Written by Rebecca Richards on Tuesday, 14 July 2009 09:49
The Sydney Ice Dogs launched their new website in early June, which can be found at http://www.icedogs.com.au.
Scott Stephenson sent through the following comments.
The Sydney Ice Dogs are proud to announce the launch of their brand new website this week created by ItoE Interactive.
Feeling a little more in the same league as other professional sports now Ice Dogs captain Anthony Wilson shares his excitement “we are working very hard to professionalise our team and grow the sport of ice hockey and feel that this new website gives opens up an opportunity”.
The new website even includes a Rookies Guide to Ice Hockey which aims to educate new supporters so they can learn the rules and enjoy the game even more “we received a lot of feedback from new supporters and friends who came to their first game last season, sharing that they loved what they saw but had no idea what they were watching [the rules]” adds Wilson.
But despite attracting new supporters high on the priority list the Ice Dogs want to increase connectivity with their current and loyal supporters by adding new features such as a weekly player profile and a blog where they can make comments and interact with each other and the team.
Marketing Coordinator/Ice Dogs forward Scott Stephenson says this is just the tip of the iceberg “there were a lot of cool ideas we had to put on the back burner to get this site up quicker, so there is plenty more to look forward too”.
Written by Administrator on Wednesday, 29 April 2009 11:46
The guys at Slapshot Entertainment are hard at it again in preparation for the 2009 Australian Ice Hockey League season, releasing a tantalising video of action from the 2008 season. If you thought that the '08 season was good, wait until you experience this season - it's shaping up to be quite a show of Australian Ice Hockey talent.
The AIHL have been working with Slapshot Entertainment for a couple of years now, and as usual the Slapshot guys will be at the games to capture games on film for distribution over the Internet. Some games were streamed live during last year's competition, so expect better coverage this year!
Just to whet your apetite for the comp that's about to start this year click on the following video.
AIHL Season Opening Games
The AIHL 2009 Season kicks off on Saturday 25th April, in the Ice Dogs new home ground at Liverpool, starting 5pm against the Brisbane BlueTongures, and with Canberra hosting the Sydney Bears starting at 5:30pm.
On Sunday 26th, the Dogs travel up the freeway to Newcastle, with that game starting at 5pm, and the Bluetongues will (hopefully) get mauled by the Bears at Penrith, with the puck dropping at 5pm (just kidding guys, we love all our visiting teams daring to journey out to the Penrith Bear's Den!).
Australia is Relegated to Div II
Written by Administrator on Thursday, 23 April 2009 00:00
Well, the IIHF Division 1 World Championship for 2009 has been run and won (by Kazakhstan), with Australia relegated back to Division II. The results from each game really suffered due the injuries to Greg Oddy and Adrian Esposito during game 1, but the team should be commended for valiantly playing against professional players, and class teams. Many people expected the Aussies to lose such games against Japan, and Kazakhstan by 10+ goals, but the team's dedication, effort, teamwork, and abilities really made people sit up and respect the Aussies.
As expected by the HP community, we were all speculating that the tournament would be "won" or lost in the game against the Croatians, with the Aussies needing to defeat Croatia to remain in Division 1. The last time the Aussies played Croatia, the Croats controversially at the end of regulation, so we all thought that the Aussies would be more than a match for them. Sadly, this wasn't to be, and the Aussies were defeated 5-1.
There's some speculation that IIHF are going to revamp the World Championship format starting in 2010, and that Australia will not be sending a team. If that's the case, we'd be relegated to Division III. Not a good move, given the ground swell of support to the team from the 2008 effort up at Newcastle to get up to Division I in the first place.
For the Senior men, it's now time to fire up for the AIHL 2009 Season!
Well done to all the Australian Senior Mens players, you went over to Vilnius with a dream, and came home a well respected team in the International Ice Hockey arena!
IIHF 2009 Division I (Group A) World Championships
Written by Administrator on Tuesday, 14 April 2009 00:00
The IIHF Division 1 World Championships have started in Vilnius, Lithuania, with Australia up against some very stiff and professional teams:
Slovenia
Kazakhstan
Japan
Lithuania
Croatia
The initial games against Slovenia and Japan haven't gone our way, with Slovenia winning 7-0 and Japan winning 6-1. Our best hope to remain in Division 1 is to beat Croatia or even Lithuania.
For a good Aussie commentary, you can't go past the HockeyPulse Forum topic dedicated to covering the tournament:
It's not easy finding video streams of the games. Some were found by following links on the Slovanian TV website, and there are a few Youtube clips of highlights which are starting to show up too.
Lets hope that our guys prevail at least against Croatia, and Australia can stay in Div 1.
Rhinos win the Wilson Cup
Written by Administrator on Wednesday, 01 April 2009 10:46
The Central Coast Rhinos won the 2009 Wilson Cup on the weekend, defeating the Ice Dogs 4 to 3 in Overtime Shootout. At the end of regulation, the scores were locked at 3-all, with the Rhinos clawing themselves back into the game from a 3-2 deficit late in the game. The highlight of the third period was Rob Starke's 3-on-5 shorthand equaliser goal.
A question was raised on the forum the other day about the potential for a DVD of the 2008 AIHL Goodall Cup Grand Final being produced and released. Slapshot Entertainment (who have been producing videos of the AIHL for a few years now) covered the 2008 finals, so I decided to do a search through YouTube, and found the following video.
Lets hope that a DVD is released, just like in 2007.
Forum
Have you visited the HockeyPulse Forum lately? The Forum is a great way to find teammates and friends within the Australian ice hockey fraternity!
