Oddy reaches 600 in Adrenaline win

Greg Oddy has turned back the clock and delivered a vintage four-point performance to push the Australian ice hockey legend to over 600 points in a 7-3 Adrenaline win.

The all time AIHL points leader became the first player in league history to reach 600 point mark. He now has 601 points, exactly 201 ahead of the next closest competitor. Oddy had two goals and and two assists in a dominating performance.

"I actually hadn't given it much said," said Oddy, who has seven points in his last three games. "A lot of people were talking about it but I'm more excited about the win. Everybody played really well today. People needed to step up. People did step up and we're going home with two wins."

Oddy called it a "total team effort" and the stat sheet reflected that. 

Josef Rezek had his biggest game of the season. The naturalised Australian had a hat-trick to help push the boys to victory. 

Critchlow continued his Australia dominance tallying a goal and three assists. He now has 19 points in 9 games.

Murphy made 32 saves in a game that Adelaide controlled much of the play. This was off the back of an incredible 45 save performance in Sydney a day earlier.

"We had a short bench but with guys out of the line up it was a chance for others to step up," said Oddy. "I'm really proud of the effort everyone gave today."

"We should be playing at a level that suggests finals hockey and up until this weekend we hadn't really shown it," he added. "We know we can skate with the best of them."

The Adrenaline won back-to-back games for the first time this season. It was their second win in as many days and as many states after the Adrenaline beat the Bears 3-2 on Sunday. 

Revenge is sweet as Adelaide lost 9-5 to these very Mustangs just one week ago. 

Despite early pressure it was Melbourne who opened the scoring. Maxime Langelier Parent opened the account with a pretty goal past Murphy to make it 1-0. 

Adelaide responded right back. Joey Rezek opened the scoring for the Adrenaline with his third goal of the season. 

Minutes later, star import Cameron Critchlow tipped home a puck that slid over the line to put up Adelaide 2-1.

Melbourne then took over a bit of the play but for the second for the second straight night a string of fantastic saves from Matt Murphy kept Adelaide in front.

Then, while shorthanded, Josef Rezek added his second of the game to put Adelaide up 3-1. 

Then, Greg Oddy took over. Needing three points to become the first ever player to 600 career points, Oddy turned back the clock and took over the game.

It started with a short handed goal, Adelaide's second of the sort on the night, to put the visitor's up 4-1. 

"It was nice to give Murphy some relief," said Oddy. "Despite the win yesterday we knew we couldn't get away with allowing 47 shots again."

Parent would cut the lead to 4-2 before the end of the second period to leave Adelaide with a 2 goal advantage heading into the final 20.

Then, Oddy got to 599 just minutes into the third. Oddy crashed in tight on the goalie to bump in his second of the game leaving him just one point shy of history.

New Adrenaline import Ales Kratoska got on the scoresheet to make it 6-2 and put the game to bed but that was the mark that pushed Oddy to history. The savy veteran picked up an assist to put him at 600 on the career. 

The Mustangs added a late power play goal to make the score 6-3 but at the end of the day it was the Adrenaline swooping in to steal the three points. 

Oddy and the Adrenaline return home to South Australia for a date with the Newcastle Northstars on Saturday 27 May at 4:30PM. Tickets are selling fast for the clash at the IceArenA. Get them at www.trybooking.com/pftr