Playing Ice Hockey In Australia

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The Sydney Bears have been Goodall Cup Champions 3 times (2001, 2002 & 2007) since the league officially started in 2000.

League

The Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) is the biggest league in the southern hemisphere and is Australia's highest level of ice hockey. The AIHL is made up of 8 teams spanning across 4 different states, Sydney Bears (NSW), Canberra Knights (ACT), Newcastle North Stars (NSW), Sydney Ice Dogs (NSW), Adelaide Adrenaline (SA), Melbourne Ice (VIC), The Mustangs (VIC) and Gold Coast Blue Tongues (QLD).

The AIHL is non professional and abides by NCAA and CIS regulations. Players are not permitted to receive a salary including both local and import players.

The AIHL is difficult to compare with overseas leagues due to the wide variation of caliber between players. Most teams carry three lines, the first line mostly consisting of import players or imports that have become Australian residents, the second line is made up of elite Australian players, and the third line of upcoming prospects and junior players.

Lifestyle

Sydney is located on the eastern coast of Australian. Mixed into the city sky scrapers, Sydney boasts some of the world’s most iconic surfing beaches such as Bondi and Manly beach and premium golf courses are also located in and around the city landscape.

We make a huge effort to ensure our imports experience the Australian culture and lifestyle with numerous team social events organised during the season and the organising of extend holidays before and after interstate road trips.

Season

The season consists of 24 games starting at the end of April and running through to the start of September, all games are played on the weekend. Each team plays two games at home and two games away with each of the other teams, in some cases double point games are played to reduce travel costs for teams with increased travel schedules.

The finals are held over a single weekend in the last weekend of August or 1st weekend in September.

Imports

Each team in the AIHL is allowed to register six import players, however only four can be on a game sheet at any AIHL game. The maximum number of imports position available in the AIHL is 42, of those only 28 are active players. To be a non import player you need to hold an Australian citizenship or permanent Australian resident status.

As a guide, most Sydney Bears imports have played in professional leagues such as the IHL, ECHL, CHL, SPHL, French, Dutch, Italian or Asian leagues. College and University players are also welcome from CIS/NCAA Div I and Div III teams.

All import players wanting to play in the AIHL must have an ITC (International Transfer Clearance) card. To gain an ITC card you must obtain a release letter from the last club you played at, please click hereto view a sample release letter.

The time commitment required by imports is an arrival in Australia by late April; later arrival can be negotiated depending on your playoff commitments. All imports are required to stay till the end of the first week in September.

If you are considering becoming an import player and would like to play for the Sydney Bears, please send an email to imports@bearsden.com.au. Please include your www.hockeydb.com or www.eliteprospects.com profile in your email and any other supporting information such as references and league statistics.

Try out/ training

Tryouts for Sydney Bears start in mid March, however prior arrangements can be organised if imports are committed to playoff schedules. The team practices once a week on Wednesday night and heavily relies on their imports to maintain their fitness level during the off season.

Travel

Players drive to local games and fly to interstate games.

Team:

The AIHL Bears team consists of between 13-16 skating players and 2-3 goalies depending on the level of reserve players carried in a season. Try outs start in February and March each year, however we are looking for high quality imports all year around and can schedule import rosters up to 2 seasons in advance. Most Australian players have represented Australia in World Championships at either Youth (U18), Junior (U21) or National Senior Team (NST) level.

Visa

All imports are responsible for their own Visa arrangement and costs. The most suitable Visa for the Australian season is a Working Holiday Visa or Visitors Visa, for more information on VISA requirements please visit. www.immi.gov.au

LATEST GAME VS. ICE DOGS

SUNDAY 21st, AUGUST, 2011

Bears

Final

2 - 4

Ice Dogs

Final	1	2	3	T
BEARS	1	1	0	2
ICE DOGS	1	1	2	4

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NEXT GAME - ALL STAR CLASSIC

Rookies

TBC

Veterans

Final	1	2	3	T
ROOKIES	0	0	0	0
VETERANS	0	0	0	0

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UPCOMING GAMES

EXPO

TBC
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TBC
AWAY

EXPO

TBC
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Schedule

AUGUST 2011
Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
1	2	3	4	5	4:15 pm	5:00 pm
8	9	9:15 pm	11	12	5:00 pm	5:00 pm
15	16	9:15 pm	18	19	21	5:00 pm
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

Home

Away

Training

Standings

	Team	GP	W	L	OTW	OTL	GF	GA	PTS
AIHL 2011 Standings Ladder
1	MI	23	16	1	2	4	124	76	76
2	NNS	21	14	5	0	2	112	92	44
3	SID	19	12	7	0	0	86	65	36
4	AA	22	7	9	5	1	80	76	32
5	GCB	20	9	9	1	1	94	88	30
6	TM	23	6	14	2	1	91	115	23
7	CK	21	7	14	0	0	99	133	21
8	SB	21	2	14	2	3	71	112	13

STATS

SKATERS	GP	G	A	PTs	PIM
2011 AIHL REGULAR SEASON
Tony Demelinne	16	19	22	41	44
Michael Schlamp	21	16	20	36	34
Vlad Rubes	19	11	22	33	10
Kurtis Dulle	21	8	11	19	89
Brett Nelson-Bond	21	6	5	11	44
Adrian Esposito	14	2	7	9	10
Spencer Austin	20	1	8	9	120
Jim Zvonicek	21	1	3	4	4
Joel McFadden	17	1	2	3	4
Laurie Mock	15	1	2	3	2
Steven Adams	16	1	1	2	0
Scott Clemie	11	1	1	2	0
Dan Shaw	21	0	2	2	2
Nick Cleland	11	0	1	1	18
Daniel Spina	18	0	0	0	2
Geoff O'Hara	6	0	0	0	8
Jordan Hale	1	0	0	0	0

GOALIE	GP	W	L	SV%	GAA
Sheldon Bearg	16	4	12	85.01	5.31
Gabriel Robledo	6	0	6	82.43	4.75
Stuart Clemie	0	0	0	0	0