Newcastle Northstars 4 defeated Central Coast Rhinos 3 in a crucial game to break their losing streak and get back into the winning column in the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL).
This game and momentum were important for Newcastle to find and establish as they look ahead to their road trip and a doubleheader against the Lightning in Brisbane.
To kick off the positive spirits of the game at home, the Newcastle fans celebrated three much-loved Northstars veterans as they reached significant milestones in their AIHL careers.
The players included Tim Stanger, who played his 250th AIHL game, Sean Oultram, who played his 200th AIHL game, and Beau Taylor, who secured his 200th AIHL point over the weekend.
Saturday night’s game against the Bears was essentially lost in the first period. Coach Kevin Noble reflected on the team’s pushing through and having a stronger second and third period: “I was happy that we kept playing, but people only care if you win. It was good for us not to lay over and die. There is some character in that, but it’s just a bad night and a part of a bad stretch for us.”
Associate Coach Dave Ferarri shared the same sentiment, “Obviously, the first was nothing to be proud of, but the response was good in the way we could lock it down and stop the bleeding, so to speak. That’s a positive going into the second half of the season and playoffs; we want to be responsible, hard to play against, and hard to score against.”
On the back of a 3-7 defeat vs the Sydney Bears on Saturday night, the Newcastle Northstars bounced back, securing a 4-3 win at home on Sunday night, securing another team milestone in Mitsuaki Inoue’s first AIHL win.
Sunday’s game put Newcastle back in the win column at a crucial time as the league looks ahead to the second half of the season and shifts focus to finals.
Finding themselves behind early in the game, following a goal 18 seconds in from Mackenzie Bolger, Beau Taylor scored the equaliser five minutes later for the home team, getting the crowd on their feet.
Danick Bouchard would put the Rhinos ahead of Newcastle 1-2 in the period’s final moments with just seven seconds left in the period.
In a big push on the power play, Kyler Matthews secured two goals for the home side from almost the same position on the ice for both goals, getting the crowd chanting and driving up the momentum with a 3-2 lead.
Assistant Captain Francis Drolet reflected on the special teams importance of this game, “We got three powerplay goals tonight, and it gets the guys going with everybody playing, and they get a lot of minutes, so it’s nice having a rhythm of cycling through all our lines.”
Bouchard would net his second of the game to tie it up at 3-3, but it was a powerplay goal from Drolet that would secure the win for Newcastle.
Rhinos remain positive
Rhinos Captain Bert Malloy spoke to Hockey Hype Australia and shared his thoughts on the game overall, “I thought we played for the majority of the 60 minutes. We worked hard and our goaltender is always really strong.”
“This is a difficult barn to come to,” Malloy continued, “but I thought we did decently well tonight, but still a lot of room to improve.
“We need to find some consistency, get some of our people back in the line-up and continue to prove ourselves as competitive. We’re building something and have nothing to lose and everything to prove.”
“We laid the foundation last year and we’re just trying to get better and better every week,” finished Malloy.
Rhinos forward David-James Jeremy shared, “I think we played the most physical we’ve ever played, and to come from the 11-4 score against Canberra last night to Newcastle in their own barn and a great team and take them to nearly a loss is pretty fantastic. We’re getting better every day.”
Northstars embrace hard grind
“The positive from tonight,” shared Noble, “is we got the win and the three points. The points are critical.”
Ferarri reflected on how the tough match-up with the Rhino’s is an advantage to the Northstars moving forward, “Although it would have been good to win comfortably, I don’t think it would have helped us.”
“You can’t just cheat, right? You can’t just go out and stretch a guy and get a goal; you’ve got to work for everything. That’s how it’s going to be from now on for the rest of the season and in the playoffs. The guys are feeling really good on the back of this, so I’m glad it was difficult for us.”
Northstars now look ahead to their road trip on the 22nd and 23rd of June in Brisbane vs the Lightning. These crucial points in the Rurak conference for both teams. Newcastle will be looking to pull further ahead from the encroaching Canberra Brave, and Brisbane Lightning will be looking to hold their spot as Adelaide Adrenaline creeps closer to 4th.
Watch all the action this weekend live on AIHL.TV
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