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Blue Tongues Slay the Knights
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| Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - Submitted by Wendy Hansen |
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Kimlin returns, Sanford snipes, Blue Tongues rebound!
The Bartercard Gold Coast Blue Tongues faced off against the Canberra Knights at Iceworld Acacia Ridge on Saturday night.
With the return of Australian Netminder Anthony Kimlin between the pipes for the Blue Tongues, the team's defense exuded more confidence on the ice than they have in previous games. The first period got started out slow but soon picked up as both teams played an intense physical game. It was the Blue Tongues who opened the scoring however with a powerplay goal by James Sanford, assisted by Ben Spillane and Mike McRae. The Knights were stopped at every attempt in the first period by the phenomenal play of Kimlin, and seemed to take exception; resulting in an aggressive style of play. 
In the second period, the Blue Tongues extended their lead further, with a goal by James Sanford, assisted by Mike McRae and Etienne Du Toit at the beginning of the period. The intensity hit breaking point midway through the period with Blue Tongues Jeremy Brucker and Knight, Alain Riesen being ejected from the game with misconducts. The Knights failed to take advantage of their special teams however and late in the frame, Jon Bale added a third Blue Tongues goal, assisted by Marco Bertossa and Adam Blanchette. 
Going into the third period with a comfortable 3-0 lead, the Blue Tongues were looking for a convincing win. Their hopes of the shutout brightened when James Sanford, assisted by Mike McRae and Adam Blanchette, scored his hatrick to give the Blue Tongues a 4-0 lead.
Canberra's Nik Polaski dashed those hopes in the dying few minutes of the third period, sinking the puck past Kimlin to get one on the board for the visitors, assisted by Lucan schott and Mark Rummukainen. Not to be outdone, the Blue Tongues answered the call after Canberra pulled their goaltender With a minute and a half left in the game and James Sanford netted his fourth of the game, unassisted.
The final result was a convincing 5-1 victory to the home side.
Blue Tongues defenseman, Ben Spillane summed up the evening perfectly after the match with his comment on Twitter, "Feels good to be back in the win column. Kimlin was a beast in net, good to have him back".
The Blue Tongues are on the road for the next few games and return to Acacia Ridge for their next home games on Friday August 3rd & Saturday August 4th, both games starting at 10:30pm where they will host the Melbourne Mustangs for a double header weekend. |
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