Newcastle Northstars secured three points in their 4-2 win over Canberra Brave on Saturday night and fell short of the top of the conferences clash going down to the Sydney Bears 1-6 on Sunday night in the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL).
Excitement ran through the Newcastle crowd as Alexander Yuill secured the first goal for the Northstars. Kai Miettinen got one on the board for the Brave, but it wouldn’t take long for the crowd to be on their feet for the Northstars once again.
Hayden Klugerman securing the second goal, saw the crowd on their feet as they celebrated his goal and also being his first AIHL career goal. Newcastle went to the first break with a 2-1 lead over the visitors.
“He works hard and he’s tenacious and he’s come in this year with big shoes to fill alongside his brother and he did a great job tonight,” shared Captain Liam Manwarring on Klugermans goal.
Coming out fast in the second period, Northstars put pressure on Canberra Brave, but neither team could score for the first fifteen minutes of the period.
The next goal would come for the home team, with just over four minutes remaining in the period; Daniel Berno’s sole goal would extend the home team’s lead to 3-1 at the second break.
Northstars forward Francis Drolet shared, “We trained really hard, and it pays off. You play five-on-five hockey for the majority of the game, and the fitter team is usually going to win.
“We’ve got a fit squad, we’re composed, and the professionalism is high right now where we don’t take a dumb penalty and get more five-on-five hockey.”
The crowd never ceased the noise, getting behind the Northstars, with regular chants and cheers keeping the atmosphere thick and vibrant.
Newcastle has introduced Northstars Karaoke in the intermissions and second period, and the electric atmosphere was emphasised during the break as they sang and danced to Sweet Caroline.
Both teams came out in the third period ready to play, with end-to-end action. Both the home and visiting team had opportunities to score, and each suffered a number of penalties.
It took until the last minute of the game to shift out of the scoring dry streak with a crowd-stunning empty net goal scored by Daniel Berno while the Northstars were short-handed.
When the game was seemingly over, Brave’s Casey Kubara would net one last goal in the final 30 seconds of the game, giving the visitors their second goal.
Newcastle secured the 4-2 win in front of the enthusiastic Newcastle crowd.
Canberra forward Casey Kubara shared some positives the Brave can take out of the game, “I think a couple of learning lessons, its tough to lose. We’re a couple of guys down but we’re building every day, every training, every game.”
“It’s a good rivalry with Newcastle,” Casey Kubara continued, “and I feel like you don’t necessarily lose, you learn. We need to get to the dirty areas a bit more and get some greasy goals.
“I think we’re doing a good job of passing and creating opportunities, but not necessarily scoring on the first shot. So we’ve got to stop in front of the net, get rebounds and get a greasy one.”
Northstars Head Coach Kevin Noble shared, “Our powerplay was good, and special teams were good. It was tough to give up that one at the end.
“But when you win special teams battles and you have the detail we had in our game tonight, that is what is going to win hockey games.”
“I thought our guys battled hard and they bought in.” Noble continued, “They started with it, executed the game plan and the detail that we talked about in the neutral zone and D-zone, and the win is well deserved for them”
“I just want to say the fans tonight were the loudest I have ever heard them,” shared Manwarring, “it was so loud, and I remember looking at the score board with 11 minutes to go and they were absolutely into it and that’s what brought us home.”
Looking ahead to some tough matchups in the upcoming schedule, assistant coach Dave Ferrari shared some thoughts on what Northstars can continue to build on following this game.
“We used our whole bench playing five-on-five tonight, and we need to maintain our discipline to the neutral zone structure and being hard to play against.
“Not allowing teams easy access to our zone,” Ferarri continued, “even though it was really good tonight, we want to be excellent at it.
“Continuing to suppress shots in the D-zone and our new guys arrived and do that really well.”
Canberra Brave forward Tyler Kubara shared his thoughts on the game, “Six to eight hours on the bus and then a full house with their fans who get right into it. I guess a few things we can take away is our depth. We were playing three lines and it felt like we were right there with our chances.”
“We know we can beat them,” continued Tyler Kubara, “We know we can beat them, and just didn’t have it tonight. We talk about discipline before most games, not taking bad penalties and not taking retaliation penalties.
“We had one or two powerplay opportunities and just couldn’t bury them. Tet’s [Tetreault] was great in net, he is always solid and he’s been a standout performer for us in the last couple of weeks.”
Canberra captain Kai Miettinen shared, “We didn’t give up, we went all the way to the end, scored a late goal, it didn’t really mean too much in the end but it just goes to show the mentality is we don’t give up, regardless what the score line is.”
Miettinen reflected on the game and playing 5 on 5 for majority of the game, “You can actually work on players, build the chemistry between lines. It’s always nice to play games like that.
“Tets [Tetreault] in net has been great all year for us. We’ve been up against it and we haven’t had the best run but he’s kept us in every single game.”
Sunday night, Francis Drolet opened the scoring for the Northstars, who made the road trip down to Sydney. This would be their lone goal of the game. Newcastle went to the first break with a 1-0 lead.
Sydney Bears’ came out fighting in the second period and secured four unanswered goals. Christopher Eaden (2) Tyerell Clare and Brody Lindal all finding the back of the net to put the Northstars on the back foot 1-4 going into the second break.
Newcastle couldn’t capitalise on opportunities they were making for themselves in the third period. With another two unanswered goals scored by the Bears’ Ryan Annesley and Kenshin Hayashi to secure the win for the home team.
Sydney securing the win with a 6-1 score.
Northstars Head Coach Kevin Noble shared, “We’re a first place hockey club in our conference and we have to come ready to battle and compete every night and be mentally sharp and focused, and physically ready.”
“Tonight we looked tired, we played tired and we need to get our game to the level it needs to be physically and mentally to be able to win.
“It just wasn’t our night, and we need to get back to work and be ready to work harder.
“It’s not the end of the world, and nobody from either side will remember this game in August,” Noble continued, “this was another good test for us and now we have a tough test ahead and we’ve got to be ready to go.”
Northstars return home with 3 points from the weekend and look ahead to their trip to Perth, where they will play on the 1st and 2nd of June.
Canberra Brave have just one game this weekend on Saturday June 1st against the Sydney Bears at home. Get your tickets from https://shop.cbrbrave.com.au/tickets/
Sydney Bears will then host the Melbourne Mustangs at Macquarie Ice Rink on Sunday June 2nd. Get tickets from https://www.bearsshop.com.au/pages/2024-game-day-tickets
Northstars will return to Newcastle on Saturday, June 8th, vs Melbourne Ice and Sunday, June 9th, vs Perth Thunder. Get your tickets from northstars.thundertix.com
Leave a Reply