Over the next 2 days the top 4 teams will fight it out to discover who will be the AIHL Champion for 2010. After a grueling regular season only the Sydney Bears, Adelaide Adrenaline, Newcastle North Stars and finals host Melbourne Ice remain in the competition. These 4 teams each play their own style of hockey and all of them want to raise the cup as much as the next. But, who will be strong enough to make it? Last seasons winners, the Adrenaline are looking to win back-to-back championships. The Newcastle North Stars have a deadly offensive lineup including Brian Bales and Peter Cartright who surpassed last seasons record set by Brad Smulders of the Blue Tongues. The Sydney Bears have been looked on as the underdogs, but have a well balanced team that is dangerous to underestimate. Lastly, the Melbourne Ice, who have a new rink, new attitude and a serious home-ice advantage.
As a fan of the sport of hockey, it’s hard not wanting to throw support behind one of these 4 teams during the finals. I personally would love to see the Bears get up over the other teams, but a first round match against the Ice could prove a mighty challenge. The Ice losing in the semi would be a great thing to see however. The North Stars / Adrenaline matchup will be a good one as we see great offense meet great defense. If the Adrenaline can shut down Bales and Cartright, I think they could take the win.
Game 1 is this afternoon with the 2nd semi Saturday night at 7:15pm. The Final is Sunday afternoon.
While Luke himself would probably never admit it, he is a truly good player, and an even better guy. On the ice he is dedicated, positions well and gives his all during games. Off the ice he’s a genuine bloke who always takes time to stop and talk to fans and opposition players alike. He’s the kind of guy you want on your team.
Luke, a local of the Gold Coast who spent time in Canberra in seasons past came back up this way 2 seasons back, grabbing a spot on the Blue Tongues in the process. His style of play has always been really great to watch and in the 2009 season he manned the pipes well, taking the team right up to their first ever spot in the playoffs. To fans dismay however, after doing well all season Luke was benched at the playoffs, replaced by veteran goalie Milan Novysedlak. Luke, always the team guy did not complain and took what many fans to see as an insult with a smile. I remember at the finals asking him how he felt and his response was one of dedication to the team, not once saying a bad word.
The 2010 season rolled around and Luke was slated as the starting goalie once again, with CJ Anderson coming back to share the job from time to time. Luke played well and worked on his game. The team defense struggled at times, leaving Luke to take the responsibility and Luke was up the challenge. His team-first views came over once again when he willingly shouldered blame for losing games where as fans, we saw defensive holes the size of Alaska on the ice. After the unfortunate departure of Voldy Dashko, the team opted to sign import goalie Reese Kalleitner, and just like in 2009, the coach opted to bench Luke. For the remainder of the season Reese played every game, except the final 2. By those 2 games the Tongues were out of playoff contention and only then did the team look back to Luke, who was unavailable.
Nobody knows what the 2011 Blue Tongues will be like. As fans we do know who we would like to see return to the squad, and Luke Fiveash is in that list. Whether he plays an entire season or yet again is turned aside by the team is yet to be seen. We do hope he can stick the spot, because at the end of the day, you need positive players like Luke on your team.
I’ve been sitting on this post for the past week, wondering whether or not it was worthy of a blog post or not.
Last week the Blue Tongues were down in Melbourne taking on the Ice for back-to-back games. There was an incident during the Saturday game which had Blue Tongues forward Dallas Costanzo dive to allegedly block a shot and inadvertently trip an Ice player who went down and got injured. Costanzo was given a 2 minute minor for tripping and a game misconduct, meaning he would not be eligible to play on Sunday. As these games were “must-wins” for the Blue Tongues, losing Costanzo was a serious blow to the Tongues.
The Ice ended up winning both games, all but ending the Tongues playoffs hopes.
Back to that tripping penalty though, as that is the central point to this post. When it happened, the ref actually went and consulted with the AIHL rulebook before making the final ruling. This move has angered a few Blue Tongues fans, who believe a 2 minute tripping minor was all that was warranted. The ref, going out of his way to check the book ended Costanzo’s weekend, which had an impact on the Tongues playoffs hopes ending. This penalty has been discussed at length on Hockeypulse since those games.
Was it warranted? Did the ref go too far in making that call? As fans, we could argue this til the cows come home. Let me make it simple for you though. The AIHL rulebook clearly states under Rule 539 – Tripping:
b) A player who injures an opponent by tripping shall be assessed, at the discretion
of the Referee, a:
➤ Major penalty + Automatic Game Misconduct penalty (5’+GM)
or
➤ Match penalty (MP)
You can read the rules here: http://www.iihf.com/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF/rules_part_two.pdf
Regardless of what we as fans think, the ref was 100% correct in making that call. In fact, by going out of his way to read the rulebook, he did incredible justice to the AIHL. Over the last few seasons we have seen and heard of our fair share of bad reffing. In this case, when a ref actually does the right thing, and goes above and beyond to ensure he does the right thing, people jump on him. This doesn’t seem right.
As fans, our hearts get in the way of our minds at times. I plead with you all though, for the love of the league and the Blue Tongues, be a a fair fan and unbiased. Leave that to fans from other teams. The penalty, while not to our liking, was a good call.
With just 4 games left in the regular season for our Blue Tongues, and all 4 of them against the Newcastle Northstars, the Tongues have just one thing on their mind… turn out the lights on the boys from Twinkletown!
Matches between the Northstars and Blue Tongues has always been some of the best hockey to watch, and these last few games shall be no different. The Northstars bring with them a strong offensive lineup and solid netminding from Matt Ezzy (product of Gold Coast Ice Hockey, btw). The Blue Tongues bring size, grit and a strong offensive scoring punch from imports Mike McRae and Dallas Costanzo. This season the Blue Tongues have a new weapon however. One that could play a huge role in these final 4 games; Reese Kalleitner. Reese has been solid in all his games played this season, and looks to continue his domination between the pipes this weekend.
Going into this weekends games, the Northstars have just 8 regulation wins, but have managed to pull off a whopping 7 shootout victories, ensuring their place in the standings with 39 points! The Blue Tongues have 9 wins and 1 shootout victory and currently sit tied for 4th spot with 30 points. While the Stars have put up more goals this season, the goals against for both teams (62 & 66 respectively) are both in the top 3 in the league.
The current standings are:
| TEAM | GP | W | L | OTW | OTL | D | PTS | GF | AVG | GA | AVG | PCT | L10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newcastle North Stars | 18 | 8 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 39 | 85 | 4.70 | 62 | 3.40 | 0.722 | 7-1-0-1-0 |
| Melbourne Ice | 18 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 35 | 90 | 5.00 | 52 | 2.90 | 0.648 | 4-4-0-0-0 |
| Adelaide Adrenaline | 20 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 32 | 86 | 4.30 | 75 | 3.80 | 0.533 | 3-2-0-2-0 |
| Gold Coast Blue Tongues | 18 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 30 | 69 | 3.80 | 66 | 3.70 | 0.556 | 4-4-0-1-0 |
| Sydney Bears | 19 | 9 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 30 | 55 | 2.90 | 77 | 4.10 | 0.526 | 5-4-0-1-0 |
| Canberra Knights | 18 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 17 | 68 | 3.80 | 83 | 4.60 | 0.315 | 2-6-0-2-0 |
| Sydney Ice Dogs | 19 | 3 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 12 | 55 | 2.90 | 93 | 4.90 | 0.211 | 2-7-0-1-0 |
For most of us, there are places we’ve always wanted to visit that directly relate to our passions or beliefs. Our first journey to these places is more than just traveling, it’s fulfilling a goal or living a dream; a pilgrimage. In 2006 Wendy and I made our first ever “pilgrimage” when we traveled to Dallas, TX to see the Dallas Stars play. We still remember that first game, the sights, the sounds, the smells, all of it.
Dane Tilse scores for the Raiders
This weekend Wendy and I make another pilgrimage. You see, Wendy and I are Canberra Raiders fans and have never been to Canberra Stadium to see them play live. That is, until this Saturday. Wendy has been following the Raiders since 1993, and while hockey may now be her #1 favorite sport, has a big spot in her heart of Footy. Quite understandable when you consider her cousins are Kevin, Kerrod and Steve Walters.
On late Saturday afternoon when we’re sitting in the cold, wearing our Raiders gear cheering the Green Machine on, there will be another battle going on just across town.
Our Blue Tongues will also be in Canberra this weekend with 1 goal on the agenda… 2 wins against the Canberra Knights. The Tongues are playing well and have their eyes set on one of those final 4 spots on the ladder. The Knights are all but mathematically eliminated from the AIHL Playoffs, but that doesn’t mean they can’t make a difference. Tongues fans from years back may remember when the Knights eliminated the the boys in blue from playoff contention. A season later, they pretty much did it again. There is history, and rivalry between these 2 clubs, a rivalry that is only intensified by former Blue Tongues Captain, Mark Rummukainen now wearing the C for the Knights.
While we will miss the Saturday Blue Tongues vs Knights game, we will be there Sunday ready to witness the Blue Tongues nail down a victory!
GO RAIDERS! GO TONGUES!
I’ll never forget a few seasons back, we had one of the players come and sit with us in the stands during a Blue Tongues game. It was the first time he had really sat and watched a game and saw it from a fans perspective, and he was relatively surprised by how differently he saw the game. More importantly, he started to get a better understanding of why the fans see the game often so differently from those playing it.
The reason I mention this is because it was bought to my attention recently that my posts are often critical of the Blue Tongues, and that I don’t give equal praise to the team. I started looking back over my previous comments and, much like the aforementioned player in the stands, I found myself being surprised, even slightly angered by my own comments.
I want to apologise to any of the team who have been reading my commentary here. No offense is ever intended by my comments, and my criticism was never meant to come over so negatively. I also want to personally thank the player in question who bought this to my attention.
I would like to give those players who don’t know me a little history of me and my history with the Blue Tongues.
My wife, Wendy and I have been to almost every single Blue Tongues game. We were there at the very first exhibition game in Brisbane the year before the team entered the league, and, as far as I am aware, are the longest standing fans of the team. Now please understand, I’m not blowing my own trumpet here, I just want you to understand how long we have supported the Blue Tongues. During the years since then, the team has gone through changes, moved location, had some great players and some not so great players, imports return, imports leave, and had had both highs and lows. As fans, we have been tested, pushed to extremes, and challenged over our faith in the Blue Tongues…
But we’re still here.
Wendy and I drive from north Brisbane to every game, over 90 minutes each way, rain or shine to watch our team play. We’ve flown once and driven the 14 hours to Newcastle (and Erina) twice times to watch the team play, two trips for regular league games and last year to support the team for the Finals. We’ve flown to Canberra and Sydney to watch the team play on the road. We wear our jerseys proudly, scream support to the point of losing our voices and will ferociously defend our team if anybody dare insult them. Hell, in 2006 we even gave Blue Tongues jerseys to Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen of the Dallas Stars!
We’re fans.
Which I guess is where my posts here have confused, or even angered some people. How can fans say such horrible things about their team? I got challenged a few days back on Facebook, and a player (the gentle giant he is) asked me if I was a fan, or a critic. To me, they are not so different. The only real difference is that a critic has no team loyalty, whereas a fan of course does. I always thought of myself as a fan who is honest, but i’ve been shocked to see that what my posts show me as is a critical fan, and that actually made me sick to my stomach.
I believe fans should be critical of their team. I don’t believe in rose coloured glasses and believe honesty is always better than simply cheering blindly. But, there comes a point where critique becomes negativity. I crossed that line, and I am incredibly sorry that I did.
Last NHL season I read an article on one of the hundreds of emails I receive each week that talked about “when fans go bad”. At the time I thought it was funny because it talked about fans who literally lose their minds after games. Montreal Canadiens fans are a great example for those who followed the playoffs. The article coined this great phrase, “IPF Syndrome”, or “Insanely Passionate Fan Syndrome”. Great phrase eh? All it means is we get so caught up in our passion for the game and the team that small things become big issues, and losing… well, that just becomes painful to take. As many of those who know me understand, when the Blue Tongues lose, it hurts. I forget however, that the players are even more upset at losing than I, as a fan am. Heck, that gives you guys (the players) such a huge amount of respect in my mind… seriously!
You guys are more than a team to us. The Blue Tongues have become an integral part of our hearts.
In 2 weeks the Blue Tongues travel to Canberra to take on the Knights. Wendy and I are traveling to Canberra that weekend and will be at the Sunday game, decked out in Blue and as always, screaming on our team to win… GO BLUE TONGUES!
Reese kalleitner made 3 giant shootout saves tonight and the Blue Tongues special teams excelled to secure the Blue Tongues 3-2 shootout victory against the visiting Sydney Bears. Mike McRae netted a fantastic shorthanded goal and Alex Boyd put in a 1st period goal in a game that was fast-paced and full of intensity.
The key standout feature in todays game was the Blue Tongues presence in front off the Bears goalie, Nick Boucher. The boys in blue crashed the net and screened the goalie perfectly, and it was on one such occasion that Alex Boyd put the Tongues ahead.
The last line of defense, Reese Kalleitner was once again, outstanding between the pipes making this fan swallow his words posted in an earlier blog. I admit it, i was wrong about Reese.
I want to give a very special shout-out to Ben Spillane and the other injured players. It’s not easy being injured and having to watch the game instead of play in it, and these guys are professional in both victory and defeat. I know that Ben is itching to get out there and will see action when the team travels to Canberra in 2 weeks time.
The Blue Tongues are looking strong and all the boys are ready to make a strong run for their spot in Melbourne at the end of August!
Go Tongues!
Mike McRae’s hatrick and Reese Kalleitner’s solid netminding ensured the Blue Tongues a 4-2 victory in todays match between the Gold Coast Blue Tongues and visiting Sydney Bears. Dallas Costanzo also had a goal.
The Blue Tongues, missing Ben Spillane and Adam Gebara to injury, relied on fantastic teamwork and discipline to outplay the Bears. The patience in making plays created many opportunities for counter-attacks and the Blue Tongues did not hesitate in making use of them.
The Blue Tongues discipline allowed the Bears only 3 powerplay opportunities, and the team defense killed off all of them. At the other end of the ice, the Bears struggled, going to the penalty box 5 times. The Tongues special teams jumped on the opportunities with 2 powerplay goals.
The fast paced game provided for exciting end-to-end hockey, and the real battle of the game was between the guys between the Pipes; Reese Kalleitner and Nick Boucher. Both goalies made incredible saves and did their teams proud, but it was Kalleitner who won the day, and the game.
Special mentions to Don Burke who played a solid game as a forward today, and Jon Bale, who has stepped up his game this season and pulled off some spectacular plays in todays match.
Let’s do it again tomorrow boys!
To look at him, you could be mistaken in thinking Zac Daunt is not much of a threat out on the ice. The shortest guy on the Blue Tongues squad, Zac is often thought of as an easy guy to play against. Opposition teams playing the Blue Tongues this season could not be more wrong. You see, while Zac may be small, he has something special.
He has the X Factor!
What “is” the X Factor? Nobody really knows. It’s that perfect blend of passion, integrity and “give it all” attitude that take someone from being a hockey player, to being a clutch guy.
Daunt is feisty, is willing to throw his body on the line and plays with a ferocious desire to do all he can to help his team win. He may not put up points, and he may not be the star player of the game, but Zac is always there when needed to make that game changing play.
Next time you’re at a Blue Tongues game, keep an eye out for him on and off the ice.
As any hockey player will tell you, your best player in any game must be your goalie. That is the reasoning the Blue Tongues used recently to sign their 5th import of the 2010 season; Reese Kalleitner. Reese, an experienced netminder who has seen time in leagues across North America is said to bring stability between the pipes for the Blue Tongues…
at the cost of the defense?
The Blue Tongues suffered a major loss a few weeks ago when Voldy Dashko returned to Canada, opting not to return. Voldy was a monster on the Blue Line, and when paired up with local Ben Spillane provided what could arguably be described as the biggest, and most fearsome Defensive pair in the AIHL this season. Voldy and Ben provided a line of defense that would not just stop the puck, but on more than one occasion, would flatten the opponent in the process.
But… Voldy left, therefore opening up the 5th import spot, and the Blue Tongues had until July 1st to fill that, or play the remainder of the 2010 season with just 4 imports. Not long after, the Blue Tongues suffered another big hit, when both Adam Gebara and Ben Spillane got injured. All of a sudden, the Blue Tongues went from a solid team with outstanding defense to a shaky team with swiss cheese in the Neutral Zone.
So… put yourself in the teams position. You have 2 good goalies in Luke Fiveash and CJ Anderson, and a third capable backup in Mark Paulsen. You have just lost one of your best defensive players for the season, and 2 others short-term. You have an import spot…
You go and get an import defenseman, right? I know I would, and from discussions with many people at the recent games, so would about 95% of everybody else watching the games.
So why the Blue Tongues went and used their 5th import spot on Reese Kalleitner is absolutely mind-boggling.
Which brings us to last weekends games against the visiting Melbourne Ice.
It took all of 30 seconds for fans to stare in wonder as new import Reese got caught out of position and made one of the most sloppy saves we’ve seen all season. To his credit, he did improve over the Saturday game and looked much better on Sunday. But did he play any better than Luke or CJ have? No, I don’t believe he did.
For those 2 games last weekend, we were witness to a dominant Melbourne Ice team tear holes in our defense. Time and time again, the Blue Tongues made bad passes or got caught behind the play as the Melbourne team simply turned our neutral zone into swiss cheese. Defensively, the Blue Tongues were out-matched by a fitter, faster and more skilled team. We missed Voldy, Ben and Adam on the Blue line, and it showed.
Kalleitner, in his debut game stopped 31 of 36 shots and followed that up on sunday stopping 35 of 39 shots. Good stats if you look at the numbers. Great stats if you look at the actual games themselves. But 2 losses all the same… and losses that many are wondering, may not have happened if the team had filled their defensive issues, rather than pick up another goalie.
From where the fans sit, the jury is still out on Reese Kalleitner.
