Week 5 Recap: Ice remain unbeaten as Dogs win 4 in a row

Photo: David Tate

Ice remain undefeated with back-to-back wins over Brave

The Melbourne Ice have remained the AIHL’s only unbeaten team, with a pair of victories over the Canberra Brave in the nation’s capital this weekend.

After piling on 17 shots, the Ice got a 1-0 lead with 59 seconds to go in the first period on Saturday, with Joakim Erdugan’s 10^th of the year. It wasn’t until the second where newly arrived import Austin Cangelosi scored on debut for the Brave in response, pulling them level at 1-1. Justin Maylan added another to give the home side the lead 5 minutes before the end of the second period, where it finished 2-1 to Canberra.

Jake Carey extended the scoreline to 3-1 with his 5th of the season just 90 seconds into the period, with the Brave starting to gain control. However, the Ice battled back thanks to some stellar goaltending by Tatsunoshin Ishida and goals to Erdugan and Joey Hughes to force the game to 3-3 and eventual overtime.

Neither team could break the deadlock in the 3-on-3 stanza, resulting in a shootout in which Erdugan scored twice and Casey Kubara tallied once, resulting in a 4-3 victory for the Ice.

The Ice would continue the momentum on the Sunday, with goals from returning Mighty Roo Mac Caruana and veteran Lliam Webster to give them a 2-0 lead after one. Cangelosi would get his second of the weekend on the power play to claw the deficit back to 2-1 early in the second, the only time Ishida would be beaten.

Joey Hughes added another late goal against his former club with 8:26 remaining in the third period, to put the game beyond doubt 3-1 for the Ice and see Melbourne walk out of Canberra with 5 of a possible 6 points. Ishida made 34 saves in the win while Alex Tetreault, who faced a shooting gallery the night before, made 20 saves on 23 shots in net for Canberra.

The two teams will meet again this Saturday at the Icehouse, with the Brave also facing the Mustangs on the Sunday.
 
Ice Dogs make it 4-in-a-row with wins over Rhinos, Mustangs

The Sydney Ice Dogs have moved to four consecutive wins, defeating the Central Coast Rhinos and the Melbourne Mustangs on the weekend.

Despite being outshot 13-7 in the first frame, the Ice Dogs made the Rhinos pay with accuracy on Saturday. Goals to Dmitri Kuleshov, Alex MacDonald and Grant Toulmin gave Sydney a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes of hockey at Erina.

MacDonald got his second of the game just a minute after the first intermission, to put the Dogs up 4-0 and create a large hole for the Rhinos to dig themselves out of.

And dig they did, as Aziz Bazzi responded for Central Coast with Hayden Dawes adding a pair either side of a Cam Todd goal for Sydney, to reduce the scoreline to 5-3 in a wild second period with the shot count slanted 13-7 in favour of the Dogs this time.

The Rhinos got within a goal in the third as Danick Bouchard scored on debut with 13:11 remaining in the game. It wouldn’t be enough though, as Connor Lee got his third of the year and MacDonald completed the hat-trick to give the Ice Dogs a 7-4 win and the full three points on the road.

The Dogs would back it up with a defeat of the defending champion Melbourne Mustangs the following night at Macquarie Ice Arena.

In a first period filled with penalties, MacDonald netted his 4^th goal for the weekend to open the scoring for Sydney just 33 seconds into the game, stunning the visitors 1-0. The Mustangs couldn’t really get going in the first and Kuleshov added another to make it 2-0 at the break.

Scott Timmins would rally his troops with a shorthanded goal after a tripping penalty to Mike Giorgi, to bring it back to 2-1. However, MacDonald again found the back of the net with help from teammate Bray Crowder, to re-establish a two-goal lead after 40 minutes of play.

The third period belonged to the Ice Dogs and more succinctly, Kuleshov, completing his hat-trick with a pair of goals within 7 minutes of each other to make it a 4-goal lead to the Ice Dogs. Timmins would get his second two minutes later, but it was too little, too late for the Mustangs eventually going down 5-2.

Jake Doornbos, returning from IIHF World's duty, made 33 saves on 35 shots in the win while Seb Woodlands withstood 53 Sydney shots, making 48 saves.

The Mustangs travel to Adelaide to face the Adrenaline on Saturday and then return to Melbourne for a clash with the Brave on Sunday, while the Ice Dogs host the Northstars at Macquarie on Saturday evening.


Photo: Jess Fuller

Bears edge Adrenaline, demolish Northstars

The Sydney Bears took a full 6 points from the weekend, with a pair of wins over the Adelaide Adrenaline and Newcastle Northstars.

Noah Moncrieff continued his stellar start to 2024 with his 8^th goal of the year to get the Bears off and running 1-0, less than a minute in. Their lead lasted 20 seconds as new arrival Shaun Dosanjh answered for Adelaide on the power play to tie the game 1-1, where it would remain for the remainder of the period.

Tomas Landa got the lone goal of the second period for a one-goal Bears’ lead, with a goaltending duel between Rylan Toth and James Downie unfolding.

Neither team could find another way past either netminder and it wasn’t until 7:15 remaining in the third period that Josh Adkins finally did for Adelaide, tying the game and raising the possibility of overtime. Moncrieff cancelled the extra five minutes, with his second of the game just a minute later to give the Bears a 3-2 win over a rugged performance from Adelaide.

The Bears would take the momentum into Sunday in Newcastle, with Tomas Landa opening the scoring just two minutes in, followed by Lucas Hermann’s second for 2024 to give the Bears a 2-0 lead. Matthieu Desautels scored his first goal for Newcastle on the power play just before the first intermission, to make it 2-1.

Brody Lindal and Liam Manwarring traded goals to start the second period, which saw the Northstars outshoot Sydney 13-8. However, Adam Kadlec got two goals before the end of the second to give the Bears a 5-2 lead and a comfortable grip on three points with a period to play.

After Hermann opened the period with a power play goal for a 6-2 Sydney scoreline, Kadlec went on a tear. The American would score another three, including two on the man-advantage, in a period marred with penalties for a 9-2 rout of Newcastle which saw Charlie Smart chased from the Northstars' net.

The Bears migrate north to take on the Brisbane Lightning next weekend in a double header, while Newcastle face the Ice Dogs in Sydney.


Photo: Jamison O'Malley

Rhinos grab shootout win, Mustangs get overtime win

The Central Coast Rhinos had to go all the way to the shootout to take the points, in a scoreless affair against the Adelaide Adrenaline at Erina on Sunday night.

It took three periods of regulation, 5 minutes of overtime and 4 rounds of a shootout for Danick Bouchard to break the goalless deadlock, giving the Rhinos their first win on home ice since rejoining the AIHL in 2023. Both Rylan Toth and Anand Oberoi made 23 saves each to earn themselves their first respective shutout.

The Rhinos head west to take on the Perth Thunder on Saturday while the Adrenaline head home to host the Mustangs.

Meanwhile, the Mustangs had to put a resurgent Newcastle Northstars away in overtime on Saturday, with a 6-5 victory in the 3-on-3 period.

In a see-sawing battle, the Northstars had a 2-1 lead after the first period, thanks to Maliq West and Aiden Wagner besting Dean Klomp’s lone goal for Melbourne. That lead turned into 3-1 Newcastle advantage thanks to Daniel Berno’s 4^th of the season. However, a 3-minute spell punctuated by a Scott Timmins’ hat-trick and another from Vlad Rachinsky, saw the visitors take the lead 5-3 at the second intermission to stun the home crowd.

Newcastle weren’t done, as Beau Taylor and Wagner scored two goals within the first 5 minutes of the third period and Charlie Smart held the line in net to send the game to overtime.

Rachinsky thwarted the Northstars comeback, scoring two minutes into overtime and giving the Mustangs their first road win of the year.

The Northstars remain on top of the Rurak Conference on 16 points, while the Mustangs sit at the bottom of the Hellyer Conference on 5 points.