It was their biggest test of the season – the Melbourne Ice had a perfect 3-0 record and were coming up against a Goodall Cup contender in the Perth Thunder.

Two powerplay goals, 16 shots on goal and a four-goal opening period put to bed any question marks about this Ice roster as they defeated the Thunder 7-3.

The Ice look strong across all lines and defensive pairings, with captain Mackenzie Caruana away on Australian national team duties, and imports Austin Albrecht and Roman Kraemer still to arrive to strengthen the squad.

“The game’s emotional as you know, I played it for a long time and last year through trials and tribulations, this club folded a couple of times,” Ice Head Coach Kerry Goulet told Hockey Hype Australia.

“Today when we had adversity, we were up five one, we talked about it in between periods. Let’s not let them get back in it. They score right off the bat to make it 5-2 and then they come back and get another one and make it 5-3.

“And that’s where you see the resilience of a team, the leadership. Who comes out and scores a huge goal but the legend [Lliam Webster]. Of course he is the guy that makes us tick. That was an incredible game.

“I can’t say enough, the whole team effort, it was unbelievable.”

A new defensive group this season is already paying dividends for Goulet, who for the first time has been able to assemble a team completely under his watch.

With improvements from local players and a mixture of quality import signings, the Ice have only given up six goals in their opening four games.

“You know, [Jeff] Solow and [Johnny] Aonso on the back end, along with [Nathan] Cachia,” continued Goulet.

“And the way [Jacob] Laver has been playing, you know, [Lachie] Walls is a rookie coming in and what he’s doing. Of course, [Lachlan] Cincotta, he’s just been fantastic. Six solid defensemen.”

New Challenge

A big name signing during the off season and bringing much needed stability to the defensive group, Jeff Solow has been terrific for the Ice across the opening four games.

Putting up five points (one goal, four assists) including a powerplay goal against the Thunder, things couldn’t be any better for Solow who didn’t know what to expect in Australia.

“This is my first year over here in Australia, I didn’t really know what to expect coming into it,” Solow told Hockey Hype Australia.

“I didn’t know what to expect from the team, from the guys, the coaches. But I mean it has been an awesome start so far. I mean you can’t ask for much more, four and zero, I think we have given up one goal against five on five.

“It’s been an awesome start so far, so I got no bad words to say.”

Much of the Ice’s fortunes this season on the defensive end has come in the form of Japanese goaltender Tatsunoshin Ishida.

The import goaltender has been a steadying presence between the pipes, registering a shutout this season and coming up with big clutch saves.

“He definitely makes our job a lot easier,” continued Solow.

“He is a really, really good goaltender. His movement side to side are second to none. His glove, his blocker, everything he has been doing has been spot on.

“As long as you know the team and him stay injury free throughout the year, I think we are going do some great things this year.”

Favourite Son Returns

It was the return of a favourite son to the Ice roster this season, as Kerry Goulet brought back club great Joey Hughes.

Hughes, who had spent the past four seasons with the Canberra Brave, has offered strong leadership and experience both on and off the ice.

Enjoying a line with Joakim Erdugan and Jamie Bourke, Hughes is leading the Ice in points with 13 (three goals, 10 assists) as the veteran continues to provide production.

“It’s early days, the chemistry is coming the more games that we get under our belt and a lot more opportunity you have got to see [and] feel each other out,” Joey Hughes told Hockey Hype Australia.

“But when you want something to work so bad and you kind of force things to happen, especially with Bourkie coming in, you want everything to go so well.

“You get these star core players coming back in, you just want to make them happy and all of a sudden you are trying to do things maybe too much. But I’m glad that you are seeing stuff clicking out there, which is good.”

There is a renewed vibe coming from the Ice this season, missing out on the finals in 2023, the four-time Goodall Cup champions will be looking for a bounce back campaign.

With veteran plays like Hughes and Lliam Webster still in the lineup, sprinkled in with experienced overseas imports, not all is left to captain Mackenzie Caruana.

“[Mackenzie] Caruana is the captain of the team,” continued Hughes who is wearing the C in his absence.

“We have got great leadership in the change room, stepping in and just doing what the team needs and wearing the C is an absolute privilege for me.

“The core group that we have got, I think that the leadership has set the standards, and everything is good.

“So, it’s been actually really good to come in and these guys are competing every night, competing every shift.”

Stop Concussions

Off the ice head coach Kerry Goulet, co-founder of the Stop Concussions, held a special event post Thunder game at Urban Alley, Docklands.

Raising funds for an important cause, Goulet would auction off various high profile signed jerseys including Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid.

“To have that event, well, right now, I’m sure you know I’m flying home for a week,” Goulet told Hockey Hype Australia.

“Tonight we host an event for Stop Concussions to let people understand we can’t forget about it. Sometimes we tend to forget. Today in The Age, I think it was in one of the newspapers here, they talked about.

“There is still a lot of controversy with it, so we want to make sure as an organisation, as my role as Global Director of Stop Concussions around the world, we need to make sure people don’t forget about it.

“Sometimes people start to tend to forget about the things that really matter and that is we need to educate ourselves. The cause, the effect, the consequence of the injury and that’s what we’re doing tonight after the game.”