The finals battle in the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) is well and truly on as teams get massive intra-conference wins in the race for seeding position.

We had a captain continuing to lead the way, an important weekend sweep, big name signing opening scoring account and a new kid on the block.

Hockey Hype Australia looks at five things which caught the eye in this week’s Five for Writing.

Caruana keeps on producing

It’s not often I throw in a player on a back-to-back, but I couldn’t go past Melbourne Ice captain Mackenzie Caruana.

A career season for the Australian international and in a weekend where the Ice lost both games, Caruana was unstoppable.

Six points (three goals, three assists) across two games, including a hat-trick against the Hellyer Conference leading Sydney Bears.

He ain’t no Miller Lite

When the Sydney Bears announced Carson Miller as an import signing it was a case of “here they go getting stronger again”. That’s exactly what happened.

Miller looked at home in his debut weekend for the Bears. A massive six point (two goals, four assists) against the Ice on Saturday, backed up with a goal against the Mustangs on Sunday.

Another terrific signing for a Bears team that continues to get stronger.

Icon raises the bat

Casey Kubara is not only a Canberra Brave legend and icon, but he is also an AIHL champion.

A brace against the Newcastle Northstars on Saturday, Kubara gets goal 100 in front of an adoring home crowd at the Brave Cave.

At 28-years-old the two-time Goodall Cup winner is in the prime of his career and will continue to rack up the goals.

Three Dawes Down

You couldn’t have picked a bigger stage than a Melbourne Derby to mark your arrival at your new club. Hayden Dawes did just that with a hattrick for the Melbourne Mustangs.

On a line with Scott Timmins and Rylan Freed, Dawes found terrific chemistry across the weekend and in the derby especially.

A four-point performance marked with a hat-trick helped put the sword to their cross-corridor rivals and opened Dawes’ account for the orange and black.

Rhinos hunting finals spot

They might be sitting at the bottom of the Rurak Conference, but the Central Coast Rhinos have everything to play for.

Back-to-back home wins brings the Rhinos within four points of the Brisbane Lightning who occupy the third and last finals spot.

It was the first time since August 2005 the Rhinos got two wins in a row at home in the AIHL, and it couldn’t have come at a more important time.