Sunday afternoon saw the Newcastle Northstars and Adelaide Adrenaline go to overtime, but an Aiden Wagner goal would secure the 4-3 win for the Newcastle team at home.
The Northstars had a strong first period, with goals from Beau Taylor and Wehebe Darge, taking the home team into the first break with a 2-0 lead.
Adrenaline Captain Joey MacDougall shared, “We came out and went down two nothing early in the game but battled back in the second period, which was a big thing for us. To come out, go down early and fight back was a significant positive.”
Second period the visiting Adelaide Adrenaline had 3 unanswered goals onto the scoreboard and went into the second break with a 3-2 lead. The Adrenaline captain got the scoring underway with an early goal in the period, and former Northstar Josh Adkins netted two shortly after.
Adrenaline Head Coach Stu Henly reflected on their weekend, “We were upset with our performance last night against the Ice Dogs and we felt like we really dropped there, so to see the team bounce back was the number one positive, to see the guts in the group, I love that.”
“We had a great second period”, Henly continued, “I was really happy for Josh Adkins making his return here, I know this game meant a lot to him. He’s a team first guy and he had a great game.”
“Seeing guys getting on the scoreboard that haven’t yet is a big positive,” MacDougall shared, “I think the big thing is we’re getting so much out of our goalies right now, and they’re stopping enough shots to keep us in games, and we’ve got to do a better job offensively to help them out.”
In the third period, Wehebe Darge scored the lone goal for the Northstars, equalising the game and taking it to overtime.
Northstars assistant general manager and assistant coach, David Ferrari, reflected on the teams performance sharing, “Continued growth by guys on our roster including young Maliq West who got really involved tonight and Hamish Powell really turned the tide for us in the third period were positives to takeaway from that game.”
“We need to focus on the area’s that we weren’t good in, especially at home on a Sunday when we’re rested, and we know what let us down and what to build on,” Ferrari said.
30 seconds into overtime, Aiden Wagner secured the two points for the home team and the crowd erupted. Ferrari emphasised how the crowd lifted the team tonight, “it can literally change the game when they start chanting. It can energize the team, and even me as a coach. It’s almost like we’re on the powerplay out there when they get loud.”
A very humble Wagner shared his thoughts on the OT win, “it was a team effort. We stuck with it for three periods, we had a shaky second and credit to them, they’re a good team and they came out to play tonight. We knew they were going to come hard and we stuck with it battling through adversity and that shows a lot of character in our room.”
Reflecting on the game, Northstars Head Coach Kevin Noble shared, “Finding a way (to win) is the number one thing they did. They played like champions and they won.”
“At points I thought we were out of sync and we fought through it. Throughout our whole lineup there was some adversity and we found our way through it. It’s not always going to happen the way you draw it up (as a coach), but the only thing that matters is that we effectively got the points.”
“It’s only game four, we have a lot to work on and that’s the reality. We have some guys fighting sickness and tonight that showed. We were struggling to find our game a bit and the message is we found a way and didn’t make excuses. We got it done.”
“Winning teams find a way, losing teams find excuses,” Noble finished.
The Northstars are on the road on Saturday 27th April, playing in Canberra.
They return home on Sunday 28th April to welcome the Sydney Ice Dogs back to Hunter Ice Skating Stadium.
Get your tickets at Northstars.thundertix.com.
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