Ice Dogs comeback again to slip North Stars

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The Sydney Ice Dogs came from behind for the second time in as many nights to defeat the Newcastle North Stars 5-4 in a shootout at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium on Sunday night.
 
The North Stars saw an early 3-0 lead dissipate as the Ice Dogs again came from three goals down to claim a third straight win.
 
Ice Dogs coach Andrew Petrie said he was impressed by the fighting spirit the Ice Dogs displayed to come back twice over the weekend.
 
“The most important thing to take from this weekend is that we have proven to ourselves and to the league that we are never out of the contest,” Petrie said. “In both games [against the Brave and North Stars] we had to battle back from slow starts and multi-goal deficits against very strong sides.”
 
For the North Stars, coach Garry Doré said that his team made a few mistakes and missed some great opportunities to give up their lead.
 
“We had a great jump on the game, came out flying and had a couple of lapses again,” Doré said. “It was their goal with 30-40 seconds to go [in the first period to make the score 3-2] when they shouldn’t have had that puck to begin with that really hurt us. I think because we got the three goals nice and early their guys thought they’d just get them back. They did get them back and they kept driving us and driving us.”
 
The North Stars dominated the opening exchanges with Rob Starke cleaning up a rebound, Jayson Chalker deflecting a low slap shot from the point and Brian Bales making the Ice Dogs pay for a turnover in their defensive end to rush to a 3-0 lead in just over 10 minutes.
 
However, the game shifted when Shane Southwood scored his first AIHL goal, completing a slick passing play between David Dunwoodie and Paddy Ward with just over two minutes remaining in the period.
 
Billy Cliff then added a second for the visitors, receiving the puck along the boards and entering the zone with Simon Barg. A tic-tac-toe play had Harrison May wrong footed and Cliff lighting the lamp for a 3-2 game at the end of the first.
 
When the Ice Dogs’ Richard Tesarik locked the game up at 3-all early in the third, both teams understood the defensive stakes and tightened up across the ice.
 
The match descended into an arm wrestle for the remainder of the period, only broken in the third when Billy Cliff claimed a rebound after a slick passing play from the Ice Dogs.
 
Given a power opportunity, the North Stars fought hard for a goal, eventually cracking the Ice Dogs’ defence with a rebound bringing Ice Dogs goalie Tim Noting out of the crease with the returning Adam Geric claiming the goal in his first game in over a month.
 
With opportunities flying both ways for the remainder of the period, neither side cracked, sending the game to both side’s second shootout of the season.
 
With the first two opportunities saved, Simon Barg stepped up for the Dogs, scoring off a low glove side shot. The newly returned Beau Taylor in his first AIHL game of the season had the chance to even it up but Noting caught enough of a scintillating shot from Taylor to keep the Dogs one up, which would be the final result as the final shots were both saved by the respective goalies.
 
Ice Dogs coach Petrie was pleased with the weekend’s victories that has seen the defending champions move into second on the ladder. Praising prolific scorer Simon Barg and new Australian citizen Paul Baranzelli, Petrie had special praise for 21-year old AIHL veteran Billy Cliff, who scored two goals on the night.
 
“I can’t heap enough praise on Billy Cliff,” Petrie said. “This guy works hard every single shift and has impressed me with his effort since my first day with the team. He carries the puck at pace, gains territory well, backchecks hard, shoots and passes well and he hits everything that moves. Billy isn't much of a talker but he leads from the front in a big way. I’ve said it before but I'll keep on saying it, the leadership on this team is outstanding.” 


With sights turning to next week where the Ice Dogs take on the Perth Thunder on Sunday at Liverpool, Petrie said it would be interesting to see the Western Australians for the first time since he’s been coaching the Ice Dogs.
 
“I'm very keen to see the Perth Thunder on the ice,” Petrie said. “I've researched them but you can’t get the ‘real picture’ from YouTube and they will be as aware as we are that the four-game series between our two teams will be key to either organisation's success.”
 
The North Stars have a double header next week, travelling to Melbourne to take on the Mustangs and Ice on Saturday and Sunday respectively.