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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 top AIHL ladder with sweep in Adelaide

Monday, June 23, 2014 - Submitted by Jeremy Rochow

Joseph Hughes scored a hat-trick to help the MOAT: Melbourne Mustangs defeat the Adelaide Adrenaline 6-3 at the Adelaide Ice Arena on Sunday night.

Claiming both games in the two-game series sees the Melbourne Mustangs to the top of the AIHL ladder.

Mustangs’ coach, Brad Vigon, praised his team's performance, particularly goalie Fraser Carson.

"Fraser's been carrying the load and doing a great job," Vigon said. “He’s been super solid all weekend. Our goaltending has been a bright spot for us, and the breakaway save was fantastic."

The Mustangs started strongly, scoring two early goals in the first period on the counter attack, catching Adelaide napping on both occasions.

Hughes kicked off the scoring within two minutes of a rebound following Jamie Bourke's shot from the right wing was saved by Adelaide goalie Peter King's pads only for Hughes to slot the backhand winner. When Brendan McDowell doubled the advantage, the Mustangs were in control.

However, Adelaide answered late in the period with a power play goal when captain Greg Oddy deflected a shot past Carson low into the net.

Adrenaline head coach Ryan O'Handley said the Mustangs were able to push past Adelaide on the counter attack too easily.

"They [the Mustangs] are a fit team, and they caught us pushing up," he said. "We were reaching for pucks, and they were pushing past us with their bodies."

O' Handley wasn't happy with many aspects of Adelaide's game tonight saying that their defence left goalie King vulnerable.

"We went wrong in a lot of areas tonight,” O’Handley said. “We we're loose in front of our net, the forecheck was loose and we hung Petie [King] out to dry a number of times. We didn't play a very good team game."

The second period began much the same as the first with Melbourne's Pat O' Kane scoring an unassisted goal after an Adelaide turnover.

Adelaide tried to respond; Mustang goalie Carson had other ideas, making a stunning glove save off a Wehebe Darge breakaway.

Another power play goal for Adelaide towards the end of the period kept them in striking distance of the Mustangs, with the score at 3-2 at the second intermission.

Hughes was in the scoring again early in the third but the Adrenaline kept coming. New permanent resident Josef Rezek suffered an injury early in the third, but returned to the match to score a goal straight out of a faceoff to ensure the Mustangs only had a one goal advantage.

However, with time running down Pat O’Kane picked up his second and Hughes his third to dash any hopes of an Adrenaline comeback.

Hughes said he was nervous he would miss the third goal from the slot in front of an open net.

"The third goal I didn't really have to do much,” Hughes said. “Bourkie [Jamie Bourke] and McDowell made a terrific tic-tac-toe pass and I'm sitting in front of the net telling myself don't stuff this up, but it was pretty easy to tuck the third in."

Vigon said was happy with Hughes and his line mates’ work rate throughout the game.

“He [Hughes] has got a work rate second to none, and nobody works harder to score than that guy," Vigon said.

With the Mustangs atop the AIHL ladder, the Adrenaline’s fifth straight loss has them three points out of the top four in sixth.

The Mustangs will host the Sydney Bears in Melbourne in the Canada Day Classic next Sunday, while the Adrenaline are on the road again in NSW, set to take on the North Stars in Newcastle on Saturday and Ice Dogs in Liverpool on Sunday.

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