The Blue Tongues have just 2 games left in the regular season to make their final push for the 2011 AIHL Finals, their opponent; the always challenging Newcastle North Stars.
The team sit 5th on the ladder, 2 points behind the Adelaide Adrenaline who also play this weekend. Adelaide take on the Canberra Knights and the Sydney Ice Dogs. The Adrenaline wont have an easy time of it, as both the Knights and Doggies will be looking for solid wins.
Matt Amado broke his own AIHL scoring record this season.
The Blue Tongues do have a tougher final 2 games, even if from a purely psychological point of view. The boys in blue have not had too much luck against Newcastle over the course of their time in the league. In the 22 regular season games played since 2005, the Blue Tongues have just 4 wins, and only 1 of those was on the road, in Newcastle. With those stats to dampen the mood, it is vitally important to go into this weekend with BELIEF that they can win.
They need to believe that Matt Ezzy, who has always been a big part of those terrible stats is no longer as good as he once was (just look at his stats this year).
They need to believe that the perfect pass does not exist, and sometimes pucks on net from all locations is key to a victory.
They need to believe that hockey is a team sport, and passing, dumping and chasing are all equally as important as scoring the game winning goal.
But most importantly, they need to believe that they CAN win.
Matt Amado Interview
Finally, here is an interview that Matt Amado did with the AIHL recently, talking about this weekends games. There is no video, so just hit play and listen along.
The games start at 5pm this weekend. Updates are available on the Blue Tongues website as well as all relevant twitter accounts. I believe Newcastle also stream audio play-by-play of the games, so keep an eye out for a link.
The pointy end of the season is truly upon us. The Blue Tongues have wrapped up their home games for the season and now have just 4 games left to play, all against tough opponents in even tougher venues.
As it stands right now the Blue Tongues are in 4th position on the ladder, just 1 point ahead of the Adelaide Adrenaline and 7 points back from a 3rd place Sydney Ice Dogs. The Adrenaline are the biggest threat for the Tongues and have the advantage of an easier schedule.
Here is how the 2 teams break down of the final 4 games including the record against those teams this season.
Gold Coast Blue Tongues
Away – Melbourne Ice (1 win, 1 loss, 1 shootout loss)
Away – Melbourne mustangs (3 wins)
Away – Newcastle North Stars (2 losses)
Away – Newcastle North Stars
Adelaide Adrenaline
Away – Canberra Knights (1 win, 1 loss)
Away – Sydney Bears (1 shootout win, 2 wins)
Home – Canberra Knights
Home – Sydney Ice Dogs (1 win, 2 losses)
The Blue Tongues don’t really have any easy teams to face, except maybe the Mustangs.
Tobias Falk has been consistently good all season for the Tongues and deserves to be #1 choice for team MVP
They know they can defeat the Ice as this last weekend showed, and they have the confidence of knowing that they can compete with the Ice down in Melbourne. The North Stars are the key to this series I believe, as the Tongues history against Newcastle, in Newcastle has not been good at all over the years. That said, Matt Ezzy has been very normal this season so as long as our boys can bring the firepower they should compete. The last time they played the North Stars they did so without a full roster and zero team chemistry, so the next 2 games could be vastly different. The Tongues should pick up a win against the Mustangs and I believe they should pick up a win against the North Stars. That gives a short estimate of at least 6 of a possible 12 points.
The Adrenaline on the other hand are playing well and have a relatively easy run of things. The Bears are an easy team for them based on past history with the Knights and Ice Dogs being the key to their season. The game against the Bears will almost certainly be a win (although would love it not be). The Ice Dogs I believe will win once again and based on games this season they should split the 2 games against the Knights. That gives the Adrenaline a short estimate of 6 points from 12.
If both teams pick split their series, the Tongues will remain 1 point ahead and will secure that finals spot.
Right now it’s too close to call.
Tonight, the Blue Tongues traveled to Canberra and fairly destroyed the Knights 10-3. This is the second highest winning scoreline in Tongues history, the best being game 4 of the debut season in 2005 vs the Ice Dogs (10-2). Unsure of the scorers just yet, but a full review will be posted on http://bluetongues.com.au in the next 24-48hrs.
The Weekly Faceoff is a regular column talking about all things Tongues, in and around the AIHL.
What happens when a team determined to win meets a team lacking chemistry? Find out more below.
Period 1: Blue Tongues Tear Knights
After 2 shaky performances against the North Stars, and a 2 losses on the road in Adelaide (1 in a shootout), the Blue Tongues were home last weekend to host the visiting Canberra Knights, captained by former Blue Tongue and always fan-favorite, Mark “Rummo” Rummokainen. The Blue Tongues were hungry for a win and determined to send a clear and defined message to the rest of the league; we may have 1 point in 4 games, but watch the @$#@ out. And that they did. A 6-3 victory on Saturday saw a very motivated Blue Tongues out-play the Knights in almost all areas of the ice. The Knights, who looked shaky most of the game looked to be lacking team chemistry, but the Tongues know better than to underestimate the boys from Canberra. Sunday saw an even more motivated Blue Tongues simply destroy the Knights 8-1. Even the consistently (bad) reffing from “he who must not be named” was not enough to put a dampener on this Tongues performance, although there were times when we wondered if he did in fact have an eye on the ice. Mike McRae picked up the hatric in the demoralizing game for the Knights. This weekend the Tongues travel to Sydney to play the Ice Dogs and Bears.
Period 2: Contoversy, Blogs and Opinions
As many of you know, I am not exactly the most tactful person on the Interwebs; in fact, i’m often quite the opposite. But even I was more than a little shocked at how a personal blog post on AusPuck turned into a major issue to the extent that an apology was demanded of the author. If you’ve not yet read the whole thing, you can read the post and the comments here: http://www.auspuck.com.au/2011/05/aps-corner-the-aihl-is-asleep-at-the-helm/ . Now, last time i looked, AusPuck, much like LizardInsider is a personal blog dedicated to Australian Ice Hockey. It is not affiliated with, or run by a team or the league. What is said on personal blogs is simply a matter of opinion. Anybody who reads personal NHL blogs would know this. Criticism sucks, but it is ALWAYS going to be there, regardless of how much people try and control it. So to me, to have anybody demand an apology from AusPuck for posting an opinion (that was based upon fact) is simply bullshit. We often have the same issue on the Hockeypulse Forum, where opinions are hosed down if they are considered too extreme. Hockeypulse, much like AusPuck is unaffiliated with the league or any of its teams.
Period 3: Trew Vs Riesen
Those at the Blue Tongues games over the weekend would have seen Blue Tongues local Cam Trew pretty much make Alain Riesen of the Knights his b… well, you get what i’m saying. in a game that was pretty heated already, things got rough when Cam and Alain dropped the gloves… followed soon after by Riesen hitting the ice. The most shocking part of the whole incident was not the fight, but the participant. Many fans were shocked, and then in a state of respectful awe when they heard it was none other than Cam who won the fight. Way to go Cam for defending your goalie, a big LizardInsider Kudos to you.
Overtime: Geric & Johnson Injured
The games in Adelaide really hit the Tongues hard. Adam Geric left the ice in the first period of Saturdays game and did not return all weekend. The team announced early last week that both Geric and Matt Johnson would miss between 4 and 8 weeks each due to injuries. Both these players had a big impact on the Blue Tongues lineup against the North Stars, so losing them to injury could have potentially left a whole in the teams offense. Based upon what we saw vs the Knights last weekend, we might not need be so worried.
The Weekly Faceoff is a regular column talking about all things Tongues, in and around the AIHL.
The 2011 AIHL season has been underway for 2 weeks, and while the Blue Tongues are yet to play a game there have been some noteworthy events happen around the league.
Cartright & Bales
Last season the North Stars’ pair of Cartright and Bales led the league in goals (Cartright: 36) and points (Bales: 81). Their return to the North Stars roster this season had high expectation around the North Stars camp that they would continue where they left off. And so they have. Cartright has 7g, 6a for 13 points off just 3 games and Bales has 4 goals and 10 points from those same 3 games. Only Jason Baclig, returning import for the Melbourne Ice has more Points-per-game, sitting on 6g and 9 points from 2 games.
Teams off to a quick start
There have been 75 goals scored so far this season, with more than half of them scored by the North Stars (21) and Melbourne Mustangs (9). There has been a lot of talk explaining such a drastically fast start to the season, with a lot of reasoning landing on national rep players not playing during the first weekend of the season. Naturally, if this is in fact the case it would mean that a lot of teams were weaker during that opening stretch, and could explain such large scorelines. Where then does this put teams who have not yet got games under their belt such as the Blue Tongues (no games played) or the Canberra Knights (1 game played)? And does this give a slight advantage to those teams who did start their season 2 weekends ago? Food for thought, no doubt.
The league after 2 weeks
The North Stars sit at the top of the table with a full 9 points off their 3 games played. Melbourne Ice have won 2 from 2 and sit in 2nd spot with 6 points. The Ice Dogs have 3rd spot with 3 points (1 win, 1 loss) tied on points with the Mustangs who are 1-3 this season after 4 games. Adelaide picked up an overtime win against the Bears and have 2 points in 5th spot on the ladder followed by the Bears who have played 2 games (1 loss, 1 ot loss) and have 1 point. The Knights lost their only game to the North Stars and have 0 points and last on the ladder are the Blue Tongues who are yet to get their season underway.
Justin Sawyer
The Blue Tongues have some great imports this season. We’ve already seen Mike McRae in action last season, and those of us who have followed the team since their inception will remember the magic Matt Amado performed on the ice. This season we an import defenseman who has, for the most part, flown under the fan radar. His name is Justin Sawyer and his experience includes stops in the EIHL, ECHL and the AHL. Sawyers full profile is on the Blue Tongues website.
