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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

Ice Dogs roll North Stars

Monday, May 30, 2016 - Submitted by Courtney Laura

The Sydney Ice Dogs rocketed back into the winners circle with a 6-4 win over the Newcastle North Stars at Hunter Ice Skating Stadium on Sunday night.

It was the Ice Dogs first win at Hunter Ice Skating Stadium since July 2014 and the North Stars’ first regular time loss at the rink since May last year, with 14 straight games with points at the rink.

With both sides having lost the previous night’s game, both were eager to claim the win.

The game was a special one for young North Stars goalie Nick Mizen, who had his first AIHL start.

The battle began from the first puck drop.

The North Stars started strongly, pushing through the Ice Dogs defence but couldn’t find a space with Ice Dogs goalie Charlie Smart standing strong between the pipes.

“They [NNS] are one of the most offensive teams in the league, I was really proud and impressed with my side for keeping them out,” Smart said.

However, it was the Ice Dogs scoring first through Dave Dunwoodie on a breakaway before and shooting the puck high into the top corner giving the Dogs a 1-0 lead midway through the first.

In the latter minutes of the first period, Mizen shut down some strong shots from the Dogs, but shortly after the first break, Grant Toulmin scored through Mizen’s five-hole to double the advantage.

While the AIHL’s leading point scorer Connor McLaughlin put the first points on the board for the North Stars, the Ice Dogs struck back hard, with import defenceman Paul Swindlehurst scoring twice in a matter of minutes.

Holding onto a 4-1 lead, the Ice Dogs scored their fifth when Grant Toulmin scored his second of the night.

Despite being 5-2 down Scott Swiston slotted a rebound on a power play 37 seconds later to give the North Stars some home.

Although Strat Allen reinstated the Ice Dogs four-goal lead, with seven minutes remaining, Connor McLaughlin landed two goals in a minute to make it a two goal game.

The suddenly close game brought the crowd into the match but the Ice Dogs held on through intense pressure for the final minutes to claim a 6-4 win and remain fifth on the AIHL ladder.

Ice Dogs Head Coach Vlad Rubes was pleased with the win that keeps his side in touch with the top four.

“We needed points, and we blew the game last night so I am very happy,” Rubes said. “There was definitely bigger effort tonight. We started shooting when we had our chances, we had more shots than last night and that is why we scored more goals. Charlie has been awesome, even last night he was really good.”

On the other side, a disappointed North Stars Head Coach Andrew Petrie found some positives from the game.

“We executed our systems really well in every aspect except putting the puck in the back of the net,” Petrie said. “We out shot a team that we lost to last night, and we heavily outshot this team tonight, we just aren’t netting enough pucks.”

“We just have to keep working on what we believe in. Its not like the wheels have fallen off and we are getting thrashed. We are extremely competitive. The boys came back hard tonight, we gave Nick Mizen his first start in net. In spite of the score line I think he had a huge game and made some really big saves.”

Upon finding out he was starting in net, Mizen said he didn’t really have time to get nervous.

“Frij [Petrie] likes to hit you with surprises,” Mizen explained. “I didn’t find out until Joey [Theriault] was doing the pregame announcement; they sprung it on me. Being my first game they didn’t want me to over think it, so they just dumped it on me.”

The Newcastle North Stars have a double header at home next weekend facing the Melbourne Mustangs on Saturday followed by Perth Thunder on Sunday, while the Ice Dogs face the Thunder on Saturday and Mustangs on Sunday.

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