Australian Ice Hockey League - Powered By esportsdesk.com

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

Ice trump North Stars

Monday, July 21, 2014 - Submitted by Dan Hamer

The Melbourne Ice defeated the Newcastle North Stars 5-4 in a gritty display at the Medibank Icehouse on Sunday afternoon.

The home team out-shot the visiting North Stars 40-27 in a game that saw 22 penalties contribute to a lack of flow from either team. Both sides were inconsistent on the power play, with Newcastle capitalising on 1 of 6, and Melbourne 1 of 9.

Melbourne goalie Jayden Pine-Murphy performed well at crucial moments, one of which being a penalty shot coming from Beau Taylor with 8:18 remaining in the final period with scores tied 4-4. It hit the post and bounced away from the net.

Matt Armstrong was a shining light for Melbourne, coming away with four points, with Jeff Smith playing strongly to tally two goals.

For the North Stars, Taylor was lively for the visitors in only his third game back, taking away three points with youngster Hayden Sheard scoring a double.

Melbourne Ice head coach Brent Laver said it may have been ugly, but points are hard to come by in this extremely competitive league.

“We're happy to win,” Laver said. “We were okay in spurts because we broke down at times. But at this time of the year, it's just great to get another three points. It's pretty difficult to get flow in a game with that many penalties, and I think it's something that both teams struggled with."

The penalty-laden game did in fact saw both sides struggle to find rhythm, but didn’t stop the North Stars from getting off to an impressive start with import Cody Danberg scoring within the first minute with a nifty backhanded shot over Ice starting goalie Jayden Pine-Murphy.

It took the home side six minutes to answer through Todd Graham thanks to a silky dish from Matt Armstrong, and the capacity crowd was well and truly settled in for what was set to be arm wrestle of a hockey game.

Ice import defender Jeff Smith was credited for a goal in a congested passage of play in front of the crease with less than five minutes remaining in the period to give Melbourne the 2-1 lead going into the second.

The second period saw the visiting North Stars start to impose a quicker, more physical presence on the ice, but it was the abundance of penalties that prevented them from taking this any further.

Goals from Newcastle’s Sheard after a scramble on the crease and Taylor, who crashed the net, lifted the North Stars but a lacking defensive effort allowed the resilient Ice outfit to answer through Tommy Powell with a goal from the slot.

With the scores tied 3-3 at the final break the atmosphere was tense at Medibank Icehouse.

Sheard snagged his second of the night after scoring on a rebound that bounced off the post four minutes in, but it was unanswered goals from Armstrong and Smith that got the home side over the line.

Pleased with his team’s efforts, Smith seemed somewhat surprised with his output on the offensive end.

"It doesn’t happen very often, but it's secondary scoring and that's what teams need to win,” Smith said. “They need to see their second and third lines score. I'm usually known for two goals per season-not per game. Everyone's good in this league, the competition is really tight. It's crucial to get these tight games at home".

Ice head coach Brent Laver agreed with Smith, and praised both his control and leadership on the ice.

“The fact that he's able to do what he does - being physical - yet remain in total control the whole time is fantastic,” Laver said. “To see him do that and score a couple of times is great - he's a great leader."

Laver also acknowledged Lliam Webster’s presence on the ice, particularly on the defensive side of things.

“Lliam's gone down back [to defence] to try and help out back there and he's producing great results thanks to his ongoing hard work,” said Laver. "I couldn't be happier with the leadership this year."

Next week the North Stars face the Ice again at home in Newcastle on Saturday, and the Ice will face the rising Sydney Ice Dogs at Liverpool on Sunday.

SOCIALISE WITH US

Tweets

INSTAGRAM

Instagram is unavailable right now