The Adelaide Adrenaline, proudly presented by Hards Transport, experienced a heartbreaking 6-3 defeat against Melbourne Ice in a game which was far closer than the score suggests.

It was tied at 3-3 heading into the final period as Captain David Huxley made his 250th appearance for the Adrenaline. Debuting in 2005, Huxley is the third Adrenaline player to reach the milestone and 13th AIHL player to do so.

“It’s been a long road but I’m glad to get there and see how many more I can fit in,” Huxley said.

“When you start it’s not because you want to play 250 games, you just want to play hockey with your friends. I’ve just kept going through the years and have been lucky to have such good people around me like Greg Oddy and Josh Harding so it’s good to join a club they’re in.”

Melbourne had the perfect start in a superb game by Matt Armstrong, who scored inside one minute of puck drop, catching the Adrenaline off guard with a goal driven into the bottom corner.

The league-leaders showed all their talent as the first period continued but it was actually the Adrenaline who held firm and scored next thanks to Cam Critchlow.

“Melbourne came in as one of the top teams in the league and it is a daunting task but the fact we can skate with them, the boys are starting to realise we are up there with the better teams we just need to get some results on the board,” Huxley explained.

With 8:49 on the clock, Critchlow beat Dayne Davies at close range with a flick, while Darren Corstens had the assist.

Kristoffer Backman had the assist for the Ice as they regained the lead on a surging counter attack, Sebastian Ottosson rifling in the go-ahead goal from long range.

In a recurring theme for the game, Adelaide drew level soon after when Josef Rezek surprised the Ice, and Davies, with an easy goal right in front of the net thanks to a key pass from Ales Kratoska.

Tied at 2-2, the second period was far more even as Armstrong and Rezek again scored with Rezek slicing and dicing his way to goal in a superb solo run to draw Adelaide level late in the second.

His run was a fantastic highlight as he brought the game to life before an intense third period.

The game was shot-to-shot as the hunt for the winner intensified and the likes of Casey Babineau, Huxley and Ben Gebert stood tall in support of Matt Murphy.

With tempers starting to flare, an incident behind the action saw Kratoska sent to the box with Melbourne’s Marcus Wong, who was brought down hard in the collision. Huxley and Liam Webster soon followed the duo to the box during the pause in action after both got involved in some push and shove.

It was a turning point as Armstrong netted his third with 8:48 on the clock, although the game was still on the line at 4-3.

In an open, end-to-end battle it was unfortunately Melbourne who did have the final say with Joey Hughes netting the sealer with 55 seconds left as Armstrong turned from scorer to provider.

The killer blow came with 15 second left when Ottosson blasted the pack from the Ice goal, and into an empty net.

“I think we were disappointed in ourselves. We were playing to them the whole game and then just a little lapse where we took off the pedal and let them sneak in,” Huxley said.

“We’re excited to make amends tomorrow. Obviously disappointed about today’s loss but if you hold onto every defeat then it’s going to be a long season.”