The Adelaide Avalanche was a

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a cons ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

club based in the

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

suburb of

Thebarton, South Australia Thebarton ( ), formerly Theberton, on Kaurna land, is an inner-western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of West Torrens. The suburb is bounded by the River Torrens to the north, Port Road and Bonython Park to the east, Kintore ...

. The Avalanche, founded in 1999, was a founding member of the

Australian Ice Hockey League The Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) is Australia's top-level men's ice hockey league. Established in 2000, the AIHL is sanctioned by Ice Hockey Australia (a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation). The AIHL is a Semi-professional ...

(AIHL). The team's home venue was the Snowdome Adelaide (now known as IceArenA). The Avalanche competed in the AIHL for eight years, from its inaugural season in 2000 until 17 June 2008, when the club was replaced with the Snowdome's own team, Adelaide A's (later rebranded Adelaide Adrenaline), after its AIHL licence was revoked due to financial issues. During the club's lifetime, the Avalanche won four AIHL premierships and two AIHL championships.

History

Foundation and ECSL (1999–00)

The ''Adelaide Avalanche'' was founded in May 1999 by the Oddy and Thilthorpe families to secure national ice hockey competition for

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

and their sons. Steve Oddy and James Thilthorpe headed the fledgling club as owners and directors, Steve Oddy taking on the role of club chairman. The Avalanche appointed John Botterill as inaugural head coach. He would be assisted by Neil Boyle. Australian international defenceman, Pavel Bohacik, was appointed the club's maiden captain. Adelaide quickly joined the de facto national league,

East Coast Super League The East Coast Super League (ECSL), is an ice hockey league in New South Wales, Australia. The league was formed in 2002 by New South Wales Ice Hockey's amalgamation of the former Junior and Senior A leagues. It is Australia's second highest lev ...

(ECSL) in 1999, in what would prove to be the

NSW New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a state on the east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. T ...

administered ECSL's last season. The Avalanche's first ever competitive game was on the road in Sydney against the Canterbury Eagles. Adelaide defeated the Eagles 7–5 to register the club's inaugural victory. Steve's son Greg Oddy led the South Australian outfit's opening performance, registering two goals. Oddy and Thilthorpe personally arranged and paid for the travel of east coast teams to Adelaide in 1999. On 15 May 1999, Adelaide hosted its first competitive home game at the Snowdome in

Thebarton Thebarton ( ), formerly Theberton, on Kaurna land, is an inner-western suburb of Adelaide, South Australia in the City of West Torrens. The suburb is bounded by the River Torrens to the north, Port Road and Bonython Park to the east, Kintore St ...

AIHL era (2000–08)

Along with the

Sydney Bears The Sydney Bears (formerly ''Macquarie Bears'') is an Australia, 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 ...

and

Canberra Knights The Canberra Knights were a semi-professional ice hockey team in the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). The team played its home games at the Phillip Swimming & Ice Skating Centre in Phillip, a suburb of Australia's capital city, Canberra. I ...

, the Avalanche were one of the founding members of the AIHL in 2000. They finished first out of the three teams that year and claimed the inaugural AIHL championship. In 2001, the club enjoyed the same success in winning their second consecutive title. In 2002, the

Melbourne Ice The Melbourne Ice is an Australian semi-professional ice hockey team from Melbourne, Victoria, based at the Icehouse in the Docklands precinct of central Melbourne. Founded in 2000, the Ice have been a member of the Australian Ice Hockey Leag ...

, Western Sydney Ice Dogs, and

Newcastle North Stars The Newcastle Northstars (formally ''Newcastle North Stars'') 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), joining as an expansion tea ...

joined the AIHL, expanding it to six teams. The

Goodall Cup 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. ...

, Australia's top prize in ice hockey, also became part of the AIHL that year. Adelaide again finished second in the overall standings and lost to the Bears in the Goodall Cup final. The Avalanche finished the 2003 season with their fourth straight minor premiership but lost to the Ice Dogs in the first round of a newly introduced four-team playoff system. They would lose in the semifinals again in 2004 to the North Stars in double overtime. As two more teams—the

Brisbane Blue Tongues The Gold Coast Blue Tongues (formerly the Brisbane Blue Tongues) was a semi-professional ice hockey team based in Bundall, Queensland, Australia. The team was a member of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). The Blue Tongues were founded in ...

and Central Coast Rhinos—entered the league in 2005, the Avalanche returned to dominance by finishing first overall in the regular season standings. The "curse of the minor premiers" again haunted the team. Despite winning through to the Goodall Cup final for the first time in three years, they were defeated 3–1 by the North Stars in that game. The Avalanche have retooled for 2006 in the quest for their first-ever Goodall Cup, with their current roster boasting

Mighty Roos The Australian men's national ice hockey team (nicknamed the Mighty Roos) represent Australia in the sport of ice hockey under the jurisdiction of Ice Hockey Australia which is a part of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Australia ...

players Greg Oddy and brothers Ben & Luke Thilthorpe. They finished second after the regular season and hosted the finals series, beating the Ice Dogs 5–2 to reach the final but losing the final 0–4 to the North Stars. Members of the Adelaide Avalanche were featured on episode 11 of

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...

's ''Cyber Shack TV'' on 10 October 2006. Both David Huxley and Brad Wanchulak played and reviewed the new '' NHL 2K6'' on

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...

. The Avalanche came into financial difficulties in 2008, and after being able to host several game at the start of the season, could not meet its road commitments, forcing the team to withdraw from the remainder of the season on 17 June. The team's players were transferred to the newly formed Adelaide A's, who in a deal with the AIHL was allowed to play the remainder of the Avalanche's season. In 2022 the name of the Adelaide Avalanche was revived by a new team competing in the

Pacific Hockey League : ''For the 1990s semi-professional ice hockey league, see Pacific Hockey League (1994).'' The Pacific Hockey League was a low-level minor professional hockey league that existed for two seasons in 1977–78, and 1978–79. Its member teams from Ca ...

Season-by-season record

Notes: Notes References:

Honours

Championships

*AIHL Championships (2000–01)¹ : Champions (2):

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

: Runners-Up (0): *

: Champions (0): : Runners-Up (3):

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

* V.I.P. Cup (2004–07)² : Premiers (4):

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

: Runners-Up (2):

:¹ The first two season's of the AIHL did not have the

as the Championship prize. The Adelaide Avalanche is the only AIHL team to win the AIHL and not be crowned Goodall Cup Champions. :² This list also includes Premierships won prior to the first trophy (VIP Cup) for Premiers came into existence in 2004.

Franchise Awards

Each season, between 1999 and 2007, the Avalanche held an annual awards night where the team awarded a number of player awards.

Players

Last roster

''Team roster for the 2008 AIHL season''

NHL players

''A list of players that have played at least one game for the Avalanche and who have also played at least one game in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL).'' References:

International players

''A list of players that have played at least one game for the Avalanche and who have also played at least one game for an international team at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

organised by the

IIHF The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; ; ) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 84 member countries. The IIHF maintains the IIHF World Ranking based on international ice hockey tourn ...

.'' References:

Player records

Avalanche all-time, season and game player records. All-time Season Single game

Leaders

Team captains

The Avalanche had three captains in the team's known history. The captain in 1999 and between 2002 and 2003 are currently unknown. References:

Head coaches

The Avalanche had four head coaches in the team's history. References:

General managers

The Avalanche had two general manager groups (GMs) in the team's history. References:

References

External links

Adelaide Avalanche's website

AIHL official web site

Elite Prospects Team Profile
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