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HELLYER LADDER

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

RURAK LADDER

Team	GP	W	L	PTS
Northstars	3	3	0	9
Adrenaline	1	1	0	3
Brave	4	1	3	3
Lightning	4	1	3	3
Rhinos	3	0	3	0

SCORING LEADERS

Aiden
Wagner (NNS)

Player	Points
Jeremiah Addison (PER)	14
Wehebe Darge (NNS)	12
francis Drolet (NNS)	12
Beau Taylor (NNS)	10

GOALIE LEADERS

N Novysedlak (BRE)

1.000

Goalie	SV%
Tatsunoshin Ishida (MIC)	.952
Rhys Pelliccione (PER)	.950
Leo Bertein (PER)	.912
Jeremy Friederich (ADE)	.912

Late strike sees Ice over Mustangs

Sunday, May 24, 2015 - Submitted by Bianca Gibson

The Melbourne Ice overpowered a resilient Mustangs outfit 5:4 in the final minutes of the Melbourne Derby at the Medibank Icehouse Saturday night.

It was another loss for the Mustangs in 2015, having fallen short by a single goal four times this year.

“We’re not far off, but we’re not quite there,” Mustangs coach Brad Vigon said. “There’s still stuff in reserve and it’s costing us.”

A favourite among fans and players, Melbourne derbies are always exhilarating, close games but it proved to be a rough match for the Mustangs. They sat out multiple penalties, giving the Ice seven power play opportunities of which they converted three.

The lack of discipline on the ice, which resulted in ill-timed penalties, is costing the 2014 champions in the early stages of this season.

Although the Mustangs were the first on the board through a Pat O’Kane power play goal, the Ice responded quickly through Lliam Webster and returning defenceman Todd Graham.

Early in the second, goals to Drew Akins and Vadim Virjassov gave the Mustangs the lead.

Then Jason Baclig teamed up with Webster and Paul Kerceba, scoring power play goals on either side of the break for the Ice to regain the lead.

While it was not planned, the partnership worked well for the Ice- something that pleased coach Brent Laver.

“We’re really happy with, not just the fact that wins and losses are putting points on the board, but the way we’re actually going about it,” Laver said. “Watching the way the guys are interacting with each other; we’re backing each other really well.”

The teams continued trading goals when Joey Hughes tied the game up with just over five minutes remaining in the third period.

As fans have come to expect from the Melbourne Derby, there was another grandstand finish.

Three missed chances didn’t deter the Ice, scoring with just under 90 seconds remaining on the clock.

Keeping their cool, the Ice closed out the rest of the match to seal the win in yet another classic encounter.

“We knew the only thing that would probably get us is if we panicked,” Laver said, complimenting the Mustangs’ ability to control the puck in tense situations where nerves ran high.

After a tough start to the season, the Mustangs have put in some good performances with little reward and are setting their sights on climbing the standings.

“I hope we can string together some wins,” Vigon said. “We don’t want to get too far behind and have a really big hill to climb towards the end of the season. We can’t go anywhere but up at this point.”

Next week, the Mustangs take on Perth Thunder at the Icehouse while Melbourne Ice head interstate to play Canberra Brave at Phillip Swimming and Ice Skating Centre.

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