Preview: Adrenaline v Mustangs

With the Adelaide Adrenaline having already gotten their season underway on Saturday, the Kodiak Melbourne Mustangs will begin their rush for the Goodall Cup on Sunday at home.

Adelaide will be focused on game 2

Despite Adelaide’s first game not going the way they hoped, with a 8-o loss to the Melbourne Ice on Saturday 21 April, an impressive pre-season run has Adelaide fans eagerly awaiting the puck drop for this afternoon’s 2nd game on the road against the Mustangs.

During Melbourne’s Hockey Festival, the Adrenaline excited fans, winning three out of the four games played over the weekend with strong showings from each line.  Yet as Adelaide’s message to fans on social relayed, their opening game against the Ice “didn’t quite go to plan, with a dominant Melbourne Ice leading the charge on their home ice.”

Fans should not be disheartened however. This year’s new additions to the Adrenaline line-up, including new Head Coach Jim Fuyarchuk who takes the reigns as last year’s coach Sami Mantere returns to the playing roster, will be looking to demonstrate their capability against the Mustangs - having once beaten the Mustangs in a shootout in pre-season.

“I expect our team to play hard, smart hockey, we still have some work to do and we will try to implement some systems early that will make us hard to play against this year." Fuyarchuk said.

The team will begin their season on Saturday against the Ice before taking on the Mustangs in game two of a back-to-back.

Mustangs to open their 2018 account

The Mustangs have already had a good start to 2018, after making their way to the finals of the pre-season tournament at home in Melbourne where they faced off against their hometown rivals and took a narrow 3-2 loss to the Ice.

With the addition of Petri Pitkanen in net, and an impressive line-up in front of him, the Mustangs are hopeful to be a strong contender for this year’s Goodall Cup.

You’d expect fans to be eager to see Charles-Oliver Roussel in action too, possibly one of the most elite defenseman signings the AIHL has seen to date. The Big D-man secured himself a #42 overall pick in the NHL draft in 2009 and is expected to be a huge part of the Mustangs Defence core this season.

Alongside Pitkanen are two more import forwards from the Guilford Flames of the EIHL, as well as many familiar faces who will be looking to make a solid start to the 2018 Season in front of a home crowd in Game one.

Opening weekend will also see the debut of Maxime Langelier-Parent as the Mustangs new Head Coach. Langelier-Parent was a key Mustangs player last year, and will look to continue his leadership and success behind the bench this season. 

“I believe there is a lot of potential in this locker room and with hard and smart work we, as a team, can achieve great things this year,” said Langelier-Parent.

Mustangs fans can secure their very own in-person preview at the pre-game Fan event at the O'Brien Group Arena from 2pm, with a Q&A session hosted by Coach Langelier-Parent. 

UPCOMING GAME

Tickets: http://aihl.net/2p5An4Z
AIHL.TV live stream: https://aihl.net/2JWMYzs