The first home game of the season was at Bundall tonight, with the Tongues taking on the reigning champs, Newcastle North Stars, and the Gold Coast showed up in style. It was a packed rink that were able to watch the boys first game at home, and what a game to start the season off with! Newcastle is always a hard game to play. Not only do they always front a talented, fast and gelled team, but they’re physical and accurate to boot. With Australia’s leading local goaltender, Matt Ezy between the pipes, and players like Rob Starke and Sean Oultram out front, you expect them to be a tough team. Last weekend, the BTs lost two games in a row to the Stars, so we were hoping our boys would be able to get a little revenge tonight.
They came out wearing black armbands, in honour of Davey Upton’s grandmother who passed away this past week. That was testamount to the respect this year’s team have for each other. Says a lot about our locker room.
Luke Fiveash got the start between the pipes, having been backup in Newcastle for the roadtrip’s both games, and boy is there a height difference between Fiveash and Ezy. It really seemed like a David and Goliath battle for the goaltenders. Still, Luke did a fantastic job in the first period. The game was hard hitting, with not just our imports (Andre Selander, Brad Smulders and Henrik Ivarsson) giving some massive checks to knock the Stars off the puck, but some fantastic physical play from local boys like Dave Upton, Ben Spillane and Ross Howell. Newcastle gave back as much as they got, and it really did become a battle for the puck through the entire 45 minutes. The North Stars were the first to score 24 seconds left in the first, when Steve Kaye got one past Fiveash.
The second period of the game is where the real battle began. The BTs scored 19 seconds into the second period, with Brad Smulders getting past Matt Ezzy. Newcastle hit back quickly, 63 seconds later with their second goal of the night when Adam Kimbley scored on a lucky shot where the puck hit just under the top bar of the goal before bouncing out again. Two minutes later, Trevor Walsh, Adelaide’s fan favourite and the most recent signing for the BTs, scored his first in a Tongues uniform with a beautiful triple deke on Matt Ezy, completely outplaying him to take a top shelf goal to the sound of the screaming fans in jubilation.
Five minutes left in the second saw the game’s first fight, with Ben Morrison (Newcastle) and Ben Spillane (Gold Coast) dropping the gloves and battling it out. Newcastle’s import, and assistant captain, John Halverson came in as the third man, creating a two on one situation that the refs then tried to break up. With all three players given match penalties, they were out of the game for the night. And at 2 all, that’s where the score stayed until the end of the third period.
While the score stayed at 2-2, I must here make mention of a fantastic penalty kill that happened with 3.25 left in the game. Walsh was sent to the box for Roughing, giving the Stars a 4 on 5 powerplay. 30 seconds later, import Tino Sandhu was send to the penalty box for tripping, giving the North Stars a 5-on-3 powerplay for a whole minute. This is a huge amount of time to be on a penalty kill. A PK will wear players out faster than regular play because the players on the ice have to make up for the missing man. In a 5 on 3? More than likely your team will get scored on.
Ours didn’t. And that’s thanks to Brad Smulders, Henrik Ivarsson and Andre Selander who were impenetrable to the Stars attack. With about 45 seconds of the 60 they were out there alone, the puck was in the BT’s zone, but our players did everything they could to check, battle, intercept, block and clear the puck. They protected Fiveash as if he were the Stanley Cup himself, and the Stars wanted to steal him. It was impressive to watch, and a very exciting moment in the game.
Neither team scored in the third, so to a shootout we went. As much as I have faith in Luke Fiveash when he’s between the pipes, and after the game tonight I really do have faith in his ability to get the job done, I have to admit that with two minutes left in the game, I said to my partner in crime, “If this goes to a shootout, we’ll lose.”
I don’t know if I’m clairvoyant, but I sincerely doubt it. It’s more just experience of watching Matt Ezy in a shootout from years past. He may not be my favourite player in the league – not by a long shot (his ego is far too big for that, I’m surprised he can fit his helmet over it!) – but he is impressive in a one on one situation. Unfornately, only Brad Smulders lifted the puck above Ezy’s pads, which he stacks on a regular basis, while Eric Lajunesse and Casey Minson scored on Fiveash, giving Newcastle the 3-2 win.
The BTs do get a point for a shootout loss, however, which is a consolation. Still, our boys will be fired up to win against Newcastle tomorrow night.
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