The latest round of Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) action saw some movement in the Rurak Conference, and playoff prospects for the reigning champions dwindle in the Hellyer Conference. Hockey Hype Australia takes a quick look at the results around the league.

It was billed as ‘Mega Round’ by Hockey Hype Australia member and AIHL Fans administrator Sean O’Connor. For the first time in league history ten games took place over the weekend. All ten teams played twice without any double-headers.

Melbourne Mustangs 5-2 Adelaide Adrenaline

O’Brien Icehouse hosted four AIHL games across the weekend, the first of which featured the defending Goodall Cup champion Melbourne Mustangs against the Adelaide Adrenaline.

Vadim Virjassov opened the scoring, and Gavin Birchler scored his first goal of the season, and first AIHL goal since August 2022, to double the lead.

Kaden Elder struck back for the visitors shorthanded in the second period, and Josh Adkins levelled the score midway through the term. However, Virjassov scored his second with just 14 seconds left in the period to retake the lead.

Thomas Flack and Dean Klomp (empty-net) were the only scorers in the final period to take the win and pull the Mustangs within four points of the third and final playoff spot in the Hellyer Conference.

Sydney Bears 4-3 Central Coast Rhinos

Erina Ice Arena played host to two close games across the weekend. Rhinos’ Head Coach Ron Kuprowsky recently spoke to Hockey Hype Australia about how blowout losses were no longer going to be the norm for the team in its sophomore season since its return to the AIHL.

Hayden Sayers put the hosts on the board in the first period. However, Christopher Eaden, Lucas Herrmann (PPG), and Tomas Landa (PPG) put the Bears back in front.

The Rhinos wouldn’t go away, and a goal just nine seconds into the final period by Danick Bouchard gave the home team life. Andrew Smardon scored with 6:54 left to tie the game.

The league leading Bears pulled ahead again through Brody Lindal, and despite some nervy moments as the Rhinos fought to equalise, the Bears held on for the victory.

Newcastle Northstars 4-2 Canberra Brave

It’s one of the league’s best rivalries, Northstars vs Brave games are always must-watch events. The Northstars struck first to ignite the raucous crowd – Alexander Yuill with the powerplay tally.

Brave captain Kai Miettinen tied it up just a minute and a half later, but Hayden Klugerman put the hosts back ahead with his first career AIHL goal.

Daniel Berno scored an insurance marker with the only goal of the second period, and Berno was at the double late in the third period, scoring an empty-net shorthanded goal to take the lead to 4-1.

Casey Kubara scored with just 30 seconds left to pull the Brave within two, but the Northstars held on for a big 4-2 home win over a conference rival.

Melbourne Ice 6-1 Brisbane Lightning

For the first time this season, the Melbourne Ice started a game without Tatsunoshin Ishida between the pipes. 19-year-old Thomas Forrest took the crease, and was rock-solid.

Mackenzie Caruana scored early for the hosts, just 44 seconds into the opening frame, and it was a sign of things to come for the Lightning.

Goaltender Curtis Meger faced a whopping 58 shots in the contest, including 23 in the opening period. For context, the Lightning recorded just 22 shots all game.

Chance Adrian, the Lightning’s newest import signing, tied things up midway through the period, but Joey Hughes ensured the Ice went into the first break with a 2-1 lead.

Imports Joakim Erdugan and Jeff Solow scored in the second period to make it a 4-1 lead. Hughes scored again in the third period, and Nathan Cachia scored his second of the season in the twilight of the game to make it a 6-1 final score line.

Perth Thunder 8-2 Sydney Ice Dogs

The Perth Thunder have had the Ice Dogs’ number lately, undefeated in the matchup since 2019. Last season the Thunder outscored the Ice Dogs 32-9 in four victories.

While the Ice Dogs welcomed Arvid Ljung to the crease, there was a sense that it would take everything to go right for the Ice Dogs to get something out of the contest. The Thunder have depth through the roster few teams can match.

That depth was highlighted throughout the game, but particularly during a four-minute stretch in the opening frame. Riley Langille, Kieran Webster, Yu Hikosaka, and Zane Jones scored for the visitors in that time to catapult the score to 4-0.

Kieran Webster’s goal was a beauty, and brought up his 100th career AIHL point in style. Although it is not currently reflected on the scoresheet, Hikosaka’s goal was scored shorthanded. The combination of Benjamin Berard and Hikosaka on the penalty kill is going to be a problem for opposition teams this season.

Ville Tenosalmi and Jeremiah Addison (PPG) added tallies in the second period to make it a 6-0 game. Grant Toulmin and Bray Crowder gave the Ice Dogs hope heading into the final break, finally breaching Leo Bertein.

However, Benjamin Berard blasted a beauty from the blueline on the powerplay thanks to a great screen from Zane Jones, and Yu Hikosaka punctuated a spectacular AIHL debut performance with an audacious spin-o-rama assist to set up Jamie Woodman for the tap-in and a final 8-2 score.

Eight goals scored by eight different skaters. Good luck line-matching against this juggernaut, the Thunder are going to be a tough team to handle this season.

Melbourne Ice 6-3 Adelaide Adrenaline

Thomas Forrest took the crease again for the Ice, and the team in front made sure he held the lead. Two Austins, Albrecht and McKenzie, opened the scoring, before Mackenzie Caruana added another two to create a 4-0 lead early in the second.

Shaun Dosanjh put the Adrenaline on the board, but Johnny Aonso and Joey Hughes added tallies to make it a 6-1 Ice lead heading into the final period.

Shaun Dosanjh added a powerplay goal in the final frame and Joey MacDougall scored while falling over in the slot to make it a respectable 6-3 final score, but the Ice were well in control throughout the contest.

The shot count was 42-28, but for much of the game the Ice doubled up the Adrenaline, including outshooting the visitors 35-17 after two periods. The Ice moved to the top of the AIHL standings, pending the result of the Northstars and Bears game.

Perth Thunder 4-3 Central Coast Rhinos

Benjamin Berard produced a moment of brilliance to open the scoring at Erina Ice Arena, and Kieran Webster made it 2-0 in the first period. However, the second period was a different story altogether.

Danick Bouchard, Mackenzie Bolger, and Robert Malloy (PPG) scored for the hosts to head into the final period leading 3-2.

A Zane Jones powerplay goal and Kieran Webster tally gave the lead back to the visitors. Once again, the Rhinos fought hard to try to equalise, but came up just short.

The Thunder win took them 10 points clear of the Mustangs in the race for the final playoff spot in the Hellyer Conference, pending the Mustangs’ result later in the day. The Rhinos, tied with the Brave on points but ahead on games in hand in the final playoff spot in the Rurak Conference, would need to sweat on the result of the Ice Dogs v Brave game in Canberra.

Canberra Brave 5-1 Sydney Ice Dogs

It’s not often the Brave Cave plays host to neutral zone battles. However, Sunday’s contest was surprisingly tight, with both teams clogging up the neutral ice, negating the usual end-to-end action.

With less than four minutes left in the second period in a scoreless contest, Casey Kubara finally broke through for the hosts on the powerplay. Jacob Carey and Jake Ratcliffe added goals before the end of the period.

Alex Macdonald got the visitors on the board shorthanded with 6:41 left in the game to cut the lead to 3-1. But two empty net shorthanded goals from Jake Ratcliffe and Austin Cangelosi extinguished any hopes for a comeback.

The victory put the Brave back into a playoff spot for the first time since week two of the AIHL season, and temporarily into second position in the conference, pending the result of the Brisbane Lightning v Melbourne Mustangs game.

Brisbane Lightning 2-1 Melbourne Mustangs

Scott Timmins put the hosts ahead in the opening period of the fourth game at O’Brien Icehouse of the weekend. It seemed like the hosts were comfortably in control, leading 15-6 on the shot count after the first period.

A Julian Fodor goal midway through the second tied things up, and both Logan Flodell and Curtis Meger made good saves during the period for the Mustangs and Lightning respectively.

The Lightning took three penalties in the third period, but the Mustangs couldn’t find a way past Meger and a stubbornly resolute Lightning defense.

Just as it seemed the game was destined for overtime, Arum Rapchuk put the hosts ahead with just 12 seconds left in the period. The Mustangs pulled the goalie and made one final rush, but the Lightning held them off and retook second spot in the Rurak Conference.

The Mustangs need a lot of other results to go their way and can’t afford to drop points if they want to defend their title in Melbourne at Finals in August. 10 points back in May doesn’t augur well in a stacked Hellyer Conference.

Sydney Bears 6-1 Newcastle Northstars

The Sydney Bears have managed to get wins this season despite not playing their best hockey, so the matchup with the Rurak Conference leading Northstars was a good test for the hosts at Macquarie Ice Rink.

Although being outshot 15-8, the Northstars were the first to score, Francis Drolet taking advantage and scoring against James Downie.

Goals by Christopher Eaden (PPG), Tyerell Clare, Eaden again (PPG again), and Brody Lindal ripped things open for the Bears in the second period.

Ryan Annesley added a powerplay goal in the third period, and Kenshin Hayashi pulled off a Forsberg move on the breakaway to add emphasis to the victory. The victory was built on sound defense, as the Bears controlled the shot count 45-24 and retook top spot in the league standings (Melbourne Ice trail by a single point with a game in hand).

Don’t forget to vote on your three stars of the week, and tune in on Wednesday night as the Hockey Night in Australia team breakdown the weekend’s action.