Australian Ice Hockey League Finals LIVE Online

This weekend, the top four teams in Australian Ice Hockey come together in Newcastle, NSW for the 2008 AIHL Finals. The Sydney Bears (1), Melbourne Ice (2), Western Sydney Ice Dogs (3) and Newcastle North Stars (4) battled throughout the 28 game season to earn the right to play for the century-old Goodall Cup, the AIHL’s equivalent of the Stanley Cup.

For the first time, all three games of the AIHL finals are going to be available live online, thanks to the fantastic efforts of Slapshot Entertainment.

From the news release issued today on the Slapshot Entertainment website:

"During the 2008 regular season, Slapshot amassed an excellent crew which allowed us to provide high-level ice hockey coverage in a way that has never been done in Australia before. With a 4-camera system (3 game play cameras and a score clock cam), vision-switched LIVE to the Internet using our technical director at our mobile TV studio, we were able to bring together a professional mix of live play-by-play and colour commentary, dynamic on-the-fly graphics, instant replays and mid-period activities such as player interviews. The resulting package was streamed live to the Internet and recorded to disk for delayed broadcast to Brisbane’s community Channel 31 (now QCTV), which is watched by nearly 40,000 viewers weekly."

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Slapshot Entertainment brings not only this technical set-up to Newcastle for the Grand Final weekend, but also a background history and appreciation for ice hockey, the quality and feeling from which can be seen and felt in our broadcasts. It’s this passion that prompted our willingness to be involved at this grassroots-level of ice hockey’s growth in Australia. With enough enthusiastic support for this sport and the AIHL, we hope that existing and new fans alike will help it flourish, and Slapshot would like to be a big part of its growing success.

Tickets for the live-to- Internet broadcasts of the 3 games (2 x semi-final and one Grand Final game) are available on the slapshot.com.au website. Game passes can be purchased individually for AUD $11.95 or the 3-game VIP PUCKHEAD PASS can be had for $23.95. Prior to 28 August 2008, pre-sales single-game tickets will be 25% off and PUCKHEAD passes are discounted by 20%.

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Saturday will see two games played:

• Sydney Bears (1) Vs Newcastle North Stars (4) - 4:30pm AEST
• Melbourne Ice (2) Vs Western Sydney Ice Dogs (3) - 7:30pm AEST

The winner of those two matches will play off for the coveted Goodall Cup on Sunday at 4:00pm AEST.

There is also talk of delayed streaming coverage so those in North America and Europe will be able to watch the games without needing to stay up in the early hours of the morning. Those that do, however, will be rewarded with the best level of hockey Australia has to offer—live and exclusive.