The Goodall Cup is a perpetual trophy that is, currently, annually awarded to the playoff champions of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL).

The modern day version of the cup is instantly recognisable by the distinct single gold band of plaques around the lower barrel portion of the trophy.

With the opening of the Sydney Glaciarium, ice hockey matches between Victoria and New South Wales representative teams began almost immediately.

[2][3] This evening marked the first Inter-State Series for ice hockey in Australia which was held between a state representative team from Victoria and from New South Wales.

[4] New South Wales was represented by a newly formed team in 1909 and travelled to Melbourne on 29 August 1909 which marked the first national interstate competition for senior men's hockey in Australia.

[11] The date of the first of 3 games in the third Inter-State Series which saw New South Wales win the Goodall Cup and the dominant skill of Canadian born Jim Kendall who arrived in Australia 2 years before.

The newly appointed second president of the VAIHSA, Philip John Rupert Steele Sr, presented the Goodall Cup to the injured New South Wales captain Jim Kendall on the evening after the final game of this series.

[16] New South Wales and Victoria would not play again until 1921 as World War I forced the closure of the Sydney rink (which reopened in 1920) and the abandonment of the 1914 season.

New South Wales won the 1921 series with a far superior line-up which included Canadian Jimmy Kendall, who had previously turned down a cadetship with the Montreal Professional Club.

Game 1: Victoria – 0 New South Wales – 0 In 1923 a national federation formed and was named the Australian Ice Hockey Association (AIHA).

The New South Wales State team would win every Goodall Cup in the 9 years of the national federation being called the Australian Ice Hockey Association (AIHA) from 1923 to 1931.

[17] There were cost concerns surrounding the yearly inter state series and some of the players were unable to travel due to not being able to afford the trip.

After the national council held a meeting in August, they were undecided about the future of the inter state series and left the decision to the rink managers in Sydney and Melbourne.

The Goodall Cup would continue being the awarded trophy for champions of the national competition that remained between Victoria and New South Wales.

New South Wales would win the Goodall Cup in 1938 and 1939 before the national competition was interrupted in 1940 by the events of World War II.

[19] This tied series resulted in the New South Wales state team retaining the Goodall Cup for 1946 due to having been the previous champions in 1939 before World War II interrupted the competition.

The team that year was captained by Thornton McLaren and coached (player-coach) by Russ Trudeau and sparked by a 19-year old kid from Burnaby, British Columbia, named Doug Waymark, who won the John Nicholas Trophy as the most valuable player (MVP) of the tournament.

The Sydney Bears won the first AIHL Goodall Cup in 2002 in a finals series hosted at the Sydney-based Blacktown Ice Arena where they defeated the Adelaide Avalanche.

[23] To mark the centenary championship, a single band of gold plaques circles the trophy with each containing the name of each State Team.

The original Goodall Cup was retired before the centenary finals and now resides in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The Goodall Cup has been re-instated by the AIHL as its finals tournament trophy and as the prize signifying Australian champions of ice hockey.

This tied series resulted in the New South Wales state team retaining the Goodall Cup for 1946 due to having been the previous champions in 1939 before World War II interrupted the competition.

( Goals scored: VIC- Nichol(1), Massina(1) NSW- Thorpe(1) ) Game 3 (7 August 1946)[19] Victoria – 2 New South Wales – 2

Midway through 2009, the cup was again restored and mounted on a large barrel-like base covered in name plates to be ready for the centenary game.

The previous years champions were New South Wales and the cup was not brought to the 1995 tournament, leaving Ice Hockey Australia needing to provide a substitute trophy.