Adelaide Rush

Pre-AWIHL

The Adelaide Rush were founded in 2005 as the Adelaide Assassins.^[1] The team joined the National Women's Program Showcase Series announced by Ice Hockey Australia in 2005.^[2] The Showcase series would be an opportunity to build up to establishing a fully-fledged national women's league.^[2] Adelaide competed in the two Showcase Series in 2006 and 2007.^[3]

In early 2006, the Assassins appointed the Australian U18 national team assistant coach, Pier Martin, as their inaugural head coach for the 2006 Showcase Series.^[4] Adelaide selected thirteen players in their first roster, including at least seven Australian internationals in Lucy Parrington, Jodie Walker, Serena Yu, Mel McLaren, Tash Farrier, Candice Mitchell and Tamra Jones.^[4] The first Showcase began in February 2006 with five teams, Adelaide Assassins, Sydney Sirens, Brisbane Goannas, Canberra Ice Caps and Melbourne Flames.^[5] Adelaide won the first Showcase Series, finishing top of the standings with 18 points from 12 games, defeating the Sirens by four points to the title.^[5] In the second Showcase Series in 2006-07, the Assassins went undefeated to win the Showcase back-to-back. Adelaide was the first team to lift the West Lakes Trophy in 2007, which had been donated by Westlakes Trophies and Framing to the National Women's Program. The Assassins closest game in the second Showcase was a 6-4 victory over the Sydney Sirens on 11 February 2007.^[6]

AWIHL

The newly formed Australian Women's Ice Hockey League had its inaugural season in the 2007–08 season, where the Adelaide Assassins would again win the championship. At this time the championship trophy awarded to the winners of the finals was the West Lakes Trophy, made by Westlakes Trophies and Framing.^[7]

On August 8, 2011, the Adelaide Assassins merged with the Adelaide Adrenaline ice hockey club. The move was made to increase the exposure of women's hockey in Australia with the help of associating with an already well known brand with which they could share resources with.^[8]

Before the 2016 season began, the Adrenaline were re branded as Adelaide Rush.

Adelaide Assassins (2005-11)

The Assassins were founded with a red, black and white colour scheme. The team's uniforms were prodomantly red with black and white horizontal stripes.^[3] The team's logo followed the same colour scheme with Adelaide Assassins spelt out in full with a customised typeface. The logo featured a black bullet swooshing from the top left to the bottom right.^[9][10]

Adelaide Adrenaline (2011-16)

On 8 August 2011, the Adelaide Assassins merged with the Adelaide Adrenaline ice hockey organisation as part of the wider AWIHL and Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) policy for teams to merge or sign memorandum of understanding (MoU) agreements to better align the two leagues and share resources.^[8] This resulted in the Assassins adopting the Adrenaline logo, colour scheme and uniforms.^[3] Shifting from predominantly red to dark blue with red, yellow and white secondary colours. The new logo consisted of a hockey puck with AA on the face and a hand breaking through clutching a hockey stick.^[11]

Adelaide Rush (2016-present)

On 12 July 2016, the Adelaide Adrenaline's men's and women's programs de-coupled, with the women's program becoming independent once more. The team updated its branding and name, adopting the name Adelaide Rush and new colour scheme of red and navy blue. The team uniforms would revert to predominantly red with a large blue horizontal blue stripe on the front. The new round 'badge' logo features a large red 'R' in its centre on a navy-blue background. This is surrounded by a red ring with navy blue trim with the team's name 'Adelaide Rush' and the year date '2016'.^[12] In 2024, the Rush debuted a sky blue alternative jersey for the first time.^[13]

Current roster

Team roster for the 2024-25 AWIHL season.^[14][15]

Captains

The Rush have had six captains in the team's known history, including ten seasons with Candice Mitchell over two stints.^[16]

More information Season, Captain ...

Season	Captain	Alt Captain One	Alt Captain Two
2006	Information not available
2006–07	Information not available
2007–08	Candice Mitchell
2008–09	Candice Mitchell
2009–10	Candice Mitchell
2010–11	Candice Mitchell
2011–12	Candice Mitchell
2012–13	Candice Mitchell
2013–14	Candice Mitchell	Bethanie Kavanagh	Sari Lehmann
2014–15	Candice Mitchell	Bethanie Kavanagh	Sari Lehmann
2015–16	Candice Mitchell	Bethanie Kavanagh	Kate Tihema
2016–17	Sari Lehmann	Kelly Harris	Kirsty Venus1
2017–18	Ashley Pelkey	Hannah Wright	Candice Mitchell
2018–19	Candice Mitchell
2019–20	Kirsty Venus
2022–23	Natalie Ayris
2023–24	Natasha Farrier	Kaitlyn Malthaner	Kate Tihema
2024–25	Natasha Farrier	Kaitlyn Malthaner	Kate Tihema2

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References:^[17][18]

¹ In 2016–17, the Rush had three alternative captains, rather than the normal two, Tess Reynolds was the third alternative captain.

² In 2024–25, the Rush had three alternative captains, rather than the normal two, Kirsty Venus was the third alternative captain.

Head coaches

The Rush have had seven head coaches in the team's known history, including Josef Rezek who had two stints as head coach.^[19]

More information No., Name ...

No.	Name	Term
1	Pier Martin	2006
2	John Botterill	2008–13
3	Josef Rezek	2013–16
4	Mitch Kelleher	2016–17
5	Josef Rezek	2017–18
6	Jamie Holland	2018–19
7	Hayden Crafter	2019–20
8	Joey McDougall	2022–23
9	Jeffrey Fode	2024–Present

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References:^{[4][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]}