AIHL 2015 Season

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FedEXFalls said:
Went to Ice v Adrenaline yesterday. Undisciplined players and s**t refs made it a frustrating game. Final minute went on forever as ADL goalie pushed the net off it's moarings during play. I have a suspicion he did it because it was already slightly off and the refs hadn't seen it, but the Ice had the puck and were shooting right as he did it, so tempers flared the refs took forever to sort it out.

I have no doubts we're the better team, they just executed their plan to a T and we fell straight into it. Fix a few easy things and today we get the win I think.

Tommy Powell and Matty Armstrong are carrying this team points wise, need some others to hit the back of the damn net.

One of their players absolutely ******* schooled our defensemen for their final goal. Quite possibly the best goal I've seen at a game. The look of disbelief from one of his teammates as he skated towards him to celebrate was brilliant, he was just screaming "WHAT THE ****! WHAT THE ****!" over and over.

All this typing is making want to go to today's game... I think I might.

Mustangs vs Brave was a great game apparently and they're playing again today. Brave beat them in the final minute last night so that took the sting off our loss.
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I went to this game as my first experience of ice hockey in Australia.

And I agree with your s**t refs call they seemed to get in the way a whole heap and broken up a lot of the flow in the game by getting in the way of passes and I thought a few of the checking from behind penalties weren't really there.

Overall though I was quite impressed with the facilities and the crowd was pretty good even the Adelaide fans sitting behind us who got a bit rowdy towards the end.

It was pretty easy to notice it's semi pro though as guys didn't really seem to follow through with their checks and the ice particularly missed 3 or 4 easy chances in front of goals.

The price was pretty good though not any worse than a day at the footy and my wife who has never watched hockey and my 3 year old both enjoyed it.

One question you might be able to answer for me Todd Graham for the ice my brother played juniors with him from what I can find on the internet he is playing college hockey and has been back and forth is he going to be back this season?
 
Yepp! Todd will be back soon, when they announced the roster they said he'd be back around May IIRC. So he should be close.

We'll also be getting 20 year old Jeremy Brown back from Canada. He was last years rookie of the year and our best player in the grand final.

Very excited for both to return.
 
FedEXFalls said:
Yepp! Todd will be back soon, when they announced the roster they said he'd be back around May IIRC. So he should be close.

We'll also be getting 20 year old Jeremy Brown back from Canada. He was last years rookie of the year and our best player in the grand final.

Very excited for both to return.
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Ill definitely be back my parents are keen to see a game as well. Who are the lower drawing teams?
 

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Currently I'd have the two Sydney teams as the lowest, due to form.

Popularity wise I'd have it:
1. Two Melbourne teams
2. CBR Brave
3. Newcastle/Perth/Adelaide
4. The two Sydney teams.

Every Melbourne Ice v Mustangs game sells out these days or comes extremely close to it. CBR Brave apparently have to turn people away quite often due to not enough space in their very outdated rink.

The league is the strongest it's been at the moment though, however it will always be in a pretty fragile state. They just finished a 3 year plan and are now expecting a bit of a plateau for the next two years before things go up another level. The aim is to have a Queensland team back in the league eventually.

Right now I just hope the Ice Dogs sort their s**t out.

The league should be trying to push some clubs towards re brands (In my opinion) in order to look more modern and appealing. CBR Brave and the Mustangs are currently setting the pace, with the Ice slowly catching up. It's hard to get yourselves a new rink, but getting yourselves a decent looking logo and social media presence really shouldn't be as hard as some clubs seem to be making it.
 
Ice v Adrenaline game on Foxtel right now!
 
We're officially experiencing growing pains.

- Line still huge 10 minutes before puck drop.
- Groups around the boards were 4-deep.. I was behind them, couldn't see a thing unless the puck was at the other end of the ice.
- A lot of first time attendees were stuck next to me, so obviously they had a s**t time trying to get into ice hockey and only being able to see half the rink.
- Homophobic chants at one stage.. Apparently an Ice official went and dealt with it.
- Some dickhead brought a laser pointer.

Mustangs used curtains along the boards so they could make a bar-like area for what seemed to be sponsors or V.I.P's. CRAP, CRAP CRAP. We're standing there in huge groups while these people on the other side are sitting at tables along the boards. BOOOOOOOO. If the Ice do this for their derby home games I will be very upset.

At one stage a photographer came and pushed his way through the group and put a milk crate along the boards so he could stand on it and take photos. WE'RE STUCK BEHIND YOU MAN, WE CAN'T SEE! You're supposed to use the milk crate if you're stuck behind the group, not in front of it.

At least the next two derby's are Ice home games so I can skip the lines and have a spot in the members section of the grandstand. That limits my ability to bring my friends along though.
 
The crowd was terrific but the difficulties caused by the OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHERS AREA was pretty ordinary.
There is plenty of space further along the boards to allow photographers plus empty areas elsewhere.
With the crowd 5 deep an extra 10 metres of boards would have made it so much better for the paying punters.
The Mustangs photographer close to the door was an arrogant prick!
I think it may be the Icehouse rather than the teams arranging the VIP areas.
The idiot with the laser pointer shining it in the eyes of the Ice goalie really reflects very badly on the mustangs. People must have seen this cretin.
Four losses by a single goal with 3 of the game winners scored in the last 2 minutes or less leaves a lot of questions hanging over the horses.
How many goals were conceded after needless penalties tonight?




FedEXFalls said:
We're officially experiencing growing pains.

- Line still huge 10 minutes before puck drop.
- Groups around the boards were 4-deep.. I was behind them, couldn't see a thing unless the puck was at the other end of the ice.
- A lot of first time attendees were stuck next to me, so obviously they had a s**t time trying to get into ice hockey and only being able to see half the rink.
- Homophobic chants at one stage.. Apparently an Ice official went and dealt with it.
- Some dickhead brought a laser pointer.

Mustangs used curtains along the boards so they could make a bar-like area for what seemed to be sponsors or V.I.P's. CRAP, CRAP CRAP. We're standing there in huge groups while these people on the other side are sitting at tables along the boards. BOOOOOOOO. If the Ice do this for their derby home games I will be very upset.

At one stage a photographer came and pushed his way through the group and put a milk crate along the boards so he could stand on it and take photos. WE'RE STUCK BEHIND YOU MAN, WE CAN'T SEE! You're supposed to use the milk crate if you're stuck behind the group, not in front of it.

At least the next two derby's are Ice home games so I can skip the lines and have a spot in the members section of the grandstand. That limits my ability to bring my friends along though.
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Huge win for the Ice tonight in Canberra. 4-2.

Lead 3-0 at the start of the 3rd but a pretty lucky goal got Canberra back into it. An empty netter in the final minute put an end to that though.

Mustangs are faltering in their title defense. 6-2 loss today. They've got some games in hand but need to get a move on. Their next 4 matches are all away games as well.
 
Melbourne Mustangs vs Sydney Bears just finished the 1st period and the score is 5-4 Sydney Bears after the Mustangs led 3-0 early.



EDIT: To add to the fun, Brent Burns is in the building watching :):$:thumbsu:
 
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FedEXFalls said:
Melbourne Mustangs vs Sydney Bears just finished the 1st period and the score is 5-4 Sydney Bears after the Mustangs led 3-0 early.



EDIT: To add to the fun, Brent Burns is in the building watching :):$:thumbsu:
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Another single goal defeat for the Mustangs. That makes 5 from 10 games. Is that just bad luck? Last season they seemed to win a lot of close games. With injuries to imports and with J. Hughes suspended from an incident with just 1 second left on the game clock at Newcastle they put up a hell of an effort at Penrith. That said conceding 13 goals over the weekend doesn't point to a strong D unit. With a 3 nil lead after 5 minutes something dropped off surely? Last year the Horses D played like extra goalies and stopped so many shots but it doesn't seem to be happening this year.
It's still early in the season but they have given 6 other teams a hell of a lead in points and unless they go on a huge winning streak a place in the finals may already be gone.
They showed tonight they can score but can they defend?
Pre season the Mustangs cut Brendan Oakes the big D man who was then snapped up by the Ice and who seems to be getting fitter than he has ever been. A guy who is 6'5" and that young it was a decision that is hard to work out as he will improve with the right development. Only last year Brad Vigon was talking him up as a potential Todd Graham. What happened?
Time will tell of course.
 
Yeah the Oakes decision is an interesting one and seemed a very late decision as he didn't have a jersey set up for the Ice and wasn't on the team sheets in our first few game books. Just randomly popped up one game.

I won't count the Mustangs out until it's sorted mathematically. Though they have Perth, Adelaide and the Ice in their next 3 matches, all away. I think there's definitely going to be a story to do with them this season, they'll win their last 10 games after being eliminated from finals contention or they'll win a big game against the Ice or another team, preventing them from making finals. Something like that.

Gotta love Hughes suspensions in a season like this as well.

Not sure when Jason Baclig is supposed to return for the Ice.
 

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Melbourne Ice players Paul Kurceba and Tim Johannson on SEN from earlier today:

listen to this on Audioboo
 
Ice v Brave today:


Stream at 5pm:

http://livestream.com/atcproductions/aihl15g48

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If you weren't watching that game then you missed out. Tomorrow's is a must watch. Stoked that I'll be at the rink for it.

League need to look at import refs who are better able to handle games with high intensity.
 
Penalty sheet from yesterday :D. Think I might sit in the stands today as I'll struggle to keep myself up along the boards.
016.JPG
 
me and my brother were at sundays game and only knew the final result from Saturday and thought geeze something must've happened on Saturday because there was a lot of big hits and a fair bit of chirping going on, that penalty sheet explains it all!
 
danielg23 said:
me and my brother were at sundays game and only knew the final result from Saturday and thought geeze something must've happened on Saturday because there was a lot of big hits and a fair bit of chirping going on, that penalty sheet explains it all!
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When players from the opposition condemn the referee for calling a penalty on an opposing player something is not quite right. That is exactly what happened on Saturday. Players from both teams were hampered in their efforts to compete due to a very inexperienced referee who panicked non stop. Sure there was feeling in this game after the recent Canberra series and the Ice players had committed to not taking a backward step. The game on Sunday was tough, quick & had plenty of contact but the referee had total control and the end result saw 2 penalties issued for the whole game.YES TWO PENALTIES!!. The game was tremendous and both teams played the game in the right manner. The fans were the real winners with a game that went to the wire. Both goalies were again amazing but Unice in net for Brave saved his team at least 6 times at games end Leclerc made a save that kept Ice in it and allowed them to go ahead with only a short time remaining.
Once again an AIHL game has been badly affected by having an inexperienced referee assigned to a game that was simply too quick for them to manage.
It isn't rocket science. We must encourage the development of officials in the sport but not at the expense of paying customers who will vote with their feet and wallets if not satisfied with the spectacle. Saturday was deplorable, Sunday exhilarating and 1 factor was different. The referee. Plus one CBR player that didn't suit up on Sunday and who seemed to be the cause of much of the rougher stuff the day before.
 
More growing pains:

"AIHL Fans" on Facebook has erupted. It's the closest thing to Bigfooty for AIHL fans except it's like if Bigfooty had players, coaches and club officials posting on it.

I think some people want a Bigfooty type site where it's mainly just fans talking about whatever without players etc getting their feelings hurt.

But then seeing as the league is so small there are a lot of volunteers who are caught in the middle between being a fan and a club representative.

Tough situation. I see both sides of the argument, personally I don't particularly like players involving themselves on the site. Sure they are technically fans as well but it just makes things a bit awkward. If I was a player I'd be staying well away from it.

If I could magically resolve it I'd keep that place open to players etc and try and organise a new forum more centred to just plain fans.
 
FedEXFalls said:
Melbourne derby on tonight at 8pm. Ice vs Mustangs.

Stream will be here:
http://livestream.com/atcproductions/aihl15g57

I'll be at the rink.
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Notably smaller number of orange supporters last night. A tight game, which was no surprise, but yet again the horses lose it at the end. Very good officiating from the best ref going around in Melbourne at present. Jeff Klinck talks to the players and lets them know what he wants of them. Ice dominated the game without being able to put the game to bed. Fraser Carson was good in goal as was Jaden P-M for the home team in blue. Jamie Bourke didn't help his team and his undisciplined play cost the horses 3 goals.
Probably too late for the mustangs to mount a charge for finals now unless they went undefeated in their remaining 15 games. Highly unlikely. Without Jeff Grant to hold their D together they look vulnerable. The fire power of the mustangs is certainly there, as noted by 6 goals in Adelaide but with such a slow D their own net is always vulnerable.
As for the blue team they keep rolling 3 lines and as long as their goal tending is strong they can compete with anyone. Last weekend was a shocker but every team will have those games in a season.
Look at the Bears losing to the Dogs!
 
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