Upsets, close games, blowouts, round 11 of Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) action had it all and more. Here’s a quick trip around the league where the results have significant playoff implications.

Melbourne Mustangs 5-3 Melbourne Ice

A derby game is the perfect start to the hockey weekend, and the Mustangs played hosts to their league-leading city rivals in a thrilling contest.

Austin Albrecht started things off just under seven minutes into the game to give the Ice the lead. But Vladislav Rachinsky cashed in on the powerplay to tie the game in the final minute of the period.

Lachlan Cincotta put the Ice back ahead with 7:28 left in the second frame. However, Ty Wishart equalised again for the Mustangs to ensure parity was restored heading into the break.

Thomas Flack gave the Mustangs their first lead of the game five minutes into the third. New import Rylan Freed extended the lead for the Mustangs midway through the period.

The Ice clawed one back through Mackenzie Caruana on the powerplay, demonstrating great hand-eye coordination to bat the puck into the net.

Hopes of a comeback were extinguished when Ice forward Roman Kraemer was sent to the box for charging with just over a minute left, and Rachinsky scored his second on the powerplay 40 seconds later.

Mustangs’ goaltender Logan Flodell finished with 52 saves on 55 shots to earn the win for the horses.

Canberra Brave 11-4 Central Coast Rhinos

Although the Brave came away with a seven goal victory, it wasn’t all one-way traffic at Erina. Aziz Baazzi scored first for the hosts, but Austin Cangelosi tied the game for the Brave just a minute later.

Danick Bouchard tallied a shorthanded goal to pull the Rhinos ahead again. And, again, the Brave tied things up, this time through Bayley Kubara, his first goal of the season.

Alexander Wardlaw put the Rhinos ahead for the third and final time in the game just 17 seconds after Kubara’s tally, giving the Rhinos a 3-2 lead after the first period.

The Brave owned the second period, with goals by Jake Ratcliffe to tie it up, Kai Miettinen to take the lead, and Cangelosi with the insurance marker to head to the third leading 5-3.

Tommy Steven and Alexander Wardlaw traded goals for the Brave and Rhinos respectively to open the period, and that’s as close as the Rhinos would get with the score 6-4. Jacob Carey scored his seventh of the season to make it 7-4.

Cangelosi scored on the powerplay to complete his hat-trick – his 15th goal of the season. Tyler Kubara, Kai Miettinen, and Tommy Steven (PPG) completed the 11-4 rout.

Shots were 52-22 in favour of Canberra.

Melbourne Ice 6-4 Sydney Ice Dogs

Coming off a derby loss, the Ice came out strong against the Ice Dogs, with Austin Albrecht scoring two goals in the opening 6:17. Kale Costa, a surprise addition to the Ice Dogs, responded a minute later.

Kale was making his first appearance in Australia since playing for The Coast in the Pacific Hockey League back in 2022. His last AIHL appearance was back in 2019.

Another Costa, Braden, scored his first of the season to tie the game at two before the period ended.

Kale double-dipped early in the second period to give the Ice Dogs the lead, but Austin McKenzie drew things level at 3-3.

In the third period Ivan Kuleshov tallied his first goal of the season for a 4-3 Ice Dogs’ lead. Any celebrations on the away team bench were short-lived as Austin Albrecht completed his hat-trick 22 seconds later to tie it at four.

Mackenzie Caruana scored a captain’s goal to give the Ice the lead for the first time in over 40 minutes of play, and Albrecht tallied his fourth with the net empty to complete the 6-4 win.

It was a gutsy effort by the Ice Dogs, who pushed the Ice all the way, but the Ice took the cookies and top spot, pending the result in the Sydney Bears’ game.

Sydney Bears 8-3 Newcastle Northstars

With a short bench and key players unavailable, it was always going to be a struggle for the Northstars at Macquarie Ice Rink. An early powerplay goal to Lucas Herrmann boosted the Bears.

Brody Lindal and Adam Kadlec scored for the hosts within 21 seconds, and the Northstars were reeling. Daniel Berno drew a goal back for the visitors on the powerplay to make it 3-1.

But three goals in three minutes to Kadlec, Tomas Landa (PPG), and Lindal put the Bears in the driver’s seat at the first break with a 6-1 advantage.

Charlie Smart was replaced in the Northstars net by Mitsuaki Inoue to begin the second period. Smart will be glad to see the back of the Bears after giving up 19 goals in 129:15 of gametime over three games.

Lindal completed his hat-trick early in the second period, and the Bears started rolling their lines. Kyler Matthews (PPG) and Berno scored goals to keep the game interesting heading into the third with the score 7-3.

The third was scoreless up until the final minute, when Brody Lindal scored a career-best fourth goal of the game and 19th of the season to complete the 8-3 score. With the win, the Bears moved back into a tie on points with the Melbourne Ice at the top of the conference and league, but the Bears own the tiebreaker.

Last season with the Melbourne Ice, Lindal scored 9 points (2G, 7A) in 24 games. This season he has scored 29 points (19G, 10A) in 19 games and is second in the league in scoring. With five points, Adam Kadlec extended his lead at the top of the goals (25) and points (52) leaderboard.

Perth Thunder 3-2 Adelaide Adrenaline (SO)

Last time these two teams met in Perth an epic battle ensued between goaltenders Leo Bertein (Perth) and Rylan Toth (Adelaide). Fans were treated to another epic battle between the two netminders.

Natan Vertes, the Thunder’s new Hungarian import, opened the scoring with the only goal in the opening period. However, the second period went the way of the Adrenaline, outshooting the visitors 13-3, and outscoring them 2-0 to open up a 2-1 lead.

Kaden Elder scored both of the second period goals for the Adrenaline, the first even-strength, and the second on the powerplay.

With the Thunder needing a goal late in the third period, David Kudla came up with a collectors item as he scored for the first time since July 2023 to tie things up at two.

The Thunder outshot the Adrenaline 8-2 in overtime but couldn’t crack Toth. In the ensuing shootout, Vertes scored the only goal to earn the two points for the visitors.

With the one-goal loss, the Adrenaline have been involved in eight games where the result has been decided by a single goal. The Adrenaline have won two of those contests, lost all four games that have gone to extra time, and lost another two in regulation. Heartbreaking.

Melbourne Mustangs 6-3 Sydney Ice Dogs

With the Thunder dropping a point on Saturday, the Mustangs knew they could draw within 10 points of the final playoff spot in the conference. Logan Flodell kept the scores level for the Mustangs early before Rylan Freed and Nicholas Ponomarev gave the hosts the lead.

Mike Dalhuisen pulled one back for the Ice Dogs before the end of the period with a bar-down blast. The Ice Dogs outshot the Mustangs 22-13 in the first, but Flodell was excellent to give the Mustangs a 2-1 lead.

Bradley Apps scored on the powerplay off a scramble in the crease to open the score to 3-1 in the second period as the Ice Dogs racked up the PIMs.

Matt Armstrong then added his first of the season, assisted by fellow bubble wearer Ty Wishart on the powerplay. Vladislav Rachinsky added more pain on the visitors less than a minute later to take the score to 5-1.

Grant Toulmin showed off his hand-eye and silky mittens to score two goals and close the gap to 5-3. But with the net empty, Todd Cutter closed out the game with his second of the season and the 6-3 final.

The Ice Dogs outshot the Mustangs 52-38 in the contest, but the Mustangs once again gutted out the win. Logan Flodell made 101 saves on 107 shots on the weekend. Clutch.

Newcastle Northstars 4-3 Central Coast Rhinos

The Northstars entered the game on a six-game losing streak, and desperate to end the skid. However, it was the visiting Rhinos who silenced the crowd at Hunter Ice Skating Stadium early on.

Just 18 seconds into the game, Mackenzie Bolger got a clean look and scored his fifth of the season past Mitsuaki Inoue in the Northstars net. Beau Taylor tied things up for the Northstars at 1-1.

With seven seconds left in the period, Danick Bouchard scored a powerplay blast to give the Rhinos a 2-1 at the end of the first period.

The Northstars have the second best powerplay in the league, and after the Rhinos gave the Northstars four consecutive powerplays, the Northstars took the lead.

Kyler Matthews scored both powerplay goals, one at 8:42, the other at 16:21, from virtually the same spot. Matthews has been money on the man-advantage, five of his seven goals have been powerplay markers. The Northstars took a 3-2 lead into the second break.

Bouchard restored parity midway through the third, but another powerplay goal to Francis Drolet gave the Northstars the 4-3 lead. The Northstars held on, and Mitsuaki Inoue recorded his first AIHL win in four games played.

Adelaide Adrenaline 3-1 Perth Thunder

Kaden Elder added to his impressive hot-streak with his seventh goal in his last three games to give the Adrenaline a 1-0 lead midway through the first period. The Thunder tied things up before the period ended through Kieran Webster.

Perth outshot the home team 18-6 in the first period, and Adrenaline netminder Rylan Toth was outstanding. Both goalies made big saves in the middle frame, the shot count was even at 11 apiece, and neither team scored.

The Adrenaline were desperate to break the tie, and defensive import Shaun Dosanjh notched his fourth goal of the season to ignite the home crowd. With two minutes left, who else could it be but Kaden Elder scoring his eighth goal in his last three games to create some breathing room.

The win means the Mustangs have narrowed the 14-point gap between them and the Thunder prior to this round to just 10 at its conclusion. For Adelaide, the win brings them just two points behind the Lightning in the final playoff spot, and the Adrenaline have a game in hand (Brisbane has played 16 games, Adelaide 15 games).