AIHL All-Star Weekend

4 August 2015, the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) announced the formation of a new event in the Australian ice hockey calendar, the AIHL All-Stars Weekend. The event occurs two weeks following the conclusion of the AIHL Finals Weekend.^[1][2]

The maiden Australian Ice Hockey League All-Star Weekend, took place between 12 and 13 September 2015 at Hunter Ice Skating Stadium in Newcastle, NSW.^[3][4]

Cash prizes are on offer for players for the breakaway challenge during the skills tests, the winner of the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in the All-Stars match and the team the MVP comes from. In 2015 the winner of the Breakaway Challenge received $1000, the winner of the MVP received $5000 and the MVP club received $4000.^[5]

Andrew Petrie and Joey Theriault of the Newcastle North Stars and Vlad Rubes and Ron Kuprowsky of the Sydney Bears were named as the coaching teams for the game.^[1]

Team Schlamp^[7]

#	Pos.	Player	Team	Nat.
1	G	Dayne Davis	Newcastle North Stars
20	G	Fraser Carson	Melbourne Mustangs
2	D	Bert Malloy	Newcastle North Stars
3	D	Jamie Woodman	Perth Thunder
4	D	Ric Del Basso	Perth Thunder
5	D	Daniel Pataki	Sydney Ice Dogs
6	D	Brian Funes	Sydney Ice Dogs
7	D	James Byers	CBR Brave
8	F	David Dunwoodie	CBR Brave
9	F	Matt Armstrong	Melbourne Ice
10	F	Tommy Powell	Melbourne Ice
11	F	Michael Schlamp	Sydney Bears
12	F	Pat O'Kane	Melbourne Mustangs
13	F	Tomas Landa	Sydney Bears
14	F	Joey Hughes	Melbourne Mustangs
15	F	Adrian Esposito	Sydney Bears
21	F	Matt Wetini	Newcastle North Stars
22	F	Vadim Virjassov*	Melbourne Mustangs

* Denotes a player not originally selected in either All-Star team but played in the All-Stars match.

The skills competitions selected for presentation by the respective coaches include a number of skills events the National Hockey League showcases at their All-Stars Weekend event. Each event is sponsored by one of the league's major sponsors and are performed on the Saturday afternoon.^[8][9]

Air Canada Fastest Skater competition

In this event, pairs of skaters raced each other simultaneously on parallel courses on the rink. The fastest two skaters then had a final race.^[10]

• bold = Heat winner
• Red & bold = Event winner

APA Group Breakaway Challenge

The breakaway challenge saw three shooters and one goalie from each team take to the ice. Each skater was given 3 shots, with full access to the offensive zone, to play out their routine and take a shot. The winner was judged on their presentation as well as scoring by a fan shout off. In goals for Team Bales was Kamil Jarina (SB) and for Team Schlamp Dayne Davis (NNS).^[11]

• Red & bold = Event winner

Haigh and Hastings Shooting Accuracy competition

In this event, competitors were positioned in front of the net, and were passed the puck from two teammates situated behind the goal line. The players had to hit targets at the four corners of the net in the fastest time.^[12]

• bold = Heat winner
• Red & bold = Event winner

Rifle Media Stickhandling competition

The stickhanding competition saw two skaters positioned in a head on head contest on identical obstacle courses that would test different styles of stick handling, first one to the finish line wins. There are four skaters in total selected by each team to compete.^[13]

• bold = Heat winner
• Red & bold = Event winner

Skaters Network Hardest Shot competition

In this competition, four players from each team skate in from the blue line one at a time, and slap a puck as hard as possible into the net with a speed camera positioned behind the net to register the impact speed. Each player gets two attempts in the heats and the top two players face off in the final and get one attempt to win the event.^[14]

• bold = Heat winner
• Red & bold = Event winner

Ryzer Elimination Shootout

In this competition, players attempt to score on the opposing team's goalie. Players who score earn a point for their team for each goal they score. Players are eliminated from the competition if they fail to score.^[15]

• bold = Goal scorer
• Red & bold = Event winner

The All-Star game sees a selection of the best players from the AIHL pitted against each other under than banner of two captains. The match is played on the Sunday afternoon.

• Shots on Goal:
  • Team Schlamp: 13 – 11 – 10 – Total: 34
  • Team Bales: 7 – 11 – 17 – Total: 35

Source: AIHL^[16]

Television: Fox Sports (part of the entire AIHL TV deal with Fox Sports). The AIHL released information that Fox Sports would broadcast the All-Stars Weekend event on their pay-television platform the following Thursday (17 September 2015).^[1][17]

• AIHL official site
• Ice Hockey Australia
• Hewitt Sports – AIHL