Newcastle Northstars 4 defeated Central Coast Rhinos 3 in a crucial game to break their losing streak and get back into the winning column.
Veterans of the Northstars celebrated some big milestones this weekend with Tim Stanger playing his 250
th AIHL game, Sean Oultram playing his 200
th AIHL game, and Beau Taylor securing his 200
th AIHL point.
On reaching 200 points, Beau Taylor shared, “It’s nice. I’ve always enjoyed scoring goals, and I think getting those 200 points has been a nice achievement individually. My priority is always winning and doing whatever it takes for the guys to get that W, so if I can put a few pucks in the net and help the team win, that’s always nice, too.”
With 200 AIHL games now under his belt , Sean Oultram shared, “I actually had no idea that I was coming anywhere close to 200 games until I was congratulated, but it was awesome. I had heaps of fun, and it’s good to get back after some injury issues, get a win and we’ll hopefully take that momentum into the rest of the season.”
250 games is a mighty feat in the AIHL, and Tim Stanger shared with a smile what it was like playing that game in front of the home crowd, “It was absolutely unreal. It’s still a bit surreal to have 250 games, but I’m super proud to be here and super proud of the boys. We have the best fans in the league; it’s something special to play here and in front of my family.”
On the back of a 3-7 defeat vs the Sydney Bears on Saturday night, the Newcastle Northstars bounced back, securing a 4-3 win at home on Sunday night.
After a tough couple of rounds that saw them on a six-game losing streak, Sunday’s game put Newcastle back in the win column at a crucial time as the league looks ahead to the second half of the season and shifts focus to finals .
Head Coach Kevin Noble shared the Northstars outlook on finals amidst the injuries and adversity the team has been facing. “The positive from tonight is we got the win and the three points. The points are critical, especially in conference, to keep our push to finish first. It’s tough times with some injuries, but that being said, we still have a good core of our team, and we have a lot of guys taking on bigger minutes.
Finding themselves behind early in the game Beau Taylor scored the equaliser for the home team, getting the crowd on their feet.
Central Coast Rhinos would get their second of the game with just seven seconds left in the period.
The Newcastle Northstars trailed 1-2 to the Central Coast Rhinos at the first intermission.
Assistant Captain Francis Drolet shared with Northstars media, “The Rhinos have gotten better, they’re a harder team to play against which is fun. It makes the league better, and it makes everyone better. We were coming into today at home in a slump and we had to get past that and switch the momentum. Aside from the first shift, they boys showed up and showed a lot of character.”
Newcastle’s Kyler Matthews secured the only two goals of the second period, taking a 3-2 lead going into the second intermission.
The Central Coast Rhinos fought back with an equaliser goal halfway through the final period, with Newcastle’s Francis Drolet scoring the game-winning goal.
Noble shared how important players are to contributing to the teams games, and helping secure the victories, “We’re going to have to lean on the core to really bring us more every night, and the rookies and guys that weren’t expecting to play as much will have more expected from them. So tonight the big thing is a win and the three points.”
Assistant Coach David Ferarri reflected on his thoughts on how the team stepped up, sharing, “we’re playing shorthanded, and the guys are playing minutes they’re not used to playing and roles they’re not used to playing out of necessity. Tonight the Powell, Nadin and Stanger line was a perfect example of that. They were simple, effective and really hard to play against by being physical and through that they didn’t give up anything and found themselves in good spots to get scoring chances.”
“Credit to the Rhinos,” Ferarri continued, “they’re a good team and they’ve got a lot of good individuals. I think systematically tonight they were tough to play against. They capitalised on their opportunities, but I think it was good for us that it wasn’t easy tonight.”
Northstars now look ahead to their road trip on the 22
nd and 23
rd of June in Brisbane vs the Lightning.
NORTHSTARS
MUSTANGS
ICE
RHINOS
