City Erina, New South Wales Colours Red, black and white 2007-present Central Coast Rhinos Location Erina, Australia | Home arena Erina Ice Arena 2005-2006 Blue Haven Rhinos Arena Erina Ice Arena Founded 2005 | |
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League AIHL (2005-2008)
International Cup (2009-2012) | ||
Aihl west syd icedogs central coast rhinos aug19 07
The Central Coast Rhinos are a semi-professional ice hockey team based in Erina, New South Wales, Australia. The Rhinos were a member of the Australian Ice Hockey League for four seasons from 2005–2008, and the Australian International Ice Hockey Cup for four seasons from 2009–2012. The team have most recently been playing exhibition games against the Sydney Bears. The team plays its home games at Erina Ice World, located within Erina Fair Shopping Centre in Erina, New South Wales.
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History
The team was formerly known as the Blue Haven Rhinos after the Blue Haven Pools company, whose sponsorship ended prior to the 2007 season. The Rhinos (along with the Brisbane Blue Tongues) were part of a two-team expansion to the AIHL in 2005 that saw the league grow to eight teams. While the Rhinos gained a healthy fan following in their inaugural season, on the ice the team was not successful and finished in last place, winning just 6 out of 26 regular season games.
The Rhinos left the AIHL before the start of the 2009 season after refusing to accept the AIHL's new licensing model and went on to join the newly formed Australian International Ice Hockey Cup. The Rhinos finished first in the inaugural tournament however lost to the Canadian Maples in the final. They again finished runners up in the two following years and in 2012 failed to qualify for the final after losing all four of their games. In 2013 the team was dropped from the Australian International Ice Hockey Cup in favour of a Canada versus United States style tournament. In November 2013 the team returned to play an exhibition game against the Sydney Bears which they went on to win 8–4. In March 2014 the Rhinos played a second exhibition game against the Bears at the Erina Ice Arena, losing the game 2–8.