Wilson Cup (ice hockey)

Last updated

Wilson Cup
Wilson Cup logo.png
Sport Ice hockey
Awarded for Flag of New South Wales.svg NSW pre-season tournament
(2007-09, 2014-16)
Flag of Sydney.jpg Sydney derby AIHL regular season series
(2017-Present)
History
First award 2007 - AIHL Bears
Most recent 2019 - Sydney Bears
(5th title)

The Wilson Cup is an Australian ice hockey trophy first introduced in 2007 and named after John and Carol Wilson. The Cup was awarded to the winner of the New South Wales (NSW) pre-season tournament involving all NSW teams in the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) between 2007 and 2016. Since 2017 the Wilson Cup has been awarded to the winner of the regular season four game series between the two Sydney based AIHL teams, the Sydney Bears and Sydney Ice Dogs.

Contents

History

The Wilson Cup was founded in 2007 as the trophy for a pre-season tournament involving all the AIHL NSW teams, including Western Sydney Ice Dogs, Newcastle North Stars, AIHL Bears and Central Coast Rhinos. The Cup was donated and named on behalf of former Blacktown Ice Arena owners John and Carol Wilson, major figures in Australian ice hockey at the time. [1]

Between 2007 and 2009 the pre-season tournament was contested between the four NSW teams in a round-robin event that promoted youth players. Each team played each other home and away and concluded with a play-off and final. [2] The AIHL Bears (Sydney Bears) won the inaugural tournament and lifted the Wilson Cup in 2007. The Bears went back to back in 2008 by defeating the Western Sydney Ice Dogs 4-3 in the final. [1] In 2009 the Central Coast Rhinos won their first Wilson Cup by beating the Ice Dogs 4-3 in a shootout in the final despite the Rhinos subsequently dropping out of the 2009 AIHL season. [3]

With Central Coast leaving the AIHL the Wilson Cup was not contested between 2010 and 2013.

In 2014, the Wilson Cup was resurrected with the Sydney Bears, Sydney Ice Dogs and Newcastle Northstars all featuring in the pre-season tournament for the Cup between 16 March and 5 April 2014. [4] The round-robin format was retained but the top two placed teams went straight to a final for the Wilson Cup. Newcastle defeated the Bears 4-3 in a shootout in the opening match of the tournament. [5] In game two, the Ice Dogs prevailed 5-4 over the North Stars also in a shootout. [6] In the third and final match of the round-robin, the Ice Dogs secured a big 8-1 victory over the Bears to finish top and qualify for the final. [7] The Ice Dogs were joined by Newcastle who finished second and the two teams face-off in the Wilson Cup final for 2014. The Ice Dogs beat the North Stars 4-2 in the final to clinch their first Wilson Cup title. [8]

March 2015, the 2015 Wilson Cup tournament was announced with a double round-robin and final format change that saw the overall number of matches increased from 4 to 7. [9] The Sydney Bears finished top of the round-robin stage with three wins from four matches. The Newcastle North Stars finished runner-up and qualified for the final against the Bears. [10] Newcastle secured their first Wilson Cup triumph in the 2015 Wilson Cup final with a 4-3 victory over the Bears. [11]

The 2016 Wilson Cup featured an unchanged format from the prior year and ran from 19 March to 16 April 2016. [12] The Sydney Bears finished first in the round robin stage for the second year in a row with three wins from four games. [13] Defending champions the Newcastle North Stars finished last after losing all four of their games, including one which had to be forfeited due to a scheduling conflict with their East Coast Super League club. [14] The Bears defeated the Sydney Ice Dogs 3–1 in the final at the Penrith Ice Palace to secure their third Wilson Cup title eight years after their last success. [15]

In 2017, due to the Bears and Ice Dogs being in the process of moving to Macquarie Ice Rink in northern Sydney ahead of the 2017 AIHL season, the pre-season tournament for the Wilson Cup was not held. [16] As a result, the Wilson Cup was re-purposed as the trophy awarded to the winner of the AIHL regular season series between the Sydney Bears and Sydney Ice Dogs, dropping the Newcastle Northstars from contention for the Cup. The Bears retained the title and lifted the Wilson Cup for the fourth time after the regular season series was tied on both wins and goal difference. [17]

2018 maintained the Sydney derby regular season series as the format for winning the Wilson Cup. The Ice Dogs took a 2 game lead in the 2018 series in May with a convincing 5-1 victory followed by a 3-2 shootout win. The Bears struck back in July to bring up a grand stand finish to the series with a shutout 5-0 victory. In the fourth and final match of the series the Ice Dogs came out on top with a high scoring 7-2 victory to secure the series 3-1 and the team’s second Wilson Cup. [18]

In 2019, the Sydney Bears regained the Wilson Cup for a record fifth time after claiming a 4-0 series victory over the Sydney Ice Dogs. The Bear's claimed the trophy with a game to spare in July 2019. [19]

Winners

Year on year

The final results for the Wilson Cup each and every season

SeasonWinnerRunner-upFinal result
2007 AIHL Bears Information not available
2008 AIHL Bears West Sydney Ice Dogs 6–4
2009 Central Coast Rhinos West Sydney Ice Dogs 4–3 (SO)
Wilson Cup not contested between 2010 - 2013
2014 Sydney Ice Dogs Newcastle North Stars 4–2
2015 Newcastle North Stars Sydney Bears 4–3
2016 Sydney Bears Sydney Ice Dogs 3–1
2017 Sydney Bears Sydney Ice Dogs Tied series 2-2
2018 Sydney Ice Dogs Sydney Bears Won series 3-1
2019 Sydney Bears Sydney Ice Dogs Won series 4-0

By team

Total number of Wilson Cup's won by teams in the AIHL throughout the Cup's entire history.

TeamNo. of cupsWinning years
Sydney Bears 5 2007, 2008, 2016, 2017, 2019
Sydney Ice Dogs 2 2014, 2018
Newcastle Northstars 1 2015
Central Coast Rhinos 1 2009

See also

Related Research Articles

Australian Ice Hockey League

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Newcastle Northstars

The Newcastle Northstars is an Australian semi-professional ice hockey team from Newcastle, New South Wales. The Northstars are a member of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). The team is based at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium in Warners Bay, a suburb of Lake Macquarie, 15 kilometres south-west of Newcastle. The Northstars are affiliated with the ice hockey club of the same name and have won six Goodall Cups.

The Goodall Cup is a perpetual trophy that is, currently, annually awarded to the playoff champions of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). The trophy is named after Australian born player John Edwin Goodall who originally donated the cup.

Sydney Bears

The Sydney Bears is an Australian semi-professional ice hockey team from Sydney, New South Wales. Established in 1982, the Bears are the only remaining founding member of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) still operating. The Bears are based at Macquarie Ice Rink, within the Macquarie Centre, in the northern suburbs of Sydney. The Sydney Bears have claimed three Goodall Cups in 2002, 2003 and 2019.

Sydney Ice Dogs

The Sydney Ice Dogs is an Australian semi-professional ice hockey team from Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 2002, the Ice Dogs are a member of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). The Ice Dogs are two time Goodall Cup champions.

Central Coast Rhinos

The Central Coast Rhinos is a semi-professional ice hockey team based in Erina, New South Wales, Australia. The team is a member of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). The team was founded in 2005 as an expansion AIHL team and played in the league for four seasons between 2005 an 2008, before formally rejoining the AIHL in 2022. The Rhinos left the league in 2009 and joined the Australian International Ice Hockey Cup, where it competed for four seasons between 2009 and 2012. The Rhinos home venue is the Erina Ice Arena, located within the Erina Fair Shopping Centre on the New South Wales Central Coast.

The 2009 AIHL season was the tenth season of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). It ran from 25 April 2009 until 23 August 2009, with the AIHL finals following on 29 and 30 August 2009. The Newcastle North Stars won the H Newman Reid Trophy (backdated) after finishing the regular season first in the league standings. Adelaide Adrenaline won the Goodall Cup (backdated) for the first time by defeating the Newcastle North Stars in the final.

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The 2002 AIHL season was the third season of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). The Sydney Bears completed the double by winning the league premiership by finishing top of the league standings and claiming the Goodall Cup after defeating Adelaide Avalanche in the AIHL final.

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Perth Thunder

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References

  1. 1 2 "Hungry Bears have done it again!". AIHL Bears. Archived from the original on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 10 April 2010.
  2. ↑ Lean, Rowan. "AIHL Teams Launch Wilson Cup". HockeyPulse. Archived from the original on 16 July 2010. Retrieved 30 January 2008.
  3. ↑ "Rhinos win the Wilson Cup". HockeyPulse. 1 April 2009. Archived from the original on 19 February 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  4. ↑ "2014 Wilson Cup Schedule Announced". Ice Hockey News Australia. 15 March 2014. Archived from the original on 15 March 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  5. ↑ "2014 Wilson Cup: Game 1". Ice Hockey News Australia. 17 March 2014. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  6. ↑ "2014 Wilson Cup: Game 2". Ice Hockey News Australia. 22 March 2014. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  7. ↑ "2014 Wilson Cup: Game 3". Ice Hockey News Australia. 22 March 2014. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  8. ↑ McMurtry, Andrew (5 April 2014). "Ice Dogs add Wilson Cup to growing trophy case". Australian Ice Hockey League. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  9. ↑ "2015 Wilson Cup schedule announced". Ice Hockey News Australia. 10 March 2015. Archived from the original on 18 April 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  10. ↑ "2015 Wilson Cup: Game 5 & 6". Ice Hockey News Australia. 11 April 2015. Archived from the original on 14 April 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  11. ↑ "North Stars win 2015 Wilson Cup". Ice Hockey News Australia. 18 April 2015. Archived from the original on 18 April 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  12. ↑ "2016 Wilson Cup Schedule Announced". Ice Hockey News Australia. 12 March 2016. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  13. ↑ "2016 Wilson Cup: Game 5 & 6". Ice Hockey News Australia. 9 April 2016. Archived from the original on 9 April 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  14. ↑ "2016 Wilson Cup: North Stars forfeit Game 4". Ice Hockey News Australia. 31 March 2016. Archived from the original on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  15. ↑ "Bears win 2016 Wilson Cup". Ice Hockey News Australia. 16 April 2016. Archived from the original on 16 April 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2016.
  16. ↑ "Wilson Cup unlikely for 2017". Ice Hockey News Australia. 26 March 2017. Archived from the original on 26 March 2017. Retrieved 26 March 2017.
  17. ↑ "Sydney Bears retain Wilson Cup". Ice Hockey News Australia. 6 August 2017. Archived from the original on 10 September 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  18. ↑ "Sydney Ice Dogs win 2018 Wilson Cup". www.icehockeynewsaustralia.com. 29 August 2018. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  19. ↑ "Sydney Bears win the 2019 Wilson Cup". www.icehockeynewsaustralia.com. 6 July 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
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