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.
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 |
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!
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.
