Second ranked Melbourne Ice faced off against third placed Adelaide Adrenaline in the first semi-final for the AIHL Championship trophy at Hunter Ice Skating Stadium in Warners Bay on Saturday afternoon.

Adelaide won the first face off, taking possession early. Melbourne came back aggressively battling for the puck in a fast and furious struggle for dominance. With strong forechecking on both sides, it seemed imminent for an epic fight for lead early in the game. The Adrenaline were the first strike when import Sami Mantere, assisted by captain Greg Oddy, netted the puck past Ice goaltender Stu Denman 5 minutes and 49 seconds into the period. Exactly 2 minutes after their first goal, Jeremy Beirnes took the Adrenaline to a 2 goal lead over the scoreless Ice, assisted by James Keane and Luke Tilthorpe.

The Adrenaline continued on their offensive assault on embattled Stu Denman with Jeremy Beirnes scoring his second only 39 seconds into the period. Sami Mantere buried his second 26 seconds later, giving Adelaide a 4-0 lead and all but ending the hopes of the Melbourne Ice to come back.

Melbourne’s captain, Lliam Webster, finally scored the Ice’s first goal, on the powerplay, with just over 5 minutes remaining in the second period when Adelaide’s Mike Werner was sitting in the penalty box for interference. Not to be outdone, Mike Werner scored on the powerplay, to take the Adrenaline to a 5-1 lead going into the third period.

Mike Werner put the final nail in Melbourne’s playoff hopes coffin six minutes remaining in the game to put Adelaide’s sixth and final goal on Stu Denman.

The Adrenaline, whose home ice is a slightly larger sized rink than that of the Melbourne Ice, simply outplayed and outskated the besieged Ice team.

While the Ice’s season is now over, the Adelaide Adrenaline now face off against the winner of the second semi-final between the Gold Coast Blue Tongues and reigning champions Newcastle North Stars.