Brisbane Lightning News: May 27-28, Week 7

What a weekend for the Brisbane Lightning! A two-day set against the perennial powerhouse Newcastle Northstars turned into a one-and-done game on the Sunday due to an unexpected turn of events. A number of scenarios were thought of between the managers of the two teams, however, in the end the prudent decision was made to postpone the game on the Saturday and go ahead with the game as scheduled on Sunday.

The players took the opportunity to have a relaxing evening in Newcastle with a great stay at the Quest Newcastle West apartment hotel and a team dinner at the Honeysuckle Hotel on the gentrified shores of Newcastle harbour. A hockey game would have been better, but the team made the most of the unexpected downtime in the schedule.

The next day, however, was far from relaxing! An intense game against the Northstars was played with fire and passion on both sides. In the end, the Lightning could not come away with a win as the Newcastle team used their experience to pull away in the third period and finish with a 8-5 win.

The first period was played tit for tat on the scoresheet. A 2-2 end of period result was due to some great work by Australian big men Julian Fodor and Harley Anderson putting the puck in the net once each, while Newcastle got two goals back from Zane Jones and Tanner Butler – both on the powerplay - to leave the score knotted at the end of 20 mins. The potent Newcastle powerplay, quarterbacked by the newly acquired Butler, was a force the entire game and they created many chances with the man advantage even when held scoreless.

The second period was by far the best period of hockey for the fans. Aaron Wanat, Julian Fodor with his second and Kasey Kulczycki - with his first goal after joining the Brisbane Lightning this week as an import - added three to the Lightning score line. Powell, Jones, Berno and Butler (again!) tallied for the Northstars. It was the Tanner Butler powerplay goal with only 49 seconds left in the period that left the Lightning reeling and set the tone for the strong Newcastle 3rd period.

That third period was a very much back-and-forth affair, although 2 goals from Riley Klugerman at the very beginning and the end of the period set the Northstars on their way to an 8-5 finish. New import Kasey Kulczycki stamped his presence on the game with speed and physicality; Julian Fodor, who dealt well with the contact in the game, was noticeable up front for the Lightning; and at the back end the young guns Neil Pretorius and Mikko Rippon both held their own under pressure from the Newcastle forecheck.

“The game was physical, but we have to stay out of the penalty box against top teams like Newcastle,” said defender Max Roth. “At times when we’re even strength and rolling we look unbeatable. We just have to figure out how to carry that forward for an entire 60 minutes.”

No doubt one of the big points to look at is the difference in powerplay percentage between the two teams – Brisbane was 1 for 5 on the powerplay while Newcastle was able to tally 4 goals on 10 powerplay chances. With 46 minutes in minor penalties between the teams both powerplay and penalty kill players saw a lot of ice during the game.

It was a hard fought game on a Sunday night in Newcastle, and the Lightning look forward to having the Northstars as guests at Boondall ice rink in Brisbane the second week in July!

Words by Ivan Rapchuk
Image by Jess Fuller