2010–11 AIHL Elite season

The 2010–11 AIHL season was the 3rd season of the American Inline Hockey League (AIHL). The season started on December 4, 2010. The inaugural All-Star Game was held at Bladerunners Ice Complex in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, home arena of the Pittsburgh Bandits, after the conclusion of the Champions Cup playoffs. The Champions Cup Final ended on May 29, with the Oakland GoodLife defeating the Philadelphia Brawlers in two games.

League business

Season schedule

For the 2010–11 schedule was reduced from 32 games to a 24-game schedule. Each division is still responsible for deciding its own scheduling format.

Franchise changes

Expansion

The Louisiana Sharpshooters, Mississippi Rolling Surge and Oakland GoodLife were all expansion teams for the 2010–11 season.

The Harrisburg Lunatics, an original member of the Professional Inline Hockey Association, announced they would compete in both leagues for 2010–11 season.

The Irvine Anarchy added a second elite team under the franchise umbrella. They were now known as the Irvine Anarchy Black and 949 Anarchy Red.

The AIHL also expanded into the Great Lakes region with five expansion franchises: the Buffalo Fusion, Chicago Carnage, Grand Rapids Assassins, Michigan Havoc and Motor City Phoenix.

Contraction

The Boston Swamp Rats, Cajun Voo Doo, Garden State Savage Wolves, Houston Sabre Cats, Maryland Knights, Mile High Mayhem, Northern California Riot, Rocky Mountain Talons, San Diego VooDoo and Winchester Generals all folded before the season.

Relocation

The Massachusetts Mulissha relocated to Warwick, Rhode Island and became the Rhode Island Mulissha.

Mergers

The Southampton Cyclones organization merged with the expansion Philadelphia Liberty and became the Liberty's minor league affiliate.

Name changes

The Beantown Braves changed their name to the Beantown Athletics.

The Corona Jr. Ducks dropped the 'Jr.' from their name to become simply the Corona Ducks.

The defending champion Huntington Beach Elite changed their name to the Huntington Beach Ducks as a part of the NHL's Anaheim Ducks owning their home arena.

Realignment

With the AIHL adding five new teams in the Great Lakes region, the AIHL realigned it's conferences. The Great Lakes Division was added to the Eastern Conference. The Gulf Coast Division was moved from the Eastern Conference to the Western Conference, bringing both conferences to four divisions each.

Regular season

Standings

By division

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

By Conference

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Playoffs

After the regular season, 26 teams qualified for the playoffs. The Oakland GoodLife had the #1 overall seed for having the best record in the league, at 46 points.

Playoff bracket

In the first two rounds, the highest seed in each division is matched against the lowest seed in their division. The higher-seeded team is awarded home floor advantage, where the series is played at the higher-seeded team's home arena. In the final three rounds, the highest remaining seed in each conference is match against the lowest remaining seed. All games in the final three rounds are played at a neutral site. The home team is determined based on regular season points. Each best-of-three series follows a 1–1–1 format: the higher-seeded team plays as home team for game one (plus three if necessary), and the lower-seeded team is as home team for game two.

Champions Cup Final

AIHL awards

Player stats

Scoring leaders

The following players led the league in points at the conclusion of the regular season.

Leading goaltenders

The following goaltenders led the league in goals against average at the end of the regular season.

See also

• 2010–11 AIHL transactions
• 2010–11 AIHL suspensions and fines
• 2010 in sports
• 2011 in sports

External links

• AIHLhockey.com