The Newcastle Northstars will return home from a double header weekend in Melbourne with five crucial points and a move up into the top four of the Australian Ice Hockey League standings.

Having slipped down to fifth in the standings ahead of the July 28-29 double header against Melbourne Mustangs and Melbourne Ice, the Northstars went into the weekend knowing they had to win the games or find themselves with an even harder end of season run at making the finals ahead of them.

Zone Jones, back from a five-week injury, made an impression in Saturday’s game against Mustangs.

He netted three (a hat trick) of Newcastle’s goals in a 6-4 win.

It was Mustangs who took the lead early in Saturday’s game. The home side controlled a lot of the game, but the Northstars were able to score and keep themselves level with Mustangs.

That was until the third period when the Northstars kicked it into high gear. Tied 4-4, Jones scored his third of the night with one minute remaining in the third period.

Northstars import Joe Harcharik sealed the game, scoring on the Mustangs’ empty net with .01 of a second left in the game.

Sunday’s game against the 2017 AIHL champions Melbourne Ice was slow burning.

After a scoreless first period, Newcastle came out for the second with renewed determination.

That translated into a goal within the first minute, coming from import Sammy Banga.

Melbourne’s Nate Fleming retaliated, but two more from Newcastle – off Rob Haselhurst and import Sam Lawson – saw the second period end 3-1 in the visitors’ favour.

Newcastle lost a handle on the game in period three, seeing two goals slip past goaltender Dayne Davis to tie the game up and send it to the shootout.

After three rounds in the shootout, the Northstars won wth Davis stopping two of Ice’s three shots and Jones and Harcharik’s making their way past Melbourne goaltender Jayden Pine-Murphy.

The Northstars will next face league leaders CBR Brave at Hunter Ice Skating Stadium on August 5.

The Northstars have six games to play in the AIHL regular season. The AIHL Finals will be played in Melbourne on September 1 and 2. The top four teams play in semi-finals on September 1. The grand-final is played on September 2.

Click here for the box score for Saturday’s game

^{Click here for the box score for Sunday’s game}