The 2024 Australian Junior Ice Hockey League (AJIHL) season was scheduled to be held from 16 August to 18 August at iceHQ in Reservoir, Victoria. However, a week later and Ice Hockey Australia has yet to publish results, rosters, or a summary of the competition. While it is believed that the AJIHL season went ahead as scheduled, the only indication comes from an iceHQ post which advises patrons of an altered general skating schedule for the weekend in question.
The 2024 season was initially set to run from April to July with four teams competing across eighteen regular season games and two playoff matches. It was later amended to be held over a single weekend in August with six regular season games and the two playoff matches. The amended schedule meant the competition was run more as a development camp for national under-20 team selection rather then a proper league.
“silent passing” made me think it had died. Perhaps this is correct, I note that IHA no longer list the AJIHL as a National league on their website. What a shame this has happened as it has been an important league for the development of our young players who cannot, or do not, play overseas in our off-season. I wonder what the impact will be on Australia’s ongoing eligibility for participation in the IIHF U20 Championships.
I may have used the “silent passing” with that as my thought, after this season’s efforts it does feel like it’s dead in the water. Shifting the league to a single round a couple of seasons ago was stage one, then switching it from a summer league to a winter league was the killer blow. Reading the IIHF by-laws I couldn’t see the minimum game requirements anymore (I might have missed it), so I wonder if they can get away with just running Tange as a replacement.
Hopefully something can pop-up as a replacement in the future. Maybe the State Associations have to work together to develop something where the IHA can’t? I don’t really know how the Associations work behind the scenes so I might be off the mark with that suggestion.