Bears remain on top after edging Rhinos, dispatching NorthstarsThe Sydney Bears remain as the team to beat in the AIHL, after a pair of victories over the Central Coast Rhinos and Newcastle Northstars.
The Bears had to battle for the 3 points against a determined Rhinos outfit on the Saturday. Hayden Sayers opened the scoring for Central Coast with his third of the season, for a 1-0 Rhinos lead after 20 minutes.
Chris Eaden answered for the Bears just three minutes after the restart, followed by a pair of power play goals to Lucas Hermann and Tomas Landa in the space of a minute, as the Bears headed into the second break 3-1 up.
The Rhinos didn’t give up though, as Danick Bouchard scored 10 seconds into the third for a one-goal deficit. A free-flowing period that was bereft of penalties resulted in Andrew Smardon tieing the game 3-3 with 7 minutes remaining, and the Rhinos had a sniff. However, Brody Lindal scored his 11
th of the year to put the Bears back in front 4-3 and eventually hand them the 3 points.
It was a much different story on the Sunday against the Northstars, as the two conference leaders faced-off at Macquarie.
The Rurak-leading Newcastle struck first through Francis Drolet’s 10
th goal of the year, which would be the only goal of the first period despite the Bears piling on 15 shots to 8.
They would put the foot down firmly in the second period, as Eaden scored two minutes in to level the scores. He would score a second time, along with helpers from Tyrell Clare and Brody Lindal as Sydney established a 4-1 advantage after 40 minutes.
It would continue to be one-way traffic as Ryan Annesley and Kenshin Hayashi added some insurance goals in the third, and the Bears completed a 6-1 demolition of the Northstars and 6-point weekend.
The Bears travel to Canberra on Saturday before hosting the Mustangs on Sunday. The Northstars head west for a double header against Perth.
Lightning grab last minute win over Mustangs after losing to IceThe Brisbane Lighting have earned their 4
th regulation win after a goal with 12.4 seconds remaining to sink the Melbourne Mustangs, following a defeat at the hands of the Melbourne Ice.
The Ice, missing goaltender Tatsunoshin Ishida, opened their account through Mac Caruana’s 8
th of the season less than a minute into the game. New arrival Chance Adrian levelled the scores for Brisbane halfway through the period, until Joey Hughes restored the Ice lead before the intermission to make it 2-1.
It would be all Melbourne Ice from there on in. Joakim Erdugan and Jeff Solow extended the Ice lead to 4-1 in the second period, before Joey Hughes and Nathan Cachia confirmed a 6-1 victory in the third period.
Tom Forrest made 21 saves in his first start for 2024 in the win, while Curtis Meger turned aside a mammoth 52 of 58 shots in the loss.
The Lightning then had the Mustangs the following the night in the final game of the 4-game weekend at the Icehouse.
Melbourne struck first via Scott Timmins, after an uncharacteristic mistake from Meger in net led to a 1-0 scoreline at the first intermission with the shot count 15-6 in favour of the home side.
Brisbane came out firing in the second, forcing Flodell into many key saves with Meger making two potential save of the season candidates at the other end. Mighty Roo Julian Fodor evened the score with 9 minutes to go in the second period, to get the visitors back in it.
However, the storyline of the game was Timmins being ejected for spearing Sacha Rapchuk late in the second, leading to a 5-minute power play for the Lightning which the Mustangs eventually killed off after the intermission.
A mostly scoreless third period appeared destined for overtime until Fodor found an unmarked Arum Rapchuk at the back post for an easy tap-in with 12.4 seconds remaining, giving the Lightning a 2-1 win and three points out of a possible 6 from their weekend in Melbourne.
Brisbane will host the Mustangs in a rematch on Saturday.
Brave split points after loss to Northstars, win over Ice DogsThe Canberra Brave continue their season of mixed results, after coming off a 4-2 loss at the hands of the Newcastle Northstars with a 5-1 defeat of the Ice Dogs.
New arrival Alex Yuill would get Newcastle on the board first on a power play goal, to put the hosts up 1-0 until Kai Miettinen responded two minutes later with his 7
th of the year.
Hayden Klugerman would pull the Hellyer Conference leaders ahead before the period was over with his first for 2024, for a 2-1 lead at the break.
A relatively scrappy second period ensued, with only Daniel Berno able to add to the scoresheet for a 3-1 Newcastle lead at the last change.
The final 20 minutes saw plenty of penalties and plenty of opportunity on special teams, however both teams would fail to capitalise with the on-ice numerical advantage. A tripping call against Liam Manwarring with two minutes remaining would almost prove to be fatal for Newcastle, however Berno took advantage of a 6-on-4 with an empty net goal to put the game beyond doubt, despite Casey Kubara making it 4-2 before the end of the game.
Canberra atoned for the loss the following evening after returning home to face the Sydney Ice Dogs.
It would take almost 40 minutes for a goal to be scored, as Casey Kubara picked up from where he left off against Newcastle with his 8
th of the year. Jake Carey and Jake Ratcliffe then added one each to mark a sudden 3-0 turnaround heading into the final period.
The Ice Dogs managed to rally in the third, going shot for shot with Canberra, but the clock proved to be their main adversary. Alex MacDonald continued his good run of form with his 9
th of the year with a short-handed goal with 7 minutes remaining. It was too little, too late though as Ratcliffe and Austin Cangelosi got a pair of empty net goals to see the Brave into third spot in the Rurak Conference.
The Ice Dogs host the Melbourne Ice while the Brave go head-to-head with the Bears in Canberra next weekend.
Thunder extend winning streak to 3-in-a-row with two road winsPerth Thunder have made it three wins from their last three games, with a comfortable 8-2 win over the Sydney Ice Dogs and a 4-3 comeback against the Central Coast Rhinos.
Perth got going with a 4-goal first period with Riley Langillle potting his first goal of the season. Kieren Webster, Zane Jones and new Japanese signing Yu Hikosaka all tallying for Perth after 20 minutes.
It was more of the same in the second courtesy of Ville Tenosalmi and Jeremiah Addison making the lead 6-0. Grant Toulmin and Bray Crowder would respond before the second intermission, but that would essentially be it for the Ice Dogs.
Ben Berard added another before Hikosaka set-up Jamie Woodman late with a goal of the season contender via spinorama, to finalise an 8-2 decision for Perth.
The Thunder came up against it on Sunday against the Rhinos at Erina, who had just lost to the Bears the night before.
Perth got on the board first thanks to Berard continuing his point per game run and Kieren Webster getting his second on the weekend for a 2-0 lead.
The script was flipped in the second period as the Rhinos peppered Leo Bertein with 14 shots and found the back of the net three times. Danick Bouchard, Mackenzie Bolger and Bert Malloy all scored to put the hosts in front 3-2 after 40 minutes, with an upset brewing.
Despite the best efforts of Anand Oberoi in the Central Coast net, Jones got his second of the weekend to tie the game before Webster grabbed what would prove to be the game winner 8 minutes from time for a 4-3 Thunder win.
Perth remain in third place in the Hellyer Conference on 27 points, with the Rhinos in 4
th spot in the Rurak Conference on 9 points.
Perth host Newcastle in a double header this weekend while the Rhinos host the Ice on Sunday.
Ice, Mustangs dispatch Adrenaline at IcehouseThe Adelaide Adrenaline have suffered a pair of defeats at the hands of the Ice and Mustangs, as part of a 4-game double header at the Icehouse.
The Adrenaline battled the Mustangs on Saturday afternoon and had the upper hand for the first 20 minutes, outshooting Melbourne 18-6. However, the Mustangs got the stats that matter thanks to Vadim Virjassov and Gavin Birchler for a 2-0 lead at the first change.
The Adrenaline didn’t go away though, as Kaden Elder answered with a short-handed goal three minutes into the second to claw it back to 2-1. Josh Adkins followed up with his 7
th of the year to tie the game at 2-2. Virjassov managed to break Adelaide’s momentum 14 seconds from the end of the period for a 3-2 lead at the second break.
The Adrenaline piled on the pressure in the third with 14 shots on Logan Flodell, but it would be Tom Flack and Dean Klomp finding the back of the net at the other end for a 5-2 Mustangs’ win.
It didn’t get any easier for Adelaide on Sunday, with the Ice coming out swinging from the drop o the puck.
Austin Albrecht continued his hot streak with the first of the game, followed in quick succession by Austin McKenzie and Mac Caruana for an early 3-0 lead to the Ice. The first period was marred by a controversial hit by Joakim Erdugan, which threatened to see the game spill over.
Caruana would score again on the other side of the intermission for 4-0, before Shaun Dosanjh attempted to stem the bleeding for Adelaide with a tally past Tom Forrest in the Melbourne net. It was short-lived as Johnny Aonso and Joey Hughes replied for the Ice for a 6-1 lead after 40 minutes.
The scoreline would remain the same until Dosanjh got his second of the game on the power play with 6 minutes remaining, before Joey MacDougall added one in the final second of the game for a 6-3 Ice win.
Adelaide have a weekend off while the Ice hit the road to Central Coast and Newcastle.
THUNDER
ICE
BEARS
LIGHTNING
RHINOS
ADRENALINE
BRAVE
NORTHSTARS
ICE DOGS
MUSTANGS
