The Central Coast Rhinos is a semi-professional ice hockey team based in Erina, New South Wales, Australia. The team is a member of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). The team was founded in 2005 as an expansion AIHL team and played in the league for four seasons between 2005 and 2008 The Rhinos left the league in 2009 and joined the Australian International Ice Hockey Cup, where it competed for four seasons between 2009 and 2012. Central Coast were granted a provisional AIHL licence in 2022 to play exhibitions and were successful in re-joining the AIHL in 2023. The Rhinos home venue is the Erina Ice Arena, located within the Erina Fair Shopping Centre on the New South Wales Central Coast.
History
Establishment and first AIHL era (2005-08)
The Central Coast Rhinos were founded in 2005 as the Blue Haven Rhinos in Erina, New South Wales. The Rhinos were announced as an Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) expansion team in 2005 after securing an AIHL license. The team joined the AIHL along with fellow newcomers the Brisbane Blue Tongues, raising the league membership from six to eight teams. The Rhinos chose the Erina Ice Arena, which had recently opened in 2004, as their home venue on the Central Coast. Team governance for 2005 saw Bob Roberts elected the first Chairman of the Board for the Rhinos and Rick Williams appointed as a Director.
The Rhinos inaugural AIHL game was against the Canberra Knights at Erina Ice Arena on 17 April 2005. The new team were defeated 10–1 by the vastly more experienced Knights. Canberra took a five-goal lead into the first break before the Rhinos held the Knights to a 1–1 second period. The third period ended like the first with the Knights putting on four unanswered goals. The game was feisty with the Rhinos racking up 93 penalty minutes along with 57 to the Knights.
The first AIHL win for the Rhinos came at home at Erina on 15 May 2005 against the Western Sydney Ice Dogs. The two teams played out a tightly contested game that ended 4–4 after regulation time. Blair Collins gave the Rhinos the lead in the first period and from there it was tit for tat until the final buzzer in the third period. Blue Haven won in overtime with a power play goal by Bryce Conrad sealing the game for the Rhinos 5–4.
The Rhinos finished their maiden AIHL season last in the league ladder, 14 points adrift of the Melbourne Ice in seventh. In twenty-six games they had produced four wins, one tie, two overtime wins and losses and seventeen regulation losses, giving the team a 24%-win rate. The Rhinos did not qualify for the 2005 finals weekend, held in Newcastle, to play for the Goodall Cup. Blue Haven's David Wong finished the 2005 season with the third highest saves percentage, 0.865, out of any goaltender in the league. Czech import forward Dusan Halloun was the Rhinos highest points scorer for the season, ending with twenty-eight points from twenty games including ten goals and eighteen assists.
The team's performances in 2006 remained relatively similar to their opening campaign. Six wins and twenty-two losses, gave them one less point in the league ladder than in 2005. However, the Rhinos final league position had improved from the previous season and Blue Haven had managed to avoid the wooden spoon by finishing seventh above the Canberra Knights. Canadian forward Mitch Strang produced the Rhino's best AIHL season points return by a single player with forty-four points in 2006. Strang's record included twenty-two goals and assists. David Wong once again led the goaltending stats for the Rhinos in 2006 with a 0.829 save percentage.
2007 and 2008 saw little improvement for the Rhinos. In 2007 the team's sponsorship with Blue Haven ended so the team became known as the Central Coast Rhinos. On the ice the Rhinos continued to struggle and finished last in the league standings in both seasons, failing to qualify for finals. 2007 was particularly bad with just two regulation wins and one overtime win all season. Swedish centre Håkan Olsson was the team's top points scorer in 2007 with thirty-eight points, while Canadian Jon MacMillian was the Rhinos best goaltender with a save percentage of 0.834. In 2008 Swedish pair Simon Kummu and Markus Claesson topped the team's scoring and goaltending charts with thirty points and 0.807 save percentage respectfully.