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.
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.
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.
The Blue Tongues stand on the edge of the most historical even in the 6 years of the franchises involvement in the Australian Ice Hockey League.
This weekend, August 1 & 2 the Gold Coast Blue Tongues take on the Canberra Knights at Bundall on the Gold Coast. Getting 6 points from a back-to-back victory will be a huge boost for the Blue Tongues, but not so huge as the implication it will have heading forward.
You see, if the Tongues can pull of a double this weekend, they mathematically eliminate the Sydney Ice Dogs from playoff contention, and in the process secure their first ever AIHL playoff berth.
This years 11-6-3 record has been a major improvement for the Blue Tongues, who finished 2008 with a dismall 8-17-3 record getting just 27 points and finishing 7th in last years 8-team league.
A major part of the teams success this season has been the outstanding play of import forward, Brad Smulders. Smulders, a native of Canada leads the team and league in goals (30), assists (35) and points (65).
This year has seen some major improvements both on and off the ice. Disciplined play, successful special teams and an increase in crowd numbers have all been a huge bonus to the teams success.
2009 also happens to be the debut season of Ross Howell as team captain. Rosco as he’s affectionately known is one of Australia’s top defenseman and has played this season as both defense and forward, where his outstanding 2-way play has been paramount to the teams winning record.
With just 4 games remaining in the AIHL season, all of them at home, the Blue Tongues have plenty of reasons to feel confident.
