Day two of the 2023 AJIHL Showcase Series held at Newcastle’s Hunter Ice Skating Stadium saw the Sabres and Generals emerge victorious. The schedule saw a matchup between the two winless squads and two undefeated teams in a pair of thrilling matchups.

Sydney Sabres 5 defeat Melbourne Glaciers 2

With both Sydney and Melbourne on the wrong end of the scoresheet on day one, both teams were keen to put points on the board. The Glaciers were on the penalty kill early and often, and just when it seemed they would escape, Sydney’s Max Miller converted on the powerplay.

The Sydney Ice Dogs prospect collected the puck with speed in his own zone, turned Glaciers’ defenceman Evan Khroustalev around before sliding the puck under the pads of goaltender Patrick Ivens.

Miller was in the middle of things again early in the second period to double the Sabres’ lead. Miller gained the zone with speed and fired a shot from the bottom of the left circle. Although Ivens made the initial save, he gave up a juicy rebound in the slot for Sabres forward Stepan Olkin to shovel home for the 2-0 advantage.

Halfway through the second period the Glaciers finally got on the board, courtesy of some excellent sustained offensive zone time and nifty work on the cycle.

Timothy Nikitin absorbed pressure behind the net and squeezed the puck through to Matthew Nikitin in the slot who fired past Matthew Montgomery’s glove and lit the lamp to cut the lead in half.

Sydney restored the two-goal advantage with just four seconds left in the period. On the powerplay, and with a delayed penalty, the Sydney defenceman shot from the blueline. The puck took a wild ricochet and bounced in front of Ivens.

Ivens couldn’t cover the puck in time as Sydney Bears prospect Noah Moncrieff was Johnny-on-the-spot and tucked the puck around Ivens and into the net.

Jesse Thompson kept things close with a goal early in the third period that found it’s way from the blueline through traffic and past Montgomery.

However, with five minutes left in the game, and with the Glaciers on the penalty kill, a neutral zone turnover dashed Melbourne’s chances of a comeback. Noah Moncrieff tried a wrap-around attempt but was denied, however, Central Coast Rhinos prospect Callum Wardlaw sniped top-shelf, short-side to make it 4-2.

With the Glaciers’ goalie pulled, Newcastle Northstars product Ryan Duchemin delighted the home fans by stealing the puck in his own zone and holding off pressure to score the empty netter to seal the 5-2 victory.

Adelaide Generals 6 defeat Sun Devils 1

With both the Adelaide Generals and the Sun Devils scoring seven goals in their opening games, a high scoring contest was likely. When Generals’ skater Daniel Koudelka went to the box for interference, the Sun Devils had a golden opportunity to inflict the first damage of the game.

However, some excellent work by Henry York on the forecheck allowed him to be in the perfect spot to pick off an ill-advised drop pass and skate in alone on Sun Devils’ netminder Thomas Forrest. He had all the time in the world to pick his spot – high-glove – and give the Generals a 1-0 lead shorthanded.

The CBR Brave forward was involved again just over a minute later to double the Generals’ lead. After an offensive zone faceoff win, Henry York collected a rebound and put it in the path of his brother and fellow CBR Brave product Charlie York, who made no mistake from in tight to make it 2-0.

Julian Friederich got on the scoresheet late in the period to make it 3-0 with a deflection off a Bodhi Matthew point shot, and the Sun Devils were reeling.

Things got better for Julian Friederich and the Generals early in the second period, but worse for the Sun Devils. Friederich this time fired from a sharp angle and found a gap through the Sun Devils netminder to make it 4-0.

With the game in danger of becoming a blowout, the Sun Devils salvaged some respect and got themselves back in the contest on a powerplay of their own midway through the period. It was Brayden Maybee who spotted Bryce Hodges in the high slot who fluttered a quick attempt into the net.

Any thoughts of a comeback were squashed a minute later as the Generals scored again through Julian Friederich on the powerplay. Friederich had three opportunities to whack at the puck before walking through the crease and poking it into the net for his hat-trick.

The game was over as a contest, but the scoring wasn’t quite over for the Generals. Daniel Chen fired a puck on net late in the third period, and who else but Julian Friederich was there to tidy things up, tucking the rebound home for his fourth goal and the 6-1 victory.

Upcoming Games

Today’s AJIHL games features the Adelaide Generals vs Sydney Sabres at 2:45 pm AEDT, followed by the Melbourne Glaciers vs Sun Devils at 5:15 pm AEDT. Thought Fox Media is streaming all of the games via YouTube, click here for the playlist of all the games.

Special thanks to Jess Fuller for her great photos. Make sure you’re following her Facebook page for all of her excellent photography.

Stay tuned to the Australian Junior Ice Hockey League socials for updates throughout the tournament, and make sure you’re following us for additional coverage.