The Sydney Wolf Pack are an Australian junior ice hockey team based in Sydney playing in the Australian Junior Ice Hockey League. They represent one of the two junior ice hockey teams from New South Wales currently playing in the AJIHL, which is the most elite level for ice hockey at a national level for ages between 16–20 years old.
Team history
AJIHL
The Sydney Maple Leafs were founded 18 September 2012 following the announcement by Ice Hockey Australia of the formation of the Australian Junior Ice Hockey League. The team is controlled by the New South Wales Ice Hockey Association. On 14 October 2012 it was announced that Sydney Bears player Steven Adams and Paul Kelly had signed on as coaches for the 2012–13 AJIHL season.
The first team in club history: For the 2012–13 AJIHL season # Nat Name Pos Date of birth Acquired Birthplace19 F 2012 Central Coast, New South Wales, Australia17 D 2012 Hamilton, Ontario, Canada18 F 2012 6 F 2012 20 G 2012 1 G 2012 13 F 2012 Scunthorpe, England, United Kingdom9 D 2012 Sydney, Australia12 F 2012 Sydney, Australia25 G 2012 5 F 2012 11 F 2012 16 F 2012 Wombarra, New South Wales, Australia15 F 2012 Gosford, New South Wales, Australia3 D 2012 7 D 2012 2 F 2012 8 D 2012 10 F 2012
AJIHL expansion
The follow-up season in the Australian Junior Ice Hockey League saw a lot of change via expansion and renaming of its existing teams. The Sydney Maple Leafs were renamed the Sydney Wolf Pack in September 2013. The changes were made in response to the National Hockey Leagues concern about the AJIHL using their team names and logos but also recognised the opportunity to create a new history for the teams through creating their own identity. In October 2013 the league expanded to six teams with two teams from Perth, the Sharks and the Pelicans, joining for the start of the 2013–14 season.
Logo and uniform
2012–2013 Sydney Maple Leafs
In their first year, and the inaugural AJIHL season, the Sydney Maple Leafs wore a uniform that resembled the NHL namesake Toronto Maple Leafs. The key difference with the logo design was the exclusion of the word Toronto within the leaf emblem. The jersey design and uniform otherwise bore close resemblance to the Toronto Maple Leaf design, with the AJIHL logo used for shoulder crests.
2013–present Sydney Wolf Pack
Season-by-season results
2012 – 2013
In the inaugural season of the Australian Junior Ice Hockey League, the Sydney Wolf Pack began as the Sydney Maple Leafs. The beginning of the regular season saw the team not winning a game with the closest contest being an overtime loss to the Sydney Lightning. The Sydney Maple Leafs would record their first win as a club on 8 December 2012 against the Sydney Lightning in a 2–1 victory. Both goals scored in this historic win were scored by forward Dexter Crowe in the 2nd period about 5 minutes apart.
After starting off without a win, the Sydney Maple Leafs would go on to win 4 out of their last 6 games, one of which was in overtime.
In the post season finals, the Sydney Maple Leafs would continue their improved from by defeating the Sydney Lightning by a convincing 7–2 scoreline in the semi-finals. The finals series would be against the Melbourne Red Wings in a best of 3 format. The Sydney Maple Leafs won the series 2–1 after winning the final game of the series 1–0 from a first period goal by forward Scott Clemie.
SeasonFinish2012–13 14 4 0 0 2 0 8 24 34 52 3rd
FinalsFinish2013 Finals 4 3 1 0 1 24 9 AJIHL Champions
2013 – 2014
The follow-up season in the Australian Junior Ice Hockey League saw a lot of change via expansion and renaming of its existing teams. The Sydney Maple Leafs were renamed the Sydney Wolf Pack in September 2013. The changes were made in response to the National Hockey Leagues concern about the AJIHL using their team names and logos but also recognised the opportunity to create a new history for the teams through creating their own identity. In October 2013 the league expanded to six teams with two teams from Perth, the Sharks and the Pelicans, joining for the start of the 2013–14 season. The finals format of a best of 3 was discontinued and the league adopted a gold-silver-bronze format which saw the 4th place Sydney Wolf Pack miss out on post season competition.
SeasonFinish2013–14 15 6 0 1 0 1 7 21 45 49 4th
FinalsFinish2014 Finals 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Did not play
2014 – 2015 SeasonFinish2014–15 15 7 0 2 0 0 8 24 30 34 4th
FinalsFinish2015 Finals 2 2 1 0 0 8 7 AJIHL Champions
Players
Current roster For the 2016–17 AJIHL season # Nat Name Pos Date of birth Acquired Birthplace 2 F 2016 4 F 2016 5 F 2015 6 F 2015 7 F 2015 8 D 2016 9 F 2016 Calgary, Alberta, Canada 11 D 2015 12 D 2016 13 F 2016 14 D 2015 15 D 2015 16 F 2016 17 F 2014 18 D 2016 19 D 2016 37 F 2013 1 G 2016
Captains 2014–15 Scott Clemie (C), Patrick Nadin (A) 2015–16 Patrick Nadin (C) 2016–17 Jake Knott(C), Luke Zvonicek (A), Brenden Kong (A)
Head coaches The first head coach for the Sydney Maple Leafs in the inaugural year for the AJIHL was Steven Adams.
2012–13 Steven Adams 2013–14 Scott Stephenson 2014–15 Andrew Reynolds 2015–16 Amelia Matheson 2016–17 Amelia Matheson
Awards and trophies
See also
Australian Junior Ice Hockey League Sydney Sabres Melbourne Glaciers Melbourne Whalers Perth Pelicans Perth Sharks Ice Hockey Australia Ice Hockey New South Wales Australian Women's Ice Hockey League Australian Ice Hockey League Jim Brown Trophy Goodall Cup Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy
References