Post Game Recap - June 21 & 22

The last time the Newcastle North Stars and Gold Coast Bluetongues meet the final score was a 10 – 3 shellacking in favour of the Stars. This weekend was a partially different story.

Saturday’s game was locked scoreless for most of the first period until Grant Buckley put his first goal of the night past Tongues goaltender Simo Mustonen, converting on a Pelkey pass to the slot.

In the second, Buckley scored again, racing from the penalty box to send a Matt Price pass through traffic and past Mustonen.

From that point, the game started to slip from the Bluetongues grasp, 4 penalties in the second and a Colin Nicholson goal on the shorthand gave the Stars a three goal lead by the time of the second intermission.

Colin Nicholson scored two more in the third, knotching a hat trick and sending Simo Mustonen to the bench. Local product CJ Anderson replaced him and shutting out the final 10 minutes of the game for the Bluetongues.

At the other end, Australian Goaltender Matt Ezzy was perfect for the North Stars stopping 37 shots, including a near miss by import Gaeten Royer which brought much of the crowd to its feet in frustration.

With minutes left in the game however, the Bluetongues suffered a blow to their playoff aspirations this season, with team captain Billy Crumm going down with a knee injury, that will keep him out for some time.

The final score 5 – 0 saw fans leaving disappointed, a contrast to last Saturday’s mood after the 9 – 1 victory over the Bears.

Sunday was a new day and brought a new game and another chance for Bluetongues victory.

With Chris Kerr rejoining the team after suffering bruised ribs, it took the Tongues 10 minutes to score on Matt Ezzy, with Gaetan Royer scoring unassisted.

Mickey Gilchrist and Casey Minson scored for the Northstars in the first period, and with 5 minutes left in the second the score was again heavily in the North Stars favour, Gilchrist’s second goal making it 3 -1.

However, the Bluetongues weren’t giving up this time, Ross Howell bring the Tongues within 1 in the final minute of the period. The goal fired the Tongues up, the next two goals going their way, taking a 4 – 3 lead with 5 minutes left in the period.

It wasn’t the final goal however, Mikey Gilchrist leveling the score with two minutes left to send it to the Bluetongues first home shoot out of the season.

Gilchrist scored again on the first shot of the shoot out, slipping the puck over Mustonen’s pads on the backhand. From that point the shoot out remained scoreless, both goalies making spectuacular saves at each end.

Ezzy’s final save, stoning Gaeten Royer gave the North Stars their second victory of the weekend, and sent the Bluetongues home without much needed points.

Next weekend, the Bluetongues will return to the ice facing off against the Central Coast Rhinos.

By Sasky Stewart June 23, 2008

Upcoming Games

DATE	HOME	AWAY	TIME
-	-	-	-

Season Schedule

Previous Games

Home teams on top row

Date	Teams	P1	P2	P3	F
24 August	Blue Tongues A's	0 3	0 3	0 1	0 7
23 August	Blue Tongues A's	2 0	0 3	0 0	2 3
17 August	Bears Blue Tongues	3 2	3 2	2 0	8 4
16 August	Knights Blue Tongues	3 1	2 2	4 3	9 6

Game Results

AIHL Standings

Final Season Standings
	GP	Pts
The Bears (Sydney)	28	61
Melbourne Ice	28	54
Western Sydney Ice Dogs	28	54
Newcastle North Stars	28	53
Canberra Knights	28	34
Adelaide A's	28	32
Gold Coast Blue Tongues	28	27
Central Coast Rhinos	28	21

Full League Standings

Individual Leaders

Final Season Statistics
Goals:	Gaetan Royer	22
Assists:	Bryan Lachance	22
Points:	Gaetan Royer	36
PIMS:	Bryan Lachance	188

GAA	Simo Mustonen	4.75
SV%	Simo Mustonen	85.16

Player Statistics