The third week of the 2025 AIHL season saw a few teams handed a reality check, while the jostling for top spot on the league ladder remains an intriguing story to follow.
2024’s grand finalists bounced back in big ways over this weekend, a four-game win streak snapped in the process, highlighting the immense parity in the league, while another side solidified themselves as a serious contender.
Here are the key moments from the six games of Week 3 of the AIHL season.
Mustangs gain top of the table position after dominant wins over Rhinos, Northstars
The Melbourne Mustangs have hit their stride as they extend their points-streak to four games, securing two comfortable wins over their New South Wales based opponents.
The Mustangs travelled to Erina to take on the Central Coast Rhinos on Saturday afternoon but came out flat off the flight. They gave away three undisciplined penalties in the first period and conceded the first goal of the match, with Rhino Alexander Gauthier notching his second for the season. However, the Rhinos would end up ruing their inability to capitalise on the powerplay, going scoreless on the man advantage in the first period and ultimately 0/9 for the game.
The Mustangs would punish Central Coast for their poor powerplay connection, scoring six unanswered, including a shorthanded goal to cruise to a 6-1 win. While the match featured the expected edge of physicality, particularly from a Rhinos side looking to reconcile for their 10-1 loss to Melbourne during Opening Weekend, the Mustangs held their composure, with veteran Scott Timmins (1 goal, 3 assists) leading the way.
But it was a weekend to remember for 19-year-old Brody Lindal, breaking out as a legitimate star sniper of the competition with a five-goal haul over the two games. He scored a hattrick against the Rhinos and tallied another two in the Mustangs 8-3 win over Newcastle.
Lindal pinched the first of Sunday’s game 11 minutes in, Jordan Warren and Timmins involved in the set-up. A flurry of goals would follow to close the frame, Timmins putting the Mustangs up two before Northstars Josh Secomb and Wehebe Darge squared it up with goals of their own.
Melbourne’s powerplay proved fatal for the Northstars, as while they managed to stay out of the box decently well, the two powerplays they gave the Mustangs resulted in two goals. The first came three minutes into the second period, the newly established connection between Zack Phillips and Timmins continuing to be a force on the man-advantage.
Newcastle outshot Melbourne 31-27 for the game and got some reward after a beauty from import Francis Drolet scored six minutes into the final period. Unfortunately for Newcastle, two defensive collapses saw Wishart and Lindal score just 14 seconds apart before Melbourne scored their second powerplay goal from as many attempts, with Sean Jones effectively sealing the game.
The Mustangs system is proving to be lethal. They average seven goals this season, by far the most in the league, and are allowing just two a game, also easily best in the league. If this tough road trip suggests anything, it’s that the Mustangs four lines, at their best, will be a problem for the league throughout 2025.
.jpg)
Ice return to form with pair of wins over Thunder
The Melbourne Ice are officially in the winner’s column as they utterly outclassed the previously unbeaten Perth Thunder over in WA.
It was a complete weekend for the Ice, producing at an elite level in all three zones against a team that had looked to assert themselves as the league’s top defence in the last match weekend.
Tatsu Ishida starred for the Ice, earning the first shutout of the season in Saturday’s 3-0 win, his save percentage now at a ridiculous 0.946 on the season. The Ice’s defence deserves commending for their sensational weekend as well, holding the AIHL’s leading goal scorer Yu Hikosaka to just a singular point all weekend.
In Sunday’s affair, the Ice’s juggernaut attack took over like we’d seen previously but this time, the defence and big stops from Ishida came with it. Despite missing Ellesse Carini, who has national team duties, the stalwarts of Melbourne’s powerplay – Joey Hughes, Kolton Shindle, Tyrone Bronte and Mackenzie Caruana – combined beautifully to go 4/7 on the man advantage. The ability to move Perth’s penalty kill formation completely out of shape left goaltender Dillon Dewar in impossible positions, and despite his best efforts, he was unable to contain the flurry of chances the Ice put at the net front while the Thunder were down a man.
With Aleksi Toivonen away with Team Australia in Serbia for the World Championships, Dewar has been given an opportunity to step up to the plate for Perth, and it’s hard to fault his efforts this weekend, holding Melbourne to just three goals from 41 shots in Saturday’s clash (0.927 SV%).
Perth undoubtedly missed the scoring depth provided by Kieren Webster this weekend but will need to stay disciplined to avoid falling victim to another drubbing against the Lightning in Brisbane next match week. The Ice, meanwhile, look ahead to Adelaide for their weekend series beginning on May 10.
 Photo: Hugh Whittle
Adrenaline debut weekend soured by two losses to Brave
The Canberra Brave have played the role of party spoiler as they stole two wins on the road against the Adelaide Adrenaline, who finally had the puck dropped for their 2025 season.
The Adrenaline perhaps unsurprisingly looked fresher on Saturday, opening the scoring through Kyle MacPhail and holding a 2-1 lead entering the first intermission. Josh Adkins hasn’t missed a step, continuing his elite 2024 form with two goals and an assist, including a late third period goal to put Adelaide up 5-3, appearing to be the sealer.
However, the Brave rallied and scored two goals in the final four minutes to tie the game at 5-5. It was the club’s two leading goal scorers in Dominic Canic and Brandon McNally who would force the game into an extra period, netting their third and second goals of the game respectively.
McNally would insert himself into the clutch moments again in overtime, generating plenty of opportunities on the powerplay before assisting on long-time Brave defenceman Bayley Kubara’s game-winner. The Brave, despite being outshot, came from the depths to spoil what appeared to be a near-certain win for the Adrenaline, claiming the two points from the 6-5 scoresheet.
That late comeback certainly provided the confidence boost they needed to overcome another tight opening 40 minutes on Sunday, Dominic Canic and Brandon McNally once again having their fingerprints all over the clutch moments. The Brave scored three straight in the final third, Canic in particular scoring the second goal of the period and assisting on the last, to clinch a hard-fought 5-2 victory.
While Adelaide can leave with their head held high, they’ll feel as if some points were left on the table, but all signs point toward another competitive season. As for the Brave, they finally got the regulation win they’ve been searching for, now sitting fifth in the standings.
|
ADRENALINE
RHINOS
ICE
THUNDER
MUSTANGS
BRAVE
NORTHSTARS
LIGHTNING
