Adrenaline call on fans to get behind club in crucial four game homestand

Down but not out, the Adrenaline are looking for as much help as they can get as they begin a stretch of four straight home games over three weekends.

It begins on Saturday 16 June versus the league leaders CBR Brave. The Adrenaline will then battle for finals positioning in two must-win games vs. the Sydney Bears on June 23 / 24, followed up with CBR again on July 1. Adelaide will be host to a Canada Day spectacular wearing special themed jerseys thanks to Power Health Solutions.

You can get behind the team by buying tickets to all four games for just $55! Head to www.bit.ly/adrenalinetickets to claim your tickets!

Three wins in the next four games at home will put the Adrenaline right in the thick of a playoff race. Not bad for a team expected to struggle. If there was a time to get behind the club, it's now.

There has certainly been growing pains for this side fielding nine rookies, however an All-Star weekend followed by the bye has given the club a chance to recover. 

The team has three calibre players making their return - Sami Mantere is close to a return and Andrew Stapleton is fully recovered injury and last year's rookie gun Jake Riley is due back in time for Canada Day.

They'll also get a boost from local league superstar Tyler Leeming. The Adelaide Redwings player just got his permanent residency and is now counted as a local. He hes 208 career points in 55 games and is fresh off an 8 point performance on Thursday's game vs. the Falcons.

They should provide more support to the likes of locals Steve Best (12 points in 10 games), Josef Rezek (9 points in six games) and the three superstar import skaters.

The Adrenaline faced 73 shots in a game last hockey weekend vs. Perth, but Andersson kept them in it. His parents are coming from Sweden to watch so all eyes will be on him.

The Brave are no easy task. They are considered odds-on premiership favourites after a big off-season of recruitment. They added perennial Australian superstar Joey Hughes (Melbourne Ice), team Australia defenseman Per Daniel Goranson (Perth Thunder), and up-and-comer Darcy Flanagan (Melbourne Ice) to an already talented side. They also added 6'4" monster Canadian centre Hayden Dawes who turns out has an Aussie passport and is considered a local.

All this considered, Adelaide beat CBR last year on their home turf. The Brave fired 61 shots on net, but 2017 goalie Matt Murphy stood tall to propel Adelaide to a win without Cam Critchlow. There is still plenty of hope on the horizon!

Adelaide are the league underdogs, but working hard and continuing to gel together. The expectation is that the club improves as the season goes on. The team will go out there and trust themselves, their teammates, and the coaches to get the job done.

Of course, it always helps when there is a full house behind them! Get your tickets for this Saturday's game at 4:30PM from www.bit.ly/adrenalinetickets. 
 

GAME NOTES

- CBR recruited hard in 2017. They swept away former Adrenaline AIHL MVP, team Australia superstar and Adelaide-born Wehebe Darge in an aggressive recruiting coup. They've followed up in 2018 with some key players joining the line up. This has the Brave set up to be very good for a long time.

- CBR Brave Goalie Matt Hewitt is by far and away the most dominant goalie in the AIHL this season.

- On June 16th, CBR Brave and Adelaide Adrenaline fight for the BeyondBlue Cup. Three million Australians deal with depression and anxiety each year and there is a network to help with places like BeyondBlue.

- Adelaide import goalie Sebastian Andersson has been the talk of the league after facing a mind boggling 73 shots in one game in Perth last week. He has kept Adelaide in games.

- Look for Adelaide's young players to keep getting better. Corey Stringer was last round's Power Play Sports player of the week and keeps improving. Harley Anderson from QLD practiced with the team on Friday. Ryan Foll scored a goal last weekend. Things are getting better.

- Saturday's game is the first game of a crucial four game home stretch for Adelaide. They play June 23/24 vs. the Bears in a battle for important playoff points, and again on July 1 when the team wears Canada themed jerseys on Canada thanks to Power Health Solutions. 

- "We need to be better on the power play." Those were words from Adrenaline import Caleb Apperson who knows that the team needs to take advantage of every opportunity given.