Ice Dogs silence Perth’s Thunder

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The Sydney Ice Dogs silenced the Perth Thunder 5-3 Sunday night at Liverpool Catholic Club to extend their winning streak to four games and breaking the Thunder’s three game streak.
 
The Ice Dogs’ offensive weapons John Clewlow and David Dunwoodie scored twice and Simon Barg added four points to his own tally to blow-a-hole through the Perth Thunders’ defence.
 
The Ice Dogs got things started only 96 seconds into the game, setting a tone for the opening stanza.

Paddy Ward stepped up deep in the Ice Dogs defensive zone and slipped a pass to John Clewlow who saucered a stretch pass to the streaking Simon Barg who was left wide open on the right wing, stepping up alone on red-hot Perth Thunder goaltender Mathieu Dugas, burying it low on the left pad side.

Minutes later and with the benefit of a five-on-three power play, David Dunwoodie made the visitors pay, redirecting a point shot in front of the net from Robert Malloy past Dugas to take a two-goal lead.


It went from bad to worse for the Perth Thunder while the teams were four-on-four minutes later.


Barg and Malloy combined to set up Clewlow, beating Dugas low to his left pad side. The Ice Dogs took a commanding three-goal lead into the locker-room after one.
 
Perth Thunders’ Jonathon Bremner was disappointed that his team collectively couldn’t get on top of the Ice Dogs early.
 
“It was disappointing because we made it a point after the Bears game that we wanted to get on top of these guys (the Ice Dogs) early,” said Bremner.
“They (the Ice Dogs) play a frustrating style with their stretch passes and it just took us longer than expected to adjust with a few of our guys playing out of their usual position.”


A refreshed Perth team took the ice in the second period, and they wasted no time in dictating the pace of the game.

Paddy Ward was sent to the box for crosschecking and the Thunder power play went to work.
 
They moved the puck swiftly from the point around the exterior and one minute into the power play they were rewarded. The Thunder struck through Stuart Stefan, he sniped the puck past Ice Dogs’ goaltender Tim Noting to put Perth on the board.

27 seconds later, the ever-dangerous Jonathon Bremner took the Ice Dogs’ fans right out of it. He combined with Sam Wilson and Jordan Kryos perfectly and brought the lead to within one.


An arm wrestle ensued with neither team gaining the upper hand, this was due in large to both team’s goalies. Dugas and Noting were pulling out all the stops to keep the game at 3-2.
 
The Thunder had their chance to tie the game but the iron saved Noting. The Ice Dogs answered the pressure in the way of Clewlow who received the puck just in front of the Thunders’ blue-line on yet another stretch pass and he skated in alone for it to be called offside.
 
Perth Thunder coach Stan Scott felt that his team could’ve used the momentum from the goals to press for another at one goal down.
 
“We certainly had the momentum but we could’ve done more with it,” he said.
“We clawed back from three nothing to three-two and we hit a post in there too, so we felt we could’ve finished that period tied up.”
 
The third period continued in the Thunder’s favor as Dugas kept his composure and continued to make great saves to keep the game within one.

It changed when the Ice Dogs top line had a great chance to extend their lead as Clewlow sent Dunwoodie in for another chance only to meet the glove of Dugas once more.

That play seemed to shift momentum back into the Ice Dogs favour and two minutes later they took command. Paddy Ward weighted a pass to Clewlow who wrapped the back of the net and slipped a pass to Barg again, he snapped the puck home low glove side past Dugas for his second of the night.
 
The Ice Dogs clicked into top gear once more and took advantage on a Thunder neutral ice miscue. Barg and Clewlow combined again to set Dunwoodie streaking in alone to bury his second of the game and 12^th in the last four games.
 
Ice Dogs Paul Baranzelli believes that the top line (Barg, Dunwoodie, Clewlow) is a hard line to cover against.
 
“Those guys have been playing unbelievable all year,” he said. “Having John back tonight was good and it’s like you can’t cover one guy on that line because they’re all dangerous so I think it was just clicking for them tonight.”


Regardless of the score, Perth didn’t let up and Andrew Cox scored a consolation goal with 29.8 seconds left on the clock to bring the score to within two once more however it was too late for the Thunder.
 
The Ice Dogs taking the win and hold onto second place in the AIHL standings behind the Melbourne Mustangs.

Next week, the Thunder take on the CBR Brave in Perth in a double-header weekend, while the Ice Dogs are back at home on Sunday to take on the Melbourne Ice, the winner of which will hold second spot on the ladder.