Australian Ice Hockey League Finals LIVE Online

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This weekend the top 4 teams in Australian Ice Hockey come together in Newcastle, NSW for the 2008 AIHL Finals. The Sydney Bears (1), Melbourne Ice (2), Western Sydney Ice Dogs (3) and Newcastle North Stars (4) battled throughout the 28 game season to earn the right to play off for the century old Goodall Cup, the AIHL’s equivalent of the Stanley Cup.

For the first time, all 3 games of the AIHL finals are going to be available live and exclusive online via the fantastic efforts of Slapshot Entertainment.

From the news release issued today on the Slapshot Entertainment website:

During the 2008 regular season, Slapshot amassed an excellent crew which allowed us to provide high-level ice hockey coverage in a way that has never been done in Australia before. With a 4-camera system (3 game play cameras and a score clock cam), vision-switched LIVE to the internet using our technical director at our mobile TV studio, we were able to bring together a professional mix of live play-by-play and colour commentary, dynamic on-the-fly graphics, instant replays and mid-period activities such as player interviews. The resulting package was streamed live to the internet and recorded to disk for delayed broadcast to Brisbane’s community Channel 31 (now QCTV), which is watched by nearly 40,000 viewers weekly.

Slapshot Entertainment brings not only this technical set-up to Newcastle for the Grand Final weekend, but also a background history and appreciation for ice hockey, the quality and feeling from which can be seen and felt in our broadcasts. It’s this passion that prompted our willingness to be involved at this grassroots-level of ice hockey’s growth in Australia. With enough enthusiastic support for this sport and the AIHL, we hope that existing and new fans alike will help it flourish, and Slapshot would like to be a big part of its growing success.

Tickets for the live-to-internet broadcasts of the 3 games (2 x semi-final and one Grand Final game) are available on the slapshot.com.au website. Game passes can be purchased individually for AUD $11.95 or the 3-game VIP PUCKHEAD PASS can be had for $23.95. Prior to 28 August 2008, pre-sales single-game tickets will be 25% off and PUCKHEAD passes are discounted by 20%.

Saturday will see 2 games played:

• Sydney Bears (1) Vs Newcastle North Stars (4) - 4:30pm AEST
• Melbourne Ice (2) Vs Western Sydney Ice Dogs (3) - 7:30pm AEST

The winner of those 2 matches will play off for the coverted Goodall Cup on Sunday at 4:00pm AEST.

There is also talk of delayed streaming coverage so those in North America and Europe will be able to watch the games without needing to stay up in the early hours of the morning. Those that do however will be rewarded with the best level of hockey Australia has to offer, live and exclusive.

Technorati Tags: ice hockey, aihl, goodall cup, australia

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Aussies waiting for the NHL in winter

The sun has just set and tonight the temperatures will drop below freezing. There may even be snow on the ground tomorrow morning. You could be forgiven for thinking that the ideal evening pastime would be to get in the car, or in front of the TV and watch the NHL.

For those of us down here in Australia however, these cold winter months are the worse time of year for dedicated NHL hockey fans. The NHL starts in our Spring, just when the temperatures are warming up, and runs through to Autumn.

So what do hockey fans do down here during the winter months? For the die-hard hockey fans, Australia has the AIHL, Australian Ice Hockey League, which consists of 8 teams spread across the country. The amateur league is a far cry from the big lights of the NHL, but has a growing fan base from around Australia, and in fact, from around the world.

Over the last 4 seasons teams across the country have had import players from a wide range of leagues, including the QMJHL, LNAH, CIS, AHL and even the NHL. 2 big name players that have seen time in the Australian league are Steve McKenna (who played for the Adelaide Avalanche) and Rob Zamuner (Brisbane Blue Tongues).

The AIHL will be all over in the next few weeks, with the top 4 teams battling it out to take home the Goodall Cup (one of the oldest hockey trophies in the entire world!).

After that, Australian hockey fans will begin to get excited about he upcoming NHL season.Technorati

Tags: aihl, nhl, brisbane blue tongues, gold coast blue tongues, adelaide avalanche, ice hockey

Why do legit hockey Fighters fight dirty?

They’re some of the most hated… and loved players in hockey. They are often the topics of discussion, the creators of controversy and most often the most misunderstood role players in a hockey team.

They are the fighters. Names like Sean Avery, Georges Laraque, Rob Ray, Bob Probert are synonymous with classic NHL video highlight reels.

Recently in the AIHL (Australian Ice Hockey League) there was a fight in a game between the Gold Coast Blue Tongues and the Western Sydney Ice Dogs. Import player for the Blue Tongues Bryan Lachance was target and finally let it fly. Lachance comes from the LNAH in Canada (Quebec Radio X) where he has set a name for himself as a quality legit fighter.

In the fight last weekend however the fight turned a nasty shade of dirty when Lachance, who had clearly won the fight dropped the guy to the ground and continued to punch him. That’s not where the real issue lies though. After the Ice Dog went down, Lachance proceeded to pull his hair and knee him. The Refs either failed to see it, or chose not to do anything about it.

The question however is simply, when someone is a fighter of Lachances calibre, why would they need to resort to such disgusting behaviour? It disgraces not just the player, but also the team.

Here is the clip of the fight in question:

YouTube - LaChance fights an Ice Dog

Gold Coast Blue Tongues Drop Double

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