Week 4 recap: Ice, Brave on the rise as Northstars drop crucial points

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The AIHL standings have received a significant shake up in the wake of some stunning week 4 results, as several teams begin to mount their case as championship contenders.

Saturday featured multiple barnburners, all three games featuring at least 11 goals. Defence tensed up on Sunday, however, with rivalries beginning to brew in feisty affairs.

Here are the key moments from the six games of Week 4 of the AIHL season.

Ice enter title conversation with double beatdown of Adrenaline

The Melbourne Ice were unstoppable on Saturday, decimating the Adelaide Adrenaline 12-2 to open their weekend series. Mackenzie Caruana and Kolton Shindle left with hat-tricks each, while almost every other member of the Ice walked out of IceArena Adelaide with at least a point to their name.

The 2024 grand finalists scored five unanswered to open the game, including a short-handed goal from Shindle that completely demoralised the Adelaide home crowd. A potential comeback from the Adrenaline was short-lived, as Jamie Bourke closed the second period with a clean goal from Joey Hughes and Joakim Erdugan, entering the final third up 6-1.

The pounding continued almost immediately, Christian Pansino and Caruana each netting one in the first six minutes to extend the margin. Then, in a nightmarish 90-second patch Adelaide will look to forget rapidly, Melbourne piled on three more goals, outworking the Adrenaline defence to every puck and getting through their neutral zone layers with ease. A late goal from Ryan Foll could hardly console the beatdown Adelaide had taken.

The feeling of that sort of loss certainly appeared to fuel Adelaide on Sunday, as they jumped onto the rink with significantly more energy and pushback. As a result, they opened the scoring, Jordan Freeman getting his first of the season from Josh Adkins. Adkins would score again for the Adrenaline less than five minutes later, putting the Adrenaline in the driver’s seat.

However, the pedigree of Melbourne’s top line stole the show as they mounted the comeback, Caruana and Shindle emerging as one of the top duos in the competition. They assisted on each other’s first period goals before Shindle again assisted on what would be the game winner from Tyrone Bronte.

Adelaide’s sharp turnaround in play should be commended, giving themselves every chance of securing some points on Sunday. Unfortunately, they would let their final opportunity to tie the game slip, Bronte scoring shorthanded in the final minute to seal the deal on an impressive 4-2 win for the Ice, who now leap into second place on the ladder and remain unbeaten in regulation.



Lightning and Thunder entertain in gripping weekend spectacle

Brisbane and Perth delivered Australian hockey fans two classics this weekend at IceWorld Brisbane, splitting the six points across the 6-5 and 3-2 clashes.

Saturday’s game opened with a bang; seven goals scored in the opening twenty minutes. It was the usuals for both teams providing input, Ville Tenosalmi and Yu Hikosaka notably for Perth while Brisbane’s leading point-getters Sacha Rapchuk and Batu Gendunov starred early.

But it was their latest import from Switzerland, Jules Sturny, who stole the show, recording a point on every single Lightning goal, ending the game with a goal and five assists as Brisbane held on in the 6-5 thriller. Sturny has quickly found his rhythm in the AIHL and with Brisbane’s playoff hopes increasing as each match week passes, his impact on the top line is a scary proposition that opponents must plan for.

On Sunday, Perth flipped the script. While Brisbane pushed ahead 2-1 early in the second period, their top line featuring Sturny, Gendunov and Rapchuk dominating again, Perth would square it up 17 seconds later, Yu Hikosaka scoring his 14^th goal of this campaign.

After that, however, the game seized up. Suddenly, there was hardly an inch of room on the ice for either team to take advantage of and both team’s defensive units were killing zone entries with precision. Ultimately, it was Perth who would take their chance and perhaps deservedly so, holding Brisbane to just five shots in the third period despite conceding two preventable penalties. They frustrated the man advantage with timely poke checks and didn’t allow Brisbane to cycle the puck quickly, leading to the crucial breakout play from which Jordan Kyros would score the game winner shorthanded.

There’s plenty of positives to leave this weekend with for both sides, Perth firmly in first place for the time being, while Brisbane sit in fourth. But if there’s one key takeaway from this weekend series, it’s that everyone should be hoping to see these two square off in the last weekend of August.



Northstars miss crucial points despite Australia star’s return to lineup

The Northstars are losing ground on the pack hunting playoffs with two losses on the weekend, downed by the Canberra Brave 7-6 on Saturday and then by their in-state rivals Central Coast 7-1 on Sunday.

Even with Ethan Hawes returning, Australia’s player of the tournament from the recent World Championships, the Northstars struggled to halt the offensive onslaught from the Brave and Rhinos, conceding 41 shots to Canberra and seven goals on just 22 shots to Central Coast.

In front of a record crowd, there were six lead changes and five ties in the Saturday barnburner in Canberra, the Brave continuing their fine form on the powerplay, going 2/6. Newcastle, on the other hand, failed to capitalise on their six-man advantages. Brandon McNally’s goal with two minutes left proved to be the difference maker, recording his 20^th point for the season – now officially leading the league.

In Sunday’s action, Rhinos goaltender Anand Oberoi staked his claim as one of the best in the league, saving 47 of the Northstars 48 shots. Central Coast’s skaters in front of him made sure that was rewarded, with rising stars Dmitri and Ivan Kuleshov combining for three of the Rhinos goals and Australian national Robert Malloy tallying a goal and two assists in his return from Serbia.

The Rhinos, after two seasons in the AIHL’s standings basement, now just sit three points outside of a playoff spot, the win over Newcastle being their first in regulation this season.