Adelaide Avalanche

This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help by introducing citations to additional sources. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (January 2017)

Adelaide Avalanche
City	Thebarton, Adelaide, South Australia
League	Australian Ice Hockey League
Founded	2000 (2000)
Operated	2000-2008
Home arena	IceArenA
Colours	Blue, bronze, black and white
Championships
Premierships	4 (2001, 2003, 2005, 2007)
AIHL Championships	2 (2000, 2001)

The Adelaide Avalanche were a semi-professional ice hockey team based in Thebarton, Adelaide, South Australia that competed in the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). The Avalanche was founded in 2000 as one of three inaugural members of the AIHL and played home matches at Snowdome Adelaide (now known as IceArenA). The Avalanche won multiple premiership titles and two AIHL Championships before the franchise experienced financial difficulties in 2008 and collapsed resulting in their AIHL licence being taken over by a new franchise run by Snowdome Adelaide called Adelaide A's (later to be renamed Adelaide Adrenaline).

History[]

Along with the Sydney Bears and Canberra Knights, 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, Western Sydney Ice Dogs, and Newcastle North Stars joined the AIHL, expanding it to six teams. The Goodall 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.

Adelaide Avalanche's old logo.

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 and Central Coast Rhinos—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.

Members of the Adelaide Avalanche were featured on episode 11 of Network Ten's Cyber Shack TV on 10 October 2006. Both David Huxley and played and reviewed the new NHL 2K6 on Xbox 360.

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.

Season-by-season record[]

Adelaide Avalanche all-time record

Season	Regular season											Finals weekend								Top points scorer
	P	W	T	L	SW	SL	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Finish	P	W	L	GF	GA	Result	Semi-final	AIHL final	Name	Points
2000	Information not available											1	1	0	6	5	Champions	–	Won 6-5 (SO) (Bears)	John Oddy	34
2001	16	15	1	0	–	–	120	60	+60	31	1st	1	1	0	10	7	Champions	–	Won 10-7 (Bears)	Paul Lawson	38
2002	20	13	0	7	–	–	120	67	+53	26	2nd	1	0	1	4	7	Runners-up	–	Lost 4-7 (Bears)	Greg Oddy	39
2003[a]	7	7	0	0	–	–	43	16	+27	14	1st[b]	2	0	2	5	14	Fourth[c]	Lost 1-4 (Ice Dogs)	–	Greg Oddy	47
2004	20	7	1	9	1	1	64	68	-4	29	4th	1	0	1	2	3	Semi-finalist	Lost 2-3 (2OT) (North Stars)	–	Greg Oddy	30
2005	26	19	1	4	0	2	133	77	+56	60	1st	2	1	1	7	6	Runners-up	Won 6-3 (Bears)	Lost 1-3 (North Stars)	Darcy Corcoran	47
2006	28	19	–	9	0	0	134	84	+50	57	2nd	2	1	1	5	6	Runners-up	Won 5-2 (Ice Dogs)	Lost 0-4 (North Stars)	Brad Wanchulak	53
2007	28	17	–	7	1	3	124	99	+25	56	1st	1	0	1	1	4	Semi-finalist	Lost 1-4 (Bears)	–	Greg Oddy	43
2008	15[d]	3	–	8	2	2	32	53	-21	15	DNF	–								Peter Lindgren	29[e]

Notes:

Notes References: ^{[1] [2]}

Championships[]

• AIHL Championships (2000–01)¹

Champions (2): 2000, 2001

Runners-Up (0):

• Goodall Cup

Champions (0):

Runners-Up (3): 2002, 2005, 2006

• V.I.P. Cup (2004–07)²

Premiers (4): 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007

Runners-Up (2): 2002, 2006

¹ The first two season's of the AIHL did not have the Goodall 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.

Notable former players[]

• Steve McKenna (2005)
• Mel Angelstad (2007)

References[]

External links[]

• Adelaide Avalanche's website