Australian Ice Hockey League - Powered By esportsdesk.com

HELLYER LADDER

Team	GP	W	L	PTS
Ice	3	3	0	9
Thunder	4	3	1	9
Mustangs	1	1	0	3
Bears	2	1	1	3
Ice Dogs	3	0	3	0

RURAK LADDER

Team	GP	W	L	PTS
Northstars	3	3	0	9
Adrenaline	1	1	0	3
Brave	4	1	3	3
Lightning	4	1	3	3
Rhinos	3	0	3	0

SCORING LEADERS

Aiden
Wagner (NNS)

Player	Points
Jeremiah Addison (PER)	14
Wehebe Darge (NNS)	12
francis Drolet (NNS)	12
Beau Taylor (NNS)	10

GOALIE LEADERS

N Novysedlak (BRE)

1.000

Goalie	SV%
Tatsunoshin Ishida (MIC)	.952
Rhys Pelliccione (PER)	.950
Leo Bertein (PER)	.912
Jeremy Friederich (ADE)	.912

Clewlow bags a hat-trick as Dogs book finals berth

Monday, August 18, 2014 - Submitted by Gemma Fagan

The Sydney Ice Dogs made it two-from-two in Perth with a 6-3 victory in another tough encounter at the Perth Ice Arena on Sunday.

The win sees the Ice Dogs claim the final spot in the AIHL Finals and a chance to defend the Goodall Cup despite pressure on the ladder from the Adelaide Adrenaline.

The Thunder on the other hand were hoping to give the Western Australian crowd a winning send off in the final home game of the season.

The first period got off to fast start with a high tempo set from the first puck drop with both teams keen for the win.

Although the Ice Dogs found themselves in the penalty box early Simon Barg continued where he left off, scoring a shorthanded goal. The goal was nullified only 18 seconds later when Corey Toy converted the power play.

Momentum continued to swing in the home sides favour and Perth’s veteran forward David Ruck took full advantage of it by putting his team ahead just under a minute. The first period came to a close the Thunder leading proceedings 2-1.

The second period saw both teams pick up where they had left off and it didn’t take long for Sydney’s import John Clewlow to even things up when he found the back of Mathieu Dugas net just two-and-a-half minutes into the period.

Nearing the half-way point of the second, a power play to the Thunder saw the home side reclaim the lead. It took only ten seconds of the man-advantage for import Stuart Stefan to find the back of Ice Dogs’ net and put the home team back in the lead 3-2.

The Ice Dogs continued to put pressure on Thunders goalie Dugas throughout the second period by registering 21 shots on goal but couldn’t crack them again, with the Thunder leading 3-2 at the final break.

With a finals berth within their grasp, the Ice Dogs went into the third period with a mission and they made their intentions clear. John Clewlow buried two goals within 43 seconds to claim a hat-trick and give his side the lead for the first time in the match.

The home side started to show frustration towards the end of the period which resulted in them taking two trips to the sin bin, the Ice Dogs pounced on both opportunities with Brian Funes and David Dunwoodie both getting power play goals and lifting their team to a 6-3 win.

Perth Thunder’s captain Sam Wilson believed his team put in a solid effort but were outplayed by the victors in the end.
“Today again we started well,” Wilson said. “All the boys skating hard winning battles, we had a lot of offensive pressure, hitting a couple of posts before we eventually opened up the scoring.”

“A few penalties late in the game changed the score line giving the Dogs a sniff. After they equalised, we tried all we could to get the upper hand but the dogs fought hard and created a lot more opportunities. They took the game from us with goals scored on breakaways and on odd man rushes.”

Wilson continued, praising the Sydney-siders imports.

“The Dogs have a very smart import line,” he said. “Their goalie played well. They fore-check hard and put on a lot of pressure on the puck carrier. We started good in both games but finished off weak. We had a lot of opportunities we didn't take.”

The Ice Dogs take on the Melbourne Mustangs in Liverpool next Sunday night. The Thunder will turn their sights towards Melbourne for next weekend’s double header against the Melbourne Ice. Wilson is hopeful that the team can get a couple of wins to finish off their season on a high.

“It's tough knowing we can no longer make playoffs, but any sport I have ever played doesn't matter what level, I always want to win,” Wilson laughed. “So we will make sure we do everything we can to finished off the season with two wins, finish on a high and take it on to next season.”

Even though they may have lost, the team went out on a positive note by hold a changing of the jersey ceremony after the game and took the opportunity to thank their fans and volunteers for are their loyal support and hard work throughout the season.

SOCIALISE WITH US

Tweets

INSTAGRAM

Instagram is unavailable right now