Australia's Title Will Be Decided
The AWIHL Final will feature the top-two teams in the AWIHL this season as Perth finished their twenty-game season with a 17-2-0-1 record while Brisbane finished with a 13-5-2-0 record. The AWIHL uses a three-point system, so these two teams finished nine points apart in the standings, but these two seemed to enjoy playing one another as Perth finished with a 2-1-0-1 record while Brisbane had a 1-2-1-0 record. It should be noted that all four games between these two squads were decided by one goal, so one more game won't hurt!
The Perth Inferno were led by league scoring champion Sara Sammons whose had 21 goals and 50 points this season. Elizabeth Scala and Michelle Clark-Crumpton were the only other players who hit double-digits in goals with 16 and 15, respectively, and former Guelph Gryphons defender Katherine Bailey, who captains the team, was the top-scoring rearguard with a pair of goals and 16 points. Sasha King was the starter for the Inferno this season as she went 16-2-0-1 this season with a 2.61 GAA, a .910 save percentage, and one shutout.
On the other side, the Brisbane Lightning were led by Annmarie FitzGerald who finished second in league scoring with 22 goals and 47 points. Brisbane saw more depth scoring as Emma Wuthrich had 40 points, alternate captain Lindsey Kiliwnik had 20 goals and 36 points. Former Nipissing Lakers defender Madison Laplante had seven goals and 21 points from the blue line while Courtney Mahoney led all defenders in goals as she matched her jersey number with eight. Katie Meyer was 8-2-0-0 in ten games this season as the Lightning rotated goalies, posting a 3.59 GAA and an .891 save percentage.
If you're asking me who will win the game, I cannot tell you. Honestly, finding a free stream or a channel that had any AWIHL coverage on it was harder than finding a wombat in the wild, so I haven't been able to watch any games this season. There's an option to stream the game for a cost, but I'm not spending $8 on a stream for one game. You're welcome to do so if you like, but I'll pass.
In any case, I'll venture a guess here and say that the Brisbane Lightning will find a way to secure the gold medal. I say that based on the fact that they won the last game between these two squads, but also because the Lightning had a battle to get into the gold medal game where they held on to a lead to defeat the Melbourne Ice by a 5-4 score. Perth played a solid game in defeating the Sydney Sirens by a 4-2 score, but Brisbane had to lock down their zone to win. If they can do that again, they should emerge victorious!
Of course, all predictions found on HBIC are fully-refundable if I'm wrong, so take my prognostication with a handful of salt. I'm basing it off not watching games, reading statistics, and analyzing a schedule, so my expertise is somewhere close to none in AWIHL matters.
For those wondering, former Regina Cougars forward Jordan Kulbida finished tied for third in league scoring with 41 points, and she was second in goals with 24. Her team, the Adelaide Rush, wasn't very strong this season as they posted a 6-11-2-1 record to finish in fifth-place, missing the playoffs. They were also the team where the Melbourne Ducks earned their lone point this season as Adelaide needed overtime to beat Melbourne with Kulbida scoring the game-winner. For the record, the Ducks went 0-19-0-1 record this year.
If you're looking to watch the game, it starts in three hours from this article's publication time of 9pm CT, so put the coffee on and get ready to watch hockey into the wee hours of the morning. It should be a good final between the AWIHL's best teams, so we'll see who prevails with the godl medal as the best Australian women's team!
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
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