The Australian Women's Ice Hockey League (AWIHL) is Australia's top-tier women's ice hockey league. Established in 2005 as Australia's first women's national league, the AWIHL has amateur status and is sanctioned by Ice Hockey Australia (a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation). The AWIHL is currently contested by six teams from five Australian states, including South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia and Victoria. The league champion is awarded the Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy and the premier is awarded The Gower Memorial Shield (which replaced the Stephanie Boxall Trophy in 2023). The most successful team in AWIHL history is Melbourne Ice (women), who have claimed nine championship titles. The current champion, from 2025–26, is the Perth Inferno (first title).
History
Beginning
Showcase Series In 2005, the probability of establishing a national women's ice hockey league was discussed by the National Women's Council. Due to large costs to players to participate in such a league, an alternative proposal for a much shorter Showcase Series was passed around for consideration to begin in the 2006 season. The Series would see four teams competing in mini-tournaments during February to June. Each round robin style tournament would occur over a weekend and throughout the Showcase Series period between February and June, each team would travel twice and host the tournament once. The first Showcase series was planned in February 2006 for Newcastle, New South Wales. The second series would be in March 2006 in Bendigo, Victoria, the third would occur in April 2006 in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. In May, the series would be held in Adelaide, South Australia, and in June the fifth series would take place in Brisbane, Queensland. At this time, a full season would follow in November 2006 and stretch over into summer 2007.
The first Showcase Series proved to be successful where, in each mini-series, three teams would play each other twice in a round robin style tournament. Five clubs ended up being involved in the Showcase Series which consisted of five mini-tournaments held on a weekend each month in a different city.
The Showcase Series returned for a second season in October 2006, and ran until February 2007. A national women's league did not start in November 2006, as previously hoped. In this second season four mini-series were held, one weekend mini tournament was played each month between only four teams representing Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Brisbane, Queensland, Adelaide, South Australia and Sydney. The purpose of the Showcase Series continued to be as a precursor to a national women's league that was being actively planned.
Forming the AWIHL The official formation of the Australian Women's Ice Hockey League (AWIHL) was in 2007, following the two seasons of "Showcase Series" that were held in 2006 and 2007.
The Australian Women's Ice Hockey League is recognised by Ice Hockey Australia (IHA) as the premier senior women's national ice hockey competition.
The league conducted its inaugural season with four teams: Adelaide Assassins, Brisbane Goannas, Melbourne Dragons, and Sydney Sirens. The team that won the finals series at the end of each season became the AWIHL champions and were presented a perpetual trophy that was donated by Westlakes Trophies and Framing and was called the West Lakes Trophy.
2010s In October 2010, the Australian Women's Ice Hockey League conducted a competition to replace the original league logo with a new one. The competition closed 1 December 2010, and the original logo was replaced by the current one.
In the early 2010s there was a move to align AWIHL teams with Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) counterparts. This strategy led to three of the four AWIHL teams to either sign a memorandum of understanding or merge with AIHL teams to create dual program organisations. The Melbourne Dragons became the Melbourne Ice by signing a MOU, that allowed the Dragons management to remain in control of the team. Adelaide Assassins became the Adelaide Adrenaline and Sydney Sirens became the North Star Sirens. Both Adelaide and Sydney would later return to being independently run organisations, but the Ice remain in the league since 2010.
In 2016, IHA announced the formation of the annual Australian Women's Tier 2 Show Case Series (AW2SCS) to act as a feeder league to the AWIHL and provide a development pathway from state leagues to the AWIHL. Initially the league had four teams based in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne (x2). By 2019 the AW2SCS had five teams and had expanded to Adelaide and Perth.
The AWIHL officially expanded in August 2018 for the first time, with the introduction of the Perth Inferno to the league. Perth had played two exhibition games against the Sydney Sirens the season before and had competed in and won the Australian Women's Tier 2 Show Case Series two years in a row on their road to AWIHL entry.
Two AWIHL teams featured in Australasia's Best Sporting Team list 2019. The list, conducted by Platinum Asset Management and GAIN LINE Analytics, ranked and named the top 25 sporting teams in Australasia. In 2019, AWIHL teams, Sydney Sirens and Melbourne Ice were ranked inside the top 25 sporting teams. The Sirens were ranked twenty-first and Melbourne Ice were ranked twenty-third.
COVID-19 period The AWIHL, like many other Australian sporting leagues, was forced to cancel two consecutive league seasons due to multiple COVID-19 outbreaks and border and health response restrictions between 2020 and 2022. In August 2022, AWIHL Commissioner, Melissa Rulli, officially stepped down from her position after nearly five years in the role. Rulli held the position of Commissioner from December 2017 to August 2022 and oversaw steady viewership and accessibility growth of the AWIHL in that time until the COVID-19 hiatus. Ice Hockey Australia opened an expression of interest process on 26 August 2022 to find Rulli's replacement, with applications closing on 16 September 2022. This provides IHA enough time to appoint a new Commissioner ahead of the 2022–23 season start in November 2022.
2020s After a two-year hiatus, the AWIHL announced it would return to action for the 2022–23 season, scheduled to kick off in November 2022 and run through til March 2023. The Sydney Sirens secured their first back-to-back championship title by lifting the JMK Memorial Trophy in 2023. In early 2023, the Melbourne Ducks applied to enter the AWIHL as an expansion team. The Ducks entered into playing exhibition games ahead of a decision on an AWIHL license. In 2024, the Perth Inferno secured their first AWIHL title, claiming the 2024 Premiership. The Melbourne Ice defeated Perth in the grand-final in 2024 to claim their eighth championship title.
Teams As of 2026, the AWIHL has six active teams, including four founding members and two expansion teams. The six teams are from five different Australian states and capital cities, including, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.
Australian Women's Ice Hockey LeagueTeamColoursCityStateArenaFoundedJoinedFormer namesNotes Adelaide Rush Adelaide IceArenA 2006 Adelaide Assassins (2006–10); Adelaide Adrenaline (2011–15) Was a part of Adelaide Adrenaline organisation for 4 seasons Brisbane Lightning Brisbane Boondall Iceworld 2006 Brisbane Goannas (2006–21) Became part of the Brisbane Lightning organisation in 2022 Melbourne Ice Melbourne O'Brien Icehouse 2006 Melbourne Dragons (2006–10) Signed a MOU with the Melbourne Ice organisation in 2010 Perth Inferno Perth Cockburn Ice Arena 2018 2018 AWIHL expansion team Sydney Sirens Sydney Macquarie Ice Rink 2006 North Star Sirens (2011–13) Was a part of Newcastle Northstars organisation for 2 seasons Melbourne Ducks Melbourne IceHQ 2023 2026 Played AWIHL exhibition games in 2023 and 2024 before joining fully.
Future expansion Future expansion has been mooted, including into New Zealand, which, since 2014, runs a four team national league of its own, NZWIHL, but there are no active bids to join the league. Melbourne Chargers Ice Hockey Club, who compete in the Women's Tier 2 Show Case Series, have publicly said their goal is to move up divisions to the AWIHL. The club is working towards that goal and have signed a partnership with AIHL team Melbourne Mustangs, to help them on their way to achieving this goal. In the 2019–20 Annual Report, IHA, stated its intentions to seek an increase in the number of teams participating in AWIHL to six teams.
Team history Adelaide Rush
Adelaide was one of the four founding teams of the AWIHL in 2007 and also competed in the showcase series in 2006. Originally established as the Adelaide Assassins, the South Australian outfit began life as the dominant force in women's hockey in Australia, winning the first five straight AWIHL championship titles. In 2011–12, the team merged and became part of the Adelaide Adrenaline organisation. Between 2011–12 and 2015–16 the Adrenaline ran both the women's and men's programs in the AWIHL and AIHL. Ahead of the 2016–17 season, the AWIHL team parted ways with the Adrenaline and the new organisation was established to run the AWIHL licence in Adelaide, the Adelaide Rush.
Brisbane Lightning
Brisbane was the first team to join the AWIHL in 2006. They participated in the showcase series in 2006 and was one of the four founding teams in the AWIHL in 2007. Setup as a not-for-profit incorporated sporting organisation, the Brisbane, Queensland-based club was known as the Brisbane Goannas from establishment until 2022. The team has run a successful junior to senior development program known as the Gecko's to Goannas Program. On 3 October 2022, the Goannas announced they had partnered with the Brisbane Lightning organisation, who had their men's program accepted into the AIHL for 2023, and officially changed their name to match, becoming the Brisbane Lightning.
Melbourne Ducks
The Melbourne Ducks women's program was established in early 2023 and formally submitted an application to join the AWIHL on 7 March 2023. Six exhibition games against AWIHL opposition was organised over the 2023-24 AWIHL season. The Ducks played another six exhibition games during the 2024-25 AWIHL season with the intention of securing a license to join the league proper in 2025–26. The Ducks finally joined the AWIHL regular season in 2025-26 playing home games at iceHQ in Reservoir, Melbourne. The addition of the Ducks established the first AWIHL crosstown derby with the Melbourne Ice.
Melbourne Ice
Melbourne was one of the four founding teams of the AWIHL in 2007. Established in 2005 as Melbourne Dragons, in 2010, the team entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Melbourne Ice organisation that runs a men's program in the Australian Ice Hockey League. The agreement saw the Dragons change their name and branding to match the Melbourne Ice and a sharing of off-ice resources and guidance. However, the Dragons organisation retained a lot of self-control and is run as a separate club with their own committee. The team is nine-time AWIHL champions and five-time AWIHL premiers. They are the most successful top-tier ice hockey team in Australia.
Sydney Sirens
Sydney was one of the four founding teams of the AWIHL in 2007. The Sirens began in Sydney, New South Wales at the Sydney Ice Arena but over the years the team has moved around, playing at Canterbury Olympic Ice Rink, Penrith Ice Palace, Liverpool Catholic Club Ice Rink and Macquarie Ice Rink. Between 2011 and 2013 the team became a part of the Newcastle Northstars organisation and relocated to Hunter Ice Skating Stadium and was renamed North Star Sirens. When the team returned to Sydney, they reverted to their old name, Sydney Sirens. The Sirens are three-time AWIHL champions and three-time AWIHL premiers.
Perth Inferno