The Melbourne Ice saved its best weekend for last, entering the weekend as the third seed and exiting as champions. Perth recorded its best season with silver, and the Adelaide Rush overcame a powerful Brisbane Lightning squad to earn bronze.

Adelaide Rush v Brisbane Lightning

The afternoon’s first game had the intensity of a gold medal game as the Lightning and Rush battled at O’Brien. Rush goaltender Archie Smith made two spectacular saves to keep the scores level early in the first period.

Star import Reaghan Pietrowski got the Rush on the board late in the first, finishing off a rebound off a Kirsty Venus bomb from the point.

Midway through the second Adelaide doubled its advantage through the Kate Tihema-Nat Ayris-Kaitlyn Malthaner connection. Tihema went to work behind the net, cycling to Ayris, and she found Malthaner at the back door for the tuck.

However, Brisbane pulled Adelaide back with two goals in 70 seconds. First, Katrina Rapchuk denied a clearance attempt and her shot from the point rolled over Smith’s back, and Lindsey Kiliwnik poked it home in the blue paint.

Next, Alison Carlisle held the line and put the puck to the front of the net. Smith made the initial save, but Courtney Mahoney was alert to gather and convert a wraparound attempt to restore parity.

Adelaide retook the lead before the final frame on the powerplay. Venus’ initial shot from the point was partially blocked in the high slot and trickled through to Sierra Meroniuk who tucked it past Lightning goaltender Katie Meyer from in tight.

Both teams took turns touring the penalty boxes at O’Brien Icehouse before Adelaide potted an insurance marker on a five-on-three powerplay. Venus skated in from the blue line before snapping a shot off the far-side post and into the net.

It was a spectacular weekend for Venus, especially considering her performance was hampered by an injury sustained in practice earlier in the week that caused swelling and bruising in her knee.

At the end of the game, the Rush players formed a guard of honour for foundational player Candice Mitchell, who the team later indicated was retiring from playing.

Melbourne Ice v Perth Inferno

In the day’s second contest, the third-placed Melbourne Ice entered the gold medal game as underdogs against the top-ranked Perth Inferno.

The Ice, pre-season favourites to win the Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy, struggled to live up to the hype during the regular season. The only occasions the team won two games across a weekend this season were early on against the last-placed Sydney Sirens.

A collection of split weekends before being swept at home against the fourth-placed Brisbane Lightning knocked the Ice out of the top two for the first time since the 2019-20 season.

Losing star forward Christina Julien early on, along with a scary carbon monoxide scare in Adelaide, forced the team to dig deep.

Late in the season, the team invited a sports psychologist to talk with the team.

“I think that really helped get everyone in a good mindset going into finals,” Ice forward Danielle Butler observed. “We had a bumpy second half of the season and we took the two weeks before finals to reground as a team and focus what was in our control and what was out of our control.”

The analysis led to a tactical adjustment. “An aggressive forecheck was something that was within our control,” continued Butler, “and proven effective in this league, so as a team, we really bought into that system.

“The aggressive game plan we came into the finals weekend with is exactly what suits my style of play and, I would say, suits many of the players on the team,” Butler concluded.

Melbourne’s forecheck was impressive in Saturday’s contest, and was equally as effective on Sunday. Every time the Ice prevented an Inferno breakout, a cheer erupted from the Ice bench.

The grinding style of play paid dividends late in the first period. Danielle Butler skated through the zone to below the goal line, and her centring feed ricocheted off Steph Conlon’s skate and into the net.

Five minutes into the second, the Ice doubled its lead. This time, Conlon worked hard along the boards, and Butler deposited a loose puck in the crease following a blocked Beatrice Arsenault-Dufour shot.

The line found the scoresheet again five minutes later. Sharna Godfrey started the play as she intercepted an Inferno pass just inside the blue line.

Conlon won a puck battle along the boards, and her pass, intended for Dufour, took a deflection and went straight to Butler, who was playing the role of the Hawk on the forecheck in the high slot. Butler made no mistake in finding the net for the second time in the game and fourth time across the weekend.

The contest was effectively over when Marnie Pullin scored just minutes into the third period, using the defender as a screen to beat King from just inside the blue line.

The Inferno dug deep and managed to put a shot past Carson off a brilliant team effort with just under six minutes left. Michelle Clark-Crumpton, Sara Sammons, and Elizabeth Scala produced a wonderful passing combination to carve through the defence, and Scala finished off a tap-in feed from Sammons.

However, the Ice didn’t just hang on in the third period, the team outshot the Inferno 18-9 in the final period.

Melbourne Ice goaltender Jenelle Carson saved 67 of 70 shots across the weekend, and was vital to the team’s success.

“That’s why we started her,” Ice Head Coach Curtis Klooster said. We noticed over the season that the team played extremely well in front of her, and we decided that she would get the starts.”

Danielle Butler noted the importance of Carson’s performance, saying, “Jenelle showed incredible self-awareness heading into this finals weekend and she knew exactly what she needed to do to bring her A game and she sure did.”

According to Klooster, the initial plan was to gain the lead and then revert from an aggressive forecheck to a neutral zone trap. However, Carson’s play allowed the team to continue with the forecheck and keep the Inferno on their heels.

“Jenelle put in the work and gave us the confidence to play the aggressive game we wanted to play this weekend,” Butler added. “And I like to think the team put in the work as well to backcheck hard and help her out as much as possible.”

Another unsung hero for the team this weekend was Christine Dutton, who made some big plays around her own net to keep the Inferno forwards away from second-chance opportunities.

“She’s extremely undervalued,” noted Klooster. “She’s a phenomenal, solid, smart defensive player.

“Dutts [Dutton] played a role this season as a third-line defender. She’s definitely better than a third-line defender.

“We wanted to have that strength across each [defensive] line, and she was a leader with a few players rotating through as her partner. She filled that role, stepped up and showed a ton of leadership and strength.”

While everyone stepped up, it’s impossible to ignore the impact of the Godfrey-Butler-Conlon line across the weekend. For Klooster, the line demonstrated maturity and poise.

“Conlon wasn’t afraid to get dirty,” Klooster said, “she was constantly battling for that inside position. That allowed Butler to use her speed and skill.

“With Sharna, we worked with her to bring her into more of a support and setup role. For her to show maturity and work into the system to be the setup person was huge.”

A side note that Sharna Godfrey has won three Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy’s on the trot after moving from the Sirens during the off-season.

“My line definitely had good chemistry this weekend,” Butler observed, “and it’s an amazing feeling to have everyone on the ice firing and giving it their all for the team.

“Special shout out my wingers, Sharna showcased her amazing play-making abilities this weekend and Steph Conlon brought her A+++ game this weekend with her usual physicality plus sniping three goals across the weekend.

“Having solid D across the board makes it easier for the forwards and especially on my line having Big Bea with her rocket of a shot and Marnie who impresses me every time she steps on the ice.”

With the dip in form in the second half of the season, the Ice was put into the rare position of being underdogs.

For Klooster, finishing in third-place in the standings “shows the quality of the league right now, and that no weekend is taken for granted.

“We got lucky with having Sydney early on in the season,” Klooster said, acknowledging the Sirens’ strong finish. “We struggled to play two back-to-back solid games during the season.

“We felt we matched up well with Perth, and after overcoming a big hurdle in the Adelaide Rush, we were pretty confident,” Klooster added.

“Nothing like a little underdog story to light a fire in your belly,” Butler said. “I think the team did a great job refocusing for the end of the season and put aside whatever happened during the season to come together with our common goal of leaving it all on the ice this weekend.”

Butler concluded by graciously noting, “I’d like to also highlight the added support from our amazing support staff, social media crew, family and fans, all of whom had a hand in our win!”