few imports. The bulk of players arise in the unstructured mess presented above however and very few make the jump as they have been failed for years to develop in the ways necessary. It's a troubling situation and I have no solution.
You can never expect ice hockey in australia to be anything more than a recreational amatuer league. Its all about the development resources and infrastructure you have in place. Just as you would expect AFL leagues in north america or europe to develop beyond a few hobbyists and expats. Case point Adelaide Crows Forward Riley Thilthorpe who was pick 2 in the AFL draft has a father who played ice hockey for australia. If he grew up in Canada or Scandinavia he'd probably be an ice hockey player. Its all about geography and where your best talent gets directed to.
cool Australia has hockey
Somewhat agree. Doing the red eye is not fun the aihl is tough for everyone. Having been involved with the Dogs during their darkest times I witnessed a lot of ego’s who were happy to loose a team. If it hadn’t been for a few of the other clubs support we wouldn’t of made it. We had a couple of kiwis which played really well. It was always my view that we needed to work more closely with our kiwi friends to build both competitions and allow for more midget/pew wee and bantam exposure. But this view was shouted down by the aihl at the time. I note with interest that the pacific league will be having a kiwi team. Oh you forgot to mention academic scholarships…hmmmm. The issue stems from ‘grass roots’. There is no direct link from beginners to elite. Itried to establish a plan through lcc into the dogs but once again ego’s got in the way and it just wasn’t worth it.given the falling numbers across Australia I fear are league will continue to go backwards.
Thanks for the input, I totally agree that the steppingstone between minor and AI is one of the biggest issues. The link with NZ will be a great one to develop in PHL, and totally overdue. Combining those two fanbases will bring a massive boost collectively and brew some great rivalry. Hit me up on Instagram I would love to hear more about your experience with dogs and LCC, the more informal sharing the better picture we can build and inform people moving forward.
20 indoor ice rinks in Australia is still pretty good considering its not a traditional sporting venue for the locals. I think Canada has something like just under 2900 indoor ice rinks which is the difference between the two countries - Canadians being nuts for hockey from an early age. Of course climate has something to do with it as well with Canada having about 5000 outdoor rinks also - something that Aussie weather probably doesn't allow.
It's not exactly a huge number when you consider that the Dallas Stars alone own and operate 8 Dallas Star Centers that combine for a total of 20 sheets of ice in the DFW area alone.
The AFL spends millions each year trying to develop the game overseas. Why doesn’t the NHL (which is a billion dollar franchise) spend some money developing it here? It has a lot of potential here. Most people I know like or have an interest in it.
Look what happened to Basketball. In the 70’s it was a minor sport and look at it now. Now the highest participation spot in the sporting capital (Melbourne). You see people all over Australia in NBA jerseys. All with America investing money in it over here
Didn’t know there were Australians playing division two in Sweden. Division two is the fourth highest league and consists of a number of regional leagues, don’t even know how many. Still, not bad coming all the way from Australia…
Italian passport looking to prove to the world that Ushuaia Argentina has skilled hockey players.
Alejo Uriel Mistraletti
24/6/2005
182cm 75kl
Looking for an opertunity
In sweden its SHL
This is going to be my summer league for betting, Bet MGM offers AIHL lines
I think Ice HQ is purpose built.
Good shout, spot on with that mate!
Great vid BTW :) 👌
@@lastboyscoutNZ thanks mate!
Purpose retrofitted would be more accurate
i hope the two leagues put their differences aside and stop gatekeeping ice hockey in aus.. there is enough talent and money to have a 16 round 12 team season. lets stop fucking around..
What your discerning in called beer league