Lizard Insider » australian ice hockey league

AIHL Finals: Matt Amado Is Dave Upton? WTF?

Sam — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 13:35:39 +0000

Of course, we all know that Matt Amado is in fact NOT Dave Upton, but apparently the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) don’t.

Today during the online stream of the AIHL semi-finals when the AIHL announced the league MVP runner ups, they showed an image of Dave Upton when announcing Matt Amado. There is quite simply no excuse for such a simple mistake to be made.

This error was not the only problem today though, as the entire live stream itself was unusable for the entire first period of semi-final 1 between the Melbourne Ice and Adelaide Adrenaline. To their credit the stream was fixed as soon as possible and provided great quality video and audio of the games.

Hopefully they will have corrected the Matt Amado image by tomorrows stream of the AIHL Final game between the Newcastle North Stars and Melbourne Ice.

No related posts.

Trans-Tasman Champions League

Sam — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:06:57 +0000

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The Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) announced today a joint Australia / New Zealand ice hockey tournament played annually between the 2 top teams from each country. The “Trans-Tasman Champions League” should start next season with Australia playing host.

The news of the joint venture was broken on social media sites Twitter and Facebook earlier today.

Here is an excerpt from the AIHL website about the news:

“The Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) and the New Zealand Ice Hockey League (NZIHL) have agreed in principle to join forces for an annual Trans-Tasman Champions League (TTCL) beginning in 2012.

The inaugural TTCL series will be held in Australia, and the series will shift to New Zealand in 2013.

The TTCL series will involve two teams from each league; The Minor Premiers and the Champions. If the Minor Premiers are the Champions then the grand final runner-up will become the other team to play.”

This is an incredible step forward for both the AIHL and the NZIHL and brings the 2 nations closer to the possibility of a joint Ice Hockey League at a later time.

You can read the full article by going here:

http://www.theaihl.com/leagues/newsletter.cfm?clientID=3856&leagueID=11464&page=54823

You can also join in on the discussions via twitter using the hash-tag #AIHL or on Facebook.

Stupidity Cost Us The Game

Sam — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 03:44:08 +0000

Warning: If you’re wearing rose coloured glasses, leave now. If you’re a ra-ra fan, leave now. If you were at yesterday’s game and are pissed that we lost, please read on.

It’s not often I’ll start a blog post with a disclaimer, but as there are those who feel fans should not speak ill of a team they support, i wanted to give them a heads up so they can leave now before being blessed with my words of wisdom.

Yesterday’s loss to the Melbourne Ice was a tough one to take. The Tongues played hard for most the game, but fell into a serious lack of discipline at times which cost us dearly. The Melbourne Ice are one of the smartest teams in the AIHL. They knew which players to go after and they targeted our weaknesses, and right on queue the Tongues responded in kind. In short, they fell into the Ice’s plans and suffered accordingly.

But it was with 5 minutes left in the first period where the wheels fell off the bus, and the blame should fall squarely on the shoulders of Matt Amado and Alex Boyd.

Those not at the game, here’s how it went down. Amado drops the stick and challenges Joey Hughes to a fight. Hughes is all for it and goes at Amado. Amado cowers from the fight and tries to get away. Meanwhile, Alex Boyd jumps off the bench and has a go at Hughes. Game misconducts are handed out and the Tongues end up with a 5 minute penalty kill. The Ice go on to score the game winning goal on that powerplay.

It was a stupid penalty to take and an absolutely gutless play. If you’re going to challenge a guy to a fight, either man up and hit him or expect to get knocked the hell out. It was a pathetic cowardly move by Amado and his team mates should be disgusted with him for that. And as for Boyd, to jump off the bench and get involved is a cardinal sin and sheer stupidity. It is an act unbecoming a player at this level! For a so-called MVP player, Amado displayed a total lack of thought on what was a classless play. It was selfish, gutless and it cost us a goal, and the game!

That chain of events entirely changed the game completely. Sure, the reffing was atrocious towards both teams, but that play was the game changer.

Positives from the game…

Adam Geric being back in the lineup adds a much needed defensive forward punch to the squad. Jack Conner was playing really well and that goal by Dave Upton was a thing of pure beauty. Luke Fiveash was shaky in the first period, but stellar when we needed him to be and has been a consistent presence between the pipes for the Tongues. It would be nice to see CJ start a game, but as they say, when a goalie is hot, you keep playing him. At least Kane isn’t playing. Tobias Falk has been consistently solid all season and deserves to be the top nominee for an MVP award. On defense Bob Sannemo has been incredible and helps drive the special teams incredibly well. I also want to send a special kudos to those guys who give 110% every single game and never get the credit they deserve, so this is to the likes of Ben Spillane, Ross Howell, Cam Trew, Alex Hall and others who play depth roles. You guys make this team what it is. Superstars may score the goals, but without you guys playing the depth roles, they would have no ability to do so. So as a fan, thank you. We do notice you on the ice, and we appreciate every single thing you do for this team.

This last weekend was the final home game of the season. It’s sad that we wont see our boys again at home until next season, but this season is not over, and our boys are more than capable of being in the finals this season. Good luck in the next few weeks guys… GO TONGUES!

As always, comments are welcome below.

Epic AIHL Fail

Sam — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 07:13:00 +0000

The AIHL, governing body of the Australian Ice Hockey League has ruled that the Gold Coast Blue Tongues will FORFEIT their cancelled game last sunday, giving the Ice Dogs the full 3 points.

Epic Fail AIHL!

I can understand that the home team failed to provide a playable ice surface, and as such, they could not keep to their end of the agreed game schedule. The issue however (cracked ice) happened overnight and was something that was out of everybody’s control.

Note: I have removed the previous content as have looked deeper into the situations i had mentioned and felt the content was no longer valid.

Blue Tongues fans should be very upset at this result, but not because the AIHL came to this particular decision.

The more important issue that Blue Tongues fans should be upset about is that the rink they play in is so below standard that something like this should happen in the first place. The team need a new rink, plain and simple, and the best way to go about that is simply by relocating the team back to Brisbane, if that could be done.

Breaking News: Sands Out, Nixon In

Sam — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 05:49:35 +0000

The Gold Coast Blue Tongues website announced yesterday that Coach Kevin Sands is stepping down from his role on the team due to work commitments. His replacement will be former Queensland representative Peter Nixon. Nixon, who was a member of the last Queensland team to win the Goodall Cup in 1977 brings with him a wealth of experience and passion for the sport.

Sands has coached the team for the 3 years since relocating to the Gold Coast in 2008. Under his leadership the team made the playoffs in 2009 for the first time in franchise history. We wish to thank Kevin for his time with the team and wish him well with his new work.

From The Stands: Five Off-Season Suggestions

Sam — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 16:37:51 +0000

I had an interesting conversation last week with a friend about our Blue Tongues, the AIHL Finals and what it would take to not only make the playoffs, but have a truly good shot at winning it all.

There is no blue pill that will transport this team out of the Matrix. Yoda isn’t going to infuse the boys with the force and as much as we may like the idea, we wont be playing in a fancy rink with 1000 seats, good ice and glass.

What we will have is a team with potential and a very loyal fan base.

So what needs to change? What is it that this Blue Tongues team needs to do to go to the next level? Here are 5 changes which I believe will greatly benefit our team going into the 2011 AIHL season.

Improve Defense

They say offense wins games but defense wins championships. This could not be more true for our Blue Tongues. We know they can score goals year in year out, but the one thing that has been a weakness each season is the defense. Don Burke has been the heart of the team for years, but age has caught up with him and it’s time he stepped down, allowing a younger, more agile skater to take the spot. Last season saw huge strides in the game of Cam Trew who was by far the best local player in many games. Ross Howell and Ben Spillane were solid as always, although it appears that Spillane did not get as much ice time as he deserved. Bringing in import defenseman is a must for our team, although I believe 2 imports should be used for defense, one puck-moving defenseman to help boost the offense on the blue line and one who can shut down the other teams top scorers.

Rest Imports / Play Locals

It doesn’t take a genius to see that our teams coach likes to favour the imports over the locals. Understandably so, as the imports are indeed the better players. Saying that, last season we saw Mike McRae and Dallas Costanzo played to the point of near collapse while locals sat on the bench. Players lose effectiveness when they’re tired and imports are no exception. If our guys are tired, sit them for a shift or 2 and let the local lines play some. It is a risk, as the other team will try and match their lines and put out their offensive guns against our weaker lines, but that’s hockey. A benefit is that our locals get more experience and therefore hopefully improve more. We have some great players who get very little ice time, such as Ben Spillane. It appears to many that “Spills” is used more as the team enforcer than an effective player, which has bewildered fans for the last few seasons; especially those who have been following the Blue Tongues since before they moved south to the Coast.

Choose A Goalie & Have Faith In Them

Those who know me will know that the goalie situation with the Blue Tongues is a point of contention with me, as my previous posts have mentioned. I believe the team needs to have faith in their local netminders and show that by letting them play. 2 years in a row now we’ve sat in the stands and seen Luke Fiveash get shafted from the net; the AIHL finals in 2009 and midway through the season just gone. Using an import spot on the goalie position may appear to be a good idea on the surface, but doing so leaves wholes in the rest of the lineup, especially the defense. We already have 2 good goalies in Fiveash and Anderson, so maybe it is time we play them, have faith in them and start to build the team around them in net.

Coaching Change

There are probably over a hundred reasons why a coaching change could be needed on a hockey team. With the case of the Blue Tongues I believe it’s simply that a change is as good as a holiday. This team has a lot more potential than the stats and standings show. The coach deserves major kudos for how he has greatly improved his coaching over the last 3 seasons, however decisions on and off the ice have many fans wondering if maybe a new coach / leadership is needed in order for the team to move to the next level.

New Rink

This really is a given and applies to most teams in the league, but in many ways more so for the Blue Tongues. If you’ve not come up to the Gold Coast and seen our rink, you are in for a shock. The rink is simply unacceptable for a national league team. The ice surface is terrible, there are no shower facilities and overall, it is a health / safety risk. The problem is, building a new rink is costly and the team seems to struggle to bring in sponsors as it is, so getting the level of sponsorship needed to fund a new rink may simply be a pipe-dream at this time. Move the team back to Brisbane (Acacia Ridge)? That would definitely be a HUGE improvement to the facility issue however it would mean the team would be based back in Brisbane again, something I fear the current ownership would neither want nor allow.

Like Frodo and the Fellowship walking through Moria, we now face the long dark of the AIHL off-season. Let us hope the team does not have a cave troll.

Congratulations Melbourne Ice: 2010 AIHL Champions

Sam — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 00:05:51 +0000

The Melbourne Ice finished the same way they started this season… on top. The Ice fairly dominated most of the season and were one of the most impressive home-teams all season, which gave them an extra step come the AIHL finals a few weeks back.

Defeating the Bears in the semi-final in what was an incredibly close game, the Ice then faced the defending champions, the Adelaide Adrenaline in the Final on Sunday. The Adrenaline fought hard locking the game 3-3 going into the 2nd intermission. The Ice were too strong however, and backed by a sell-out crowd at their new rink in Melbourne walked away victors with a 6-4 win.

Congratulations to the Ice for their well deserved victory.

Adrenaline Champs, Off-Seasons & the AIHL Rumour Mill

Sam — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:17:07 +0000

We’ve reached that part of the season we love to hate. The skates are put away, the schedule is complete and the champion has been crowned; the 2009 AIHL season is over.

Adelaide Adrenaline, AIHL Champions

Congratulations to the Adelaide Adrenaline who played some of the best hockey this fan has seen in recent times, dominating the Melbourne Ice 6-1 in their semi-final and defeating the defending champions, Newcastle North Stars in a 3-2 overtime victory on Sunday to secure the championship.

With IHA declaring the revered Goodall Cup was going back to a state competition, the AIHL introduced a new trophy which AIHL teams will now play for. The trophy was on display during the finals and handed to Adrenaline Greg Oddy as the captain of the victorious Adelaide Adrenaline.

The Gold Coast Blue Tongues made their first ever finals appearance to the roar of a dedicated Tongues fan base. Players later expressed that the Blue Tongues fans, who numbered less than 20 out-screamed the packed North Stars crowd. Keeping even through 2 periods, the Blue Tongues lost to the Newcastle North Stars 5-3 in their semi-final matchup.

The Melbourne Ice team, who were defeated 6-1 by the Adrenaline in semi-final #1 should take away many positive things from this season, one in which saw them rebuilding with youth and inexperience. Greg Oddy and the boys did fantastic to get them to the playoffs.

Brad Smulders, AIHL MVP

Brad Smuldes was awarded the AIHL regular season MVP award. He broke the AIHL scoring record, putting up 33 goals, 43 assists for 76 points, beating the old record by 7 points.

Cass Delsar of the Adelaide Adrenaline was awarded the playoff MVP, for what we can tell, deflecting a puck and scoring the overtime game winner agains the North Stars. This has sparked a discussion as to whether scoring “that” goal is deserving of the playoff MVP. We feel Greg Oddy or Thilthorpe would have been more deserving personally.

Mike Crowhurst of Slapshot.com.au has posted that DVDs of the finals games (all 3 of them) are available for purchase via their website: http://www.slapshot.com.au. According to Mike, they had 300 people tuning in to watch the games! A huge thanks to Mike, Mischa and the rest of the Slapshot boys for making the games available to the world.

The AIHL Trophy

The AIHL off-season is a long one, stretching through til April/May next year. Over the next 7 months teams will work on securing new imports, work on training the local guys and prepare for another AIHL season. The AIHL is notorious for it’s rumour mill, so here are few to whet your appetite.

According to people in the know, the talk around the league is that there could be new teams in the AIHL next season. Nobody has been able to confirm anything as yet, however 3 names keep popping up; Melbourne, Central Coast and Brisbane. Melbourne have their new ice arena next season, making room for another team down there. The Central Coast has the Rhinos, although I find it hard to believe they would be back if the same owner is involved. Brisbane used to have the Blue Tongues, so has the ability and fan base to hold a team.

According to sources who we believe had one too many, Matt Ezzy’s days in Newcastle are over, and he could be on the move to a new team. This rumour was also popular this time last year, so take it as you will. I sincerely hope he does not move to the Gold Coast unless he welcomes the taste of humble pie, as there is zero chance fans up there will worship him as the Newcastle crowd do.

Loads of rumours of returning import players, including 1 from the Blue Tongues, 1 from Newcastle and 1 from the Adrenaline.

BTs at AIHL Playoffs, Brad Smulders and 2009 Stats

Sam — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 08:45:12 +0000

The Bartercard Gold Coast Blue Tongues Supporters, team members, sponsors and hockey fans around South East Queensland would like to congratulate the Blue Tongues on their first ever appearance at the Australian Ice Hockey League Finals series, 29-30 August, 2009 at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium (HISS), Warners Bay, Newcastle, NSW.

We would also like to congratulate Blue Tongues import Brad Smulders on breaking the AIHL scoring record, previously of 69 points held by Brad Wanchuluk of the Newcastle Northstars in 2007. Brad finished the season with 33 goals, 43 assists for 76 points off just 22 games.

The Blue Tongues finished the regular season in 4th spot with 14 wins, 7 losses and 3 overtime losses, good for 44 points off 24 games.

The Blue Tongues will take on top seeded Newcastle Northstars in their semi-final matchup, scheduled for 7:30pm, Saturday 29 August, 2009.

AIHL Vs IHA

Sam — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 07:13:15 +0000

Those of us up here in Brisbane and the Gold Coast have been treated by the reverred Goodall Cup over the last few weeks. Fans have been able to ogle, touch and drool at this trophy. It’s the Stanley Cup of Australian Ice Hockey, and almost as old as Lord Stanley also.

So no doubt there was a bit of “what the?” going on when word came down recently that the AIHL will not be playing for the Goodall Cup this year, and the cup will return to it’s old purpose, as a State tournament trophy. Not a bad idea, afterall that’s where it’s roots lie.

But one must ask the question… why?

Ice Hockey in this country is shaky at the best of times. We have a loyal fan-base across the nation and it is growing each year. When it comes to hockey in Australia, people are going to think of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) long before they think of the State tournament. Does the State tourny have a name? 10 points if you can think of it.

The fact is, the AIHL is the best hockey in this country, and realistically the best thing that has happened to hockey in Australia. Young local players are getting to skate alongside proven import players such as AIHL record holder Brad Smulders and former NHL players, such as Rob Zamuner and Steve McKenna.

So why does it feel like the IHA and AIHL have some kind of internal battle going on, and why, after parading the Goodall Cup around in front of AIHL fans recently are they now saying “no, your team can’t win this”. It just all seems a little strange to me.

That said, a new cup designed just for the AIHL is a great move, and will allow the AIHL to build a legacy of its own.