Week 19 Recap: Newcastle secure top spot in Rurak

---

Rhinos defeat Mustangs in overtime to finish season off with a win

The Central Coast Rhinos have closed out their 2024 AIHL season on a high note, with a thrilling 6-5 overtime win in front of a sold-out Erina Ice Arena on Sunday.

Melbourne started out on the front foot looking to put Saturday’s result against Newcastle behind them. Evan Khroustalev’s first of the year and a power play goal from Rylan Freed put the visitors 2-0 up at the first intermission.

The Rhinos turned it on in the second period with 4 unanswered goals. Back-to-back power play goals from Xander Wardlaw and David-James Jeremy tied the game early in the second period. Wardlaw’s second and another from Bert Malloy put them 4-2 in front after 40 minutes.

However, the Mustangs weren’t done and former Rhino Hayden Dawes answered back with a pair against his former club to tie it at 4-4. Malloy’s second with 11:34 remaining gave the home team the edge as they looked to hang on for the comeback win.

It looked as though the Rhinos would take the three points until Freed silenced the Erina faithful with a power play goal just 1:19 from time, to send the game to overtime and the Mustangs’ with a sniff of victory.

That was until Frenchman Aziz Baazzi received a pass from Adrian Sebag and walked in alone on Mackenzie Hill, going with a spectacular Forsberg move to beat the Mustangs’ netminder and seal a 6-5 overtime win for the Rhinos sending the hometown fans into raptures.

The Rhinos finish their 2024 season with 7 wins (3OTW) and with a total of 20 points, a much-improved effort on their 2023 entry that had only one regulation win.

The Mustangs round out 2024 with 44 points and miss the AIHL playoffs for the first time since 2019, ending their Goodall Cup title defence.
 
Bears, Ice Dogs down Ice in Sydney

The Sydney Bears and Sydney Ice Dogs have both taken the points from the Melbourne Ice, in the final AIHL games at Macquarie Ice Arena for 2024.

The Bears collided with the Ice first on Saturday night, where the visitors jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the first period thanks to Austin Albrecht and Mac Caruana. Michael Schlamp got the lone goal in response.

Sydney overtook the Ice throughout the next 40 minutes, scoring 4 straight unanswered goals to lead 5-2 until midway through the third period. Roman Kraemer and Joey Hughes attempted a late comeback for the Ice, but time ran out before they could force the overtime period leading to a 5-4 Bears’ win.

The Ice regathered for a hit-out with the Ice Dogs the following day with Roman Kraemer getting them 1-0 up after 20 minutes, despite pouring on 23 shots to 10 in the first stanza.

Strat Allen managed a response for Sydney in the second period, levelling the scores at 1-1 after 40 minutes of play.

Alex MacDonald then pulled the Ice Dogs in front for the first time with his 29^th of the year, just a minute into the last period of regulation. Sydney looked set for an upset until Kraemer found the back of the net for the Ice with 2:23 left and it headed into overtime.

The extra 5 minutes couldn’t separate the two teams, and it headed to a shootout. Alex Macdonald was the lone scorer for the Dogs and Arvid Ljung blanked all three Ice shooters for the shootout win, closing the season on a high for the Ice Dogs.

The Ice Dogs finished the 2024 season on 34 points with 12 wins (3OTW) in last place in the Hellyer Conference.

Despite the loss, the Ice took the season series 3-1 and will now prepare for their AIHL Finals clash with the Brisbane Lightning on August 23^rd.



Northstars secure top spot with demolition of Mustangs

The Newcastle Northstars have demolished the Melbourne Mustangs in their final game for season 2024, with the 9-2 victory securing top spot and a semi-final berth in the AIHL Finals.

The Mustangs drew first blood in the opening period through Thomas Flack but were quickly met with a 4-goal barrage from Newcastle, closing out the first 20 minutes 4-1 down.

Flack had a second for the orange black in the second period, but it was all Newcastle for the remainder of the game as 5 goals but the defending Goodall Cup champions to the sword and the Northstars to the top of the Rurak standings.

Francis Drolet finished with 4 goals on the evening while Beau Taylor had 4 assists.

Newcastle capped off their 30-game season with 16 wins (3OTW) and 52 points for top spot in the Rurak Conference. They will face the winner of the Melbourne Ice and Brisbane Lightning preliminary final on Saturday August 24th in the second semi-final.
 
Thunder blank Lightning in final home game

The Perth Thunder have closed out their regular season on a winning note, with a 6-0 win over fellow AIHL finalist Brisbane Lighting at Perth Ice Arena on Saturday.

Brisbane were missing starting goaltender Curtis Meger through suspension and Nick Novysedlak through injury, forcing Marcus Henderson to step in between the pipes for his first game this year.

Jeremiah Addison scored 5 minutes into the first to give the Thunder the lead, soon followed up by Natan Vertes and his 9^th of the year for a 2-0 Thunder lead after 20 minutes.

The scoring for Perth continued in the second, where Riley Langille picked up a pair of goals including one on the power play for a 4-0 Perth lead. Jake Ruck added another before the second intermission and after Henderson was pulled for Stephen McCann.

Star defenceman Mitch Dyck left the game for Brisbane midway through the period after taking a shot to the leg and didn’t return.

Addison added one more during the third period to close out a commanding performance for the Thunder, which saw Dillon Dewar pick up his first AIHL win and shutout.

Perth took the season series 2-1 over Brisbane, finishing third in the Hellyer Conference with 58 points. Brisbane finished 2024 in third place in the Rurak Conference with a total of 36 points.

Perth face the Canberra Brave in the second preliminary final while Brisbane will take on the Melbourne Ice in preliminary final one, both games being played on Friday, August 23^rd.


 
Brave sweep Adrenaline in final home stand

The Canberra Brave have completed their 2024 AIHL Finals preparation with a sweep of the Adrenaline in the ACT at the weekend.

The Brave were needing all six points from the weekend and the Newcastle Northstars to lose their only home game, got have a chance at taking top spot for the AIHL finals.

Austin Cangelosi gave them the start they wanted in the opening period of the weekend, with two goals taking his goal tally to 22 on the year and the Brave to 2-0 up.

Jake Ratcliffe added another through the second for a 3-0 lead.

The Adrenaline took until midway through the third period to find a way past Alex Tetreault in the Canberra net, thanks to Kaden Elder. Daniel Chen tallied a short hander with 5:34 remaining to give the Adrenaline a sniff, but the Brave held for a 3-2 win.

With Newcastle winning over the Mustangs, the result of the Sunday game became less meaningful for the Brave.

That didn’t stop the Brave running up the score board, mainly thanks to a Ratcliffe hat-trick, two goals from Austin Cangelosi and one from Tommy Steven in a 6-1 victory and six points on the weekend. Yoann Levesque had the lone response from Adelaide late in the third period.

The Brave swept the season series 4-0 against the Adrenaline and finished second in the Rurak Conference with 50 points on the year.

Adelaide finished their season with 7 wins (2OTW) and 25 points for 4th spot in the Rurak Conference.

Canberra will take on Perth in the second preliminary final on August 23^rd.


Stream all the 2024 AIHL Finals Series presented by Hungry Jack's live on AIHL.TV - finals packages just $19.95!