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HELLYER LADDER

Team	GP	W	L	PTS
Ice	4	4	0	12
Thunder	6	4	2	12
Bears	4	3	1	9
Mustangs	2	1	1	3
Ice Dogs	5	1	4	3

RURAK LADDER

Team	GP	W	L	OTW	OTL	PTS
Northstars	4	3	0	1	0	11
Lightning	6	3	3	0	0	9
Adrenaline	3	1	1	0	1	4
Brave	6	1	5	0	0	3
Rhinos	4	0	4	0	0	0

SCORING LEADERS

Jeremiah
Addison (PER)

Player	Points
Aiden Wagner (NNS)	18
Wehebe Darge (NNS)	15
francis Drolet (NNS)	15
Zane Jones (PER)	13

GOALIE LEADERS

N Novysedlak (BRE)

1.000

Goalie	SV%
Rhys Pelliccione (PER)	.950
Tatsunoshin Ishida (MIC)	.933
Leo Bertein (PER)	.905
Charles Smart (NNS)	.903

Thunder edge North Stars; remain undefeated

Sunday, May 17, 2015 - Submitted by Courtney Laura

Perth Thunder have remained undefeated after five games to start the 2015 AIHL season, downing the Newcastle North Stars 3-2 at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium Saturday night.

The win saw the Thunder move to the top of the ladder for the first time in the club’s four-year history while the North Stars drop one spot to second.

With possession evenly shared in the first period, it took most of the period before the home team got on the board.

Brian Bales started the scoring, passing behind the net to Wudrick who sent the puck to Safar on the blue line.

With a slap shot straight through the Thunder defenders, Safar found the back of the net giving the North Stars a 1-0 lead just before the first intermission.

In a tight tussle, goals would be hard to come by but Toni Kluuskeri got the visitors on the board.

Skating through the stars defence, there was some slick passing from Luke Judson to Luc Daigneault to find the stick of Kluuskeri who found the back of the net and opened the Thunder’s account.

On the power play, the North Stars got the puck out of their zone and began their approach to attack.

With quick passes between Moffatt and Wudrick getting the Thunder off-balance, Moffatt’s wrist shot found the back of the net off the rebound.

With a 2-1 lead to the North Stars at the final break, the game was still anyone’s for the taking.

As both teams came out pushing for the all-important next goal, North Stars keeper Dayne Davis held his composure and saved several hard shots from the Thunder.

Midway through the period, the Thunder found a hole.

Breaking away on a two-on-one, a quick pass from Judson gave captain Sam Wilson the chance to find the back of the net to tie the scores up at 2-all.

With sloppy passing giving the Thunder the space they needed, Kluuskeri had the eventual game-winner with just over two minutes remaining, finding the back of the net with a thunderous slapshot, sliding the puck between the North Stars defencemens' skates.

Although they didn’t end up on the right side of the result, coach Andrew Petrie said his charges played well.

“We stuck to our systems and strategies and we aren’t down about it at all.” Petrie said. “I told the team if we played them like that four times, we would win three.”

“We didn’t have any weaknesses tonight. I don’t think we played badly at all. This week at practice I will focus on our flow and making sure everyone keeps moving.”

Petrie said that he enjoyed the passion and aggression his team played with.

“The beautiful thing for me with the guys getting upset shows me they don’t want to lose, that they want to win,” Petrie said. “As a coach you need to look for those signals and I am pretty happy with that.”

Over in the Perth camp, coach Dave Kenway was thrilled with the result.

“The boys played well,” Kenway said. “I would have liked a few more shots but we knew it was going to be a tough game.”

“They’re a tough team to play against but we got the result in the end. It has been a great start to the season for us with our wins, but beating the North Stars is brilliant.”

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