| Sydney Ice Dogs | |
|---|---|
| City | Liverpool, New South Wales |
| League | AIHL |
| Founded | 2002 |
| Home arena | Catholic Club’s ice rink |
| Colors | Burgundy, blue, silver and white |
| General manager | Doug Flynn |
| Head coach | Anthony Wilson |
| Franchise history | |
| 2002-2009 | Western Sydney Ice Dogs |
| 2009-present | Sydney Ice Dogs |
The Sydney Ice Dogs (sometimes the "Western" as well as "The Dogs") are a semi-professional ice hockey team in the Australian Ice Hockey League. The team plays its home games at the Catholic Club’s ice rink in Liverpool, New South Wales, a suburb of south-western Sydney.
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The Ice Dogs (along with the Melbourne Ice and Newcastle North Stars) were part of a three-team expansion to the AIHL in 2002 and rose to quick success, winning the Goodall Cup in 2004. Ice hockey in Western Sydney goes back to 1981, when the Blacktown Flyers were a foundation member of the New South Wales Superleague. While lasting for thirteen seasons, this league struggled to gain stability and folded, to be reborn in 1994 as the ECSL, however it too would be disbanded in 2000 with Western Sydney having no representative in the newly-formed AIHL.
The region returned to the national ice hockey map in 2002 when the Ice Dogs joined the AIHL. John Wilson owner of the Blacktown Ice arena would fund the team and Anthony Wilson his son and Captain of the team at that time would manage, recruit and play on the team. Their first season was a success as they finished third out of six teams, quite ironic that the Sydney Bears minuted that the Ice Dogs would not be competitive. It would not be enough to gain them a place in the finals, however, as a four-team playoff would not be introduced until the 2003 season.
The Ice Dogs defeated the Adelaide Avalanche to reach the Goodall Cup final in 2003, but lost the championship game 4-1 to Newcastle. They would have their revenge in 2004, as both teams again squared off for the Cup and the Ice Dogs won 3-1. The 18 year old goaltender Gabriel Robledo was instrumental in Ice Dogs Finals win. A healthy rivalry between the Ice Dogs and the North Stars arose from these two championship games. 2 star imports that season was John Heinen and Martin Jesko.
At the start of the 2009 season the team was renamed to "Sydney Ice Dogs", dropping the Western part of the title.[1] This also coincided with the complete redesign and re-launch of their website early in the 2009 season. Updated news and feature articles were a regular offering via the dedicated blog named, "Give a Dog a Blog". In 2010, the website promises of a new section for video highlights of home games tentatively named 'Ice Dogs TV'.
| Season | GP | W | T1 | OTW2 | OTL2 | L | GF | GA | PTS | Finish | Playoff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 15 | 8 | 1 | – | – | 6 | 54 | 48 | 17 | 3 | Did not qualify |
| 2003 | 7 | 4 | 0 | – | – | 23 | 38 | 24 | 8 | 3 | Won semi-finals vs. Adelaide Avalanche Lost in Goodall Cup final vs. Newcastle North Stars, 4–1 |
| 2004 | 19 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 92 | 71 | 32 | 2 | Won semi-finals vs. Sydney Bears, 5–4 Won Goodall Cup final vs. Newcastle North Stars, 3–1 |
| 2005 | 26 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 105 | 110 | 40 | 3 | Lost in semi-finals vs. Newcastle North Stars |
| 2006 | 28 | 18 | – | 1 | 0 | 9 | 95 | 82 | 56 | 3 | Lost in semi-finals vs. Adelaide Avalanche, 2–5 |
| 2007 | 28 | 10 | – | 7 | 1 | 10 | 105 | 93 | 42 | 6 | Did not qualify |
| 2008 | 28 | 15 | – | 4 | 1 | 8 | 126 | 91 | 54 | 2 | Won semi-finals vs. Melbourne Ice, 2–1 Lost Goodall Cup final vs. Newcastle North Stars, 1–4 |
| 2009 | 24 | 10 | – | 1 | 2 | 11 | 87 | 90 | 34 | 5 | Did not qualify |
| 2010 | 24 | 4 | – | 0 | 3 | 17 | 74 | 120 | 15 | 7 | Did not qualify |
| 2011 | 28 | 17 | – | 2 | 0 | 9 | 124 | 90 | 55 | 3 | Lost in semi-finals vs. Newcastle North Stars, 2–5 |
Team roster for the 2011 AIHL season[3][4]
| # | Nat | Name | Pos | Date of Birth | Acquired | Birthplace |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | Mitch Bye[I] | F | 1988 | 2011 | Burlington, Canada | |
| 10 | Billy Cliff | F | 10 October 1992 | 2008 | Sydney, Australia | |
| 34 | Colin Downie[I] | G | 16 May 1973 | 2011 | Kirkcaldy, Scotland | |
| 14 | David Dunwoodie | F | 13 November 1985 | 2007 | Hamilton, New Zealand | |
| 11 | Brian Funes | D | 3 January 1991 | 2011 | Sydney, Australia | |
| 2 | Ricky Helmbrecht[I] | D | 21 March 1985 | 2011 | Odessa, United States | |
| 1 | James Herbert | G | 1985 | 2005 | Sydney, Australia | |
| 7 | Scott Herbert | F | 5 May 1988 | 2006 | Sydney, Australia | |
| 22 | Patrick Hornacek | F | 1976 | 2002 | Bratislava, Czechoslovakia | |
| 34 | Rhett Kelly | G | 29 June 1994 | 2011 | ||
| 20 | Robert Malloy[I] | F | 20 November 1986 | 2011 | Cheshire, United States | |
| 8 | Tomas Manco | D | 19 January 1988 | 2007 | Brezno, Czechoslovakia | |
| 77 | Shannon McGregor | D | 25 May 1991 | 2008 | Sydney, Australia | |
| 17 | Matt Monaghan[I] | F | 21 September 1983 | 2009 | Chicago, United States | |
| 86 | Brook Robson[I] | F | 14 January 1986 | 2011 | Winnipeg, Canada | |
| 12 | Christopher Sekura | F | 31 October 1975 | 2003 | Taber, Canada | |
| 19 | Scott Stephenson | F | 12 July 1985 | 2004 | Sydney, Australia | |
| 18 | Todd Stephenson | F | 9 June 1988 | 2004 | Sydney, Australia | |
| 71 | Brett Thomas | F | 24 August 1977 | 2004 | Manly, Australia | |
| 6 | Brendan Tripp | F | 2010 | Penrith, Australia | ||
| 2 | Nathan Walker | F | 7 February 1994 | 2010 | Wales | |
| 3 | Anthony Wilson | D | 20 August 1973 | 2003 | Sydney, Australia | |
| 15 | Andrew White | D | 30 June 1983 | 2003 | Sydney, Australia |
^ I Import player.
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