Our women are winners

The Melbourne Ice women’s team made history on February 27 by winning the Australian Women’s Ice Hockey League grand final at the Medibank Icehouse.

Finishing the season in second place, Melbourne Ice secured its place in the grand final after beating top-of-the-table contender the Sydney Sirens 1-0 in the semi-finals on Saturday, February 26.

Melbourne Ice met the Sydney Sirens again in the grand final on Sunday and managed to secure a 2-1 victory over its opponent after two rounds of five-minutes of extra time and a shoot-out.

Coach Lee Brown described the grand final as the most stressful game he had ever coached.

“It was incredible. It took us 10 minutes of over-time and 20 shooters to get that extra goal and win,” Mr Brown said.

Mr Brown said the team had come a long way since the start of the season when it lost three out of its first four games.

"The girls made a vast improvement on the start of the season and we ended up taking out the last six games in a great winning streak."

“It was fantastic to win the grand final and a bit of a surprise because Sydney finished the season with only two losses and I think they would have been quite confident going into the finals,” he said.

Mr Brown said they had a huge celebration on Sunday night following the game.

“Harbour Town Hotel are one of our major sponsors so they put on a great party on Sunday night,” he said.

The historic win followed in the footsteps of the victory by the Melbourne Ice men’s team in their last season.

The Melbourne Ice Women's team formed this season when the Melbourne Dragons – the Victorian women's team amalgamated with Melbourne Ice.

The men’s and women’s Melbourne Ice teams helped raise $3445 for the Queensland flood victims by hosting an exhibition match, Pucks for Bucks, on February 11.