Blue Tongues Split Weekend

The Blue Tongues played the Western Sydney Ice Dogs this past weekend on the Gold Coast and came away with a split win; dropping the Saturday game, but getting the full 3 points on Sunday. Both games were physical and fast paced, a style of hockey played by both teams.

Saturday saw the Tongues struggle in the first period as S. Stephenson and Strang of the Ice Dogs put 2 past Simo Mustonen to give the Dogs a 2-0 lead going into the first break. Chris Martin tried to fire up the team by dropping the gloves in the late first period, which seemed to send the right message, as the 2nd frame saw a much more balanced game with both teams scoring 2 goals in the period - 2 from Blue Tongue import Gaetan Royer and 2 shorthanded goals for the Ice Dogs. The Ice Dogs picked up their game in the 3rd period putting 2 quick goals and chasing goalie Simo Mustonen from the net, to be replaced by CJ Anderson. The Ice Dogs scored the 3rd of the period less than a minute later to gain a 5 goal lead. Jon Bale led the charge in an attempt to stage another "Blue Tongues Comeback" by scoring 2 goals less than 8 seconds apart, locking the score at 7-4 going to the final whistle.

The Blue Tongues came out firing on all cylinders on Sunday, led by a very rare change of starting goalie with CJ Anderson starting the game between the pipes. The Blue Tongues looked like a different team with crisp passes, fast skating and thundering checks. The Ice Dogs learned a hard lesson from the fists of import Bryan Lachance just 4 minutes into the game. Lachance, who had been targeted for most of the Saturday game took on Ice Dogs "fighter" Brad Van Camp and simply anhialated him with a barrage of rights. The fight sparked by teams but it was the Blue Tongues who grabbed the opportunity as Ross Howell scored to give the Tongues a 1-0 lead going into the first break. The 2nd saw much of the same high quality play from both teams, but it was the Blue Tongues powerplay, and again, Ross Howell who gained the advantage, giving the Blue Tongues a motivating 2-0 lead at the end of the 2nd frame. Jack Conner led the charge into the 3rd period, scoring off a great Royer assist. The Ice Dogs came back hard however and snuck a puck past Anderson just 30 seconds later. Ben Spillane and another from Conner helped the Blue Tongues to a solid 5-2 victory. CJ Anderson was steller in his first game starting for the Blue Tongues this season.

By Sam Hansen July 14, 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