The Melbourne Ice beat the Perth Inferno in the Bronze Medal match.

The 2019-20 Australian Women’s Ice Hockey League Semi-Finals, Bronze medal game, and Grand Final took place last weekend, the 1-2 of February 2020. 

The finals weekend occurred after a thirty game regular season, which started the end of October and continued to the middle of January.  Each of the five teams had played 12 regular-season games.  Teams played each other two to four times each. 

The regular season saw the Sydney Sirens finish first in the league.  Two of their players, Kayla Nielsen and Nadie Edney finished top joint scorers.  Nielsen edged out Edney in top points with 31 overall due to one more assist.   

The Adelaide Rush, Melbourne Ice, and Perth Inferno finished next in the league and made the finals weekend. Only the Brisbane Goannas, who finished the regular season with only one win, did not make the semi-finals.

The entirety of the finals weekend took place at the O’Brien Ice House in Melbourne, Victoria.   Both semi-finals took place on February, 1 2020.  The Bronze medal match and the Grand Final took place on February 2, 2020.

Semi-Finals: Sydney Sirens-Perth Inferno/Adelaide-Rush-Melbourne Ice

The first semi-final was between the regular season first ranked Sydney Sirens and fourth-ranked Perth Inferno. 

The Sirens had won 10 games in the regular season and were, therefore, the favourites against a two-win season Perth Inferno.  The match turned into a goal-fest, with 22 goals total. 

The Sirens continued their regular-season form, with six different players scoring 14 goals.  Jillian Murphy, Sharna Godfrey and Kayla Nielsen notably each netted hat tricks in the match. 

Nadine Edney and Amelia Matheson each produced four assists apiece, half of the 16 produced by Sydney. 

The Inferno put in a performance of their own.  Courtney Moulton, Elizabeth Scala, and Nora Maclaine each produced a brace, with Isla Malcolm and Michelle Clark-Crumpton scoring one each. 

The effort was not enough though.  The Sirens won the semi-final 14-8 against the Inferno, sealing their place in the Grand Final.

The second semi-final of the day was between the second-ranked Adelaide Rush and third-ranked Melbourne Ice. 

While the match started in Melbourne’s favour, with the host’s Rylie Padjen scoring one goal in the first period and Christina Julian scoring a second in the second period, the Adelaide Rush were next to find the back of the net. 

The Rush put in the second goal of the second period and three goals in the third.  Sasha Lutz and Tash Farrier not only scored two each but also assisted all of each other’s goals with help from Natalie Ayris on one account. 

The Rush won the match 2-4 to go on to meet the Sirens in the Grand Final.  The Inferno met the Ice in the Bronze medal match.

Bronze-Medal Match: Melbourne Ice-Perth Inferno

The Perth Inferno met the hosts, the Melbourne Ice for the first match of the day on February 2, 2020. 

The Inferno were the first to get points on the board, with a Nora Maclaine goal.  Maclaine intercepted the puck off a Melbourne cross-ice pass in front of the Ice’s goal.  She then pulled the trigger to score an unassisted goal in the 11thminute of the first period.