By The Hockey Paper
There will be more tinkering of the rules, including 12-minute quarters, extra points with one-on-ones with goalkeepers and power plays, when the 2018 Australian Hockey League starts in October.
The men’s and women’s AHL will run across four weekends with home and away fixtures in every state and territory, with the finals slated for October 25-28.
The AHL had delayed revealing details after several stumbling blocks in recent months, while it seems that the 2018 league will be used as a test pilot before a “fully revised” league in 2019.
The 2018 rule innovations include:
- 4 x 12-minute quarters
- 14 players in the match day squad
- A field goal conversion – when a field goal is scored the team will have an automatic one-on-one with the goalkeeper for an extra point
- 2 x 5-minute PowerPlays – in the last five minutes of the second quarter and the last five minutes of the fourth quarter (details TBC)
- No drawn games
Hockey Australia said that the rule modifications were introduced to produce more “celebratory moments” in the game.
Matt Favier, Hockey Australia’s chief executive, said: “We want to celebrate what will be the final running of the current, traditional AHL but also test and trial some of the new game innovations that we intend to include in the revised league model for 2019.”
Women’s AHL
Pool A: Western Australia – Diamonds, South Australia – Suns, Northern Territory – Pearls, Victorian Vipers
Pool B: Queensland Scorchers, Canberra Strikers, Tasmanian Van Demons, New South Wales Arrows
Men’s AHL
Pool A: Western Australia – Thundersticks, South Australia – Hotshots, Northern Territory – Stingers, Victorian Vikings
Pool B: Queensland Blades, Canberra Lakers, Tasmanian Tigers, New South Wales Waratahs
