HockeyPulse

The 2009 AIHL season opened over the weekend of April 25th/26th with some rather surprising scores, with one upset in particular. On Saturday, the Ice Dogs defeated the Blue Tongues 6-1, and the Canberra Knights defeated the Penrith Bears 5-2. On Sunday, the Dogs travelled up the freeway to challenge the Newcastle Northstars, but was defeated in a very close game 5-3. Whilst they were still in town, the Blue Tongues slithered out to Penrith, and completely romped all over the Penrith Bears, dealing a convincing 7-0 shutout victory to open their season in style.

Read on for more information.

Ice Dogs v Blue Tongues @ Liverpool, Sat 25 April 2009

On Saturday, the Ice Dogs started the season in typical Dogs fashion at their new home rink, and defeated the Blue Tongues 6 to 1. There were reports that five Dogs ended up in the penalty box at one stage, with cries of "who let the Dogs out" from the crowd the inevitable result. By the look of the box score on the AIHL website, this was during the first period.

Knights v Bears @ Canberra, Sat 25 April 2009

The Canberra Knights hosted the Penrith Bears for their first game of the season, playing to a packed crowd, and who didn't disappoint. The Bears skipped out to an early lead, when Paul Shumak put one in unassisted. After that, the Knights owned the ice for the rest of the game, eventually overcoming a shorthanded Bears team 5-2. The Bears notable absentees were Vladimir Rubes, Vladan Stransky, Adrian Esposito, Brett Nelson-Bond, and Murray Wand. One interesting aspect of this game was the effort put in by the Bears juniors to score late in the game, to give some hope to the lineup.

Following is the game report submitted by Mark Teo. Thanks Mark!

The Canberra Knights got their 2009 AIHL season off to a flying start with a 5-2 win at home to the Penrith Bears.

Marko Raita and Mark Rummukainen each contributed two points as the Knights overcame an early Penrith tally.

Paul Shumak got the first goal of the game for the Bears three minutes in, wristing his shot in from the slot.

But Raita answered by scoring the first two of four answered goals, including a well-taken individual effort on the power play, as Canberra took charge of the contest.

The Knights’ third goal came with 6:02 left in the second, when a David Batho pass allowed Steven Deans to breakaway from the blue line.

Matti Luoma then tapped home from the crease to make it 4-1 after two periods.

An outstanding display from Canberra’s penalty-killing unit saw no damage done on an early third period five-on-three, with the game’s next goal only coming when Joel McFadden put home a rebound for the visitors with less than five minutes to go.

But the Knights got the last say in the battle when Rory Landry left two defencemen flatfooted before offloading to Jordan Gavin who finished the play.

Newcastle North Stars v Sydney Ice Dogs @ Warners Bay, Sun 26 April 2009

On Sunday, the Dogs travelled up to Warners Bay to face off against a fresh Northstars team, but ended up driving home without the points, after the Northstars mounted a spirited comeback to win 5-3. The two Northstars imports, and Casey Minson were stand out players for the Nortstars, driving all of their goals.

I think the Northstars and the Ice Dogs are the two teams to beat this year.

Penrith Bears v Gold Coast Blue Tongues @ Penrith, Sun 26 April 2009

Also on Sunday, the Blue Tongues ventured out to the Bears Den in Penrith, and in a shock result, came away victors in a shutout, boldly defeating the Bears in their own turf 7-0, in front of a small but vocal crowd. The Bears were really suffering from not having their star players, which the Blue Tongues exploited to full effect. At the end of the game, the Bears speed skater forward, Paul Shumak, skated forlornly around the rink, cooling down, and quite upset at the humiliating defeat.

Oh well, the Bears have the rest of the season to make up for that loss, eh!

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