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HELLYER LADDER

Team	GP	W	L	PTS
Ice	4	4	0	12
Thunder	6	4	2	12
Bears	4	3	1	9
Mustangs	2	1	1	3
Ice Dogs	5	1	4	3

RURAK LADDER

Team	GP	W	L	OTW	OTL	PTS
Northstars	4	3	0	1	0	11
Lightning	6	3	3	0	0	9
Adrenaline	3	1	1	0	1	4
Brave	6	1	5	0	0	3
Rhinos	4	0	4	0	0	0

SCORING LEADERS

Jeremiah
Addison (PER)

Player	Points
Aiden Wagner (NNS)	18
Wehebe Darge (NNS)	15
francis Drolet (NNS)	15
Zane Jones (PER)	13

GOALIE LEADERS

N Novysedlak (BRE)

1.000

Goalie	SV%
Rhys Pelliccione (PER)	.950
Tatsunoshin Ishida (MIC)	.933
Leo Bertein (PER)	.905
Charles Smart (NNS)	.903

Mustangs finish strong to defeat Bears

Monday, June 9, 2014 - Submitted by Bernard McNamara

The Melbourne Mustangs moved into outright first place on the AIHL ladder (23 points), with a come from behind win against the Sydney Bears at the Sydney Ice Arena on Sunday afternoon. Playing their third game in 4 days, the Mustangs clinched victory with three goals in the final period to cap off a successful week for the club.

The Mustangs didn’t show any signs of fatigue, piling on the pressure from the opening faceoff. Bears net minder, Daniel Palmkvist, was forced to make a number of big saves to keep his side in the contest. Palmkvist faced a season high of 51 shots on the night.

“We’ve been out shooting teams recently,” said Mustangs’ coach Brad Vigon. “Some nights we score five or six goals and other nights we’ll score just two. Our offence has been widely inconsistent. The message has been to get shots and bodies to net, and look for second play opportunities.”

Melbourne got on the board with goals by Jeffery Grant and a shorthanded effort by Joseph Hughes, but the Bears answered right back with tallies from imports Ben Di Marco and Dane Ludolph. The game was 2:2 heading into the third and final period.

The Bears took the lead when a Ben Di Marco’s wrist shot fooled everyone and found its way into the back of the net an impossible angle. The shot left Mustangs’ goaltender, Fraser Carson, scratching his head as the puck appeared to squeeze between his pads and the post. Carson quickly regained his composure and was sharp on the night stopping 28 of 31 shots.

The go ahead goal gave the Bears the jump. They continued to pressure the Mustangs net and consecutive hooking calls against the Mustangs lead to a Bears 5-on-3 power play. However, the advantage was cut short when Bears forward, Sean Hamilton Steen, was called for hooking and Melbourne took advantage of the Bears’ defensive lapse. A scramble in front of the Bears’ net resulted in Viktor Gibbs Sjödin banking a shot off a Bears defenseman, tying the game at three.

With 10 minutes remaining and his side back to the full strength, Vigon called a time out to rally his troops. “At the time it seemed like we were just letting the game happen instead of enforcing our will on the play. I’m not the kind of coach who likes to yell and scream at his guys but I had some choice words to get them fired up.”

The move proved to be the spark the Mustangs needed. With 4:22 to play, Joseph Hughes scored his second goal of the night with a wicked wrist shot from the top of slot that beat Palmkvist high glove side and gave the visitors a 4:3 lead.

“I was calling for it and Alex [Hall] got me the puck” said Hughes. “He was on the half wall and gave me a great feed as I entered the zone. The Bears’ goalie was playing great all night and their [Bears] defence just backed up a little on the play so I used them as screen and got the shot through.”

Hughes’s goal proved to be the game winner. Viktor Gibbs Sjödin added an insurance goal with 2:42 remaining, for a final score of 5:3. The win puts the Mustangs one point ahead of their cross town rivals, Melbourne Ice, on top of the AIHL ladder. The match marked Sydney Bears’ fifth consecutive loss.

“It was a tough loss tonight,” said Bears Coach, Vlad Rubes. “It’s tough when you have guys battling hard for pucks and it seemed when our guys lifted the stick or played the body, we got the penalty called against us. That was a momentum killer.”

“It was a lack of experience on our part. They [Melbourne] are a good team. We’ve got some experienced guys to come back into the line-up and that will give us a boost”. The Bears will welcome back, Lee Turner, Cameron Todd and Spencer Austin from representative duties before next weekend’s double header.

The Mustangs will enjoy a bye this week before heading to Adelaide for a double header against the Adrenaline. The Bears travel to the nation’s Capital to face the CBR Brave on the Saturday night, before returning home to the host the Melbourne Ice on Sunday afternoon at Sydney Ice Arena.

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