Adelaide Adrenaline VS Melbourne Mustangs Weekend Recap

---

The Adelaide Adrenaline and Melbourne Mustangs met for the first time in the 2025 AIHL season at the O’Brien IceHouse over the weekend, it was an opportunity for Adelaide to continue their winning streak after back-to-back
victories against the Central Coast Rhinos. For Melbourne, they were seeking redemption after a challenging June, where they had only picked up one win headed into this pair of games.

Adelaide came into the weekend with confidence after a promising stretch of four wins in the last six games, aiming to continue with the momentum they have built.

Despite this, Melbourne came away with a 4-0 win on Saturday night - Anthony Kimlin recording a shutout - followed by an 8-4 win on the Sunday.

Game 1 saw Adelaide hit the ice with intensity early on by throwing bodies around to try and disrupt Melbourne’s rhythm and slow them down. Eight power plays were presented to Adelaide throughout the game, including two 5-on-3 chances. Despite their best efforts, they were unable to get past the Mustangs’ penalty kill, the special teams units for both teams being a big difference maker was a theme across both games.

In Game 2, Adelaide came back more structured after being scoreless in Game 1. They barged through the gates and tallied 48 shots against the Melbourne goaltender, desperate to find the scoresheet.

The Adrenaline found the scoresheet four minutes into the second period when Zach Boyle fired a shot from in front of the net, getting Adelaide’s first goal of the weekend.

He continued his scoring with six minutes left in the third by scoring on the powerplay to grab Adelaide’s second goal of the game and of the weekend.

At the 4:40 mark of the final period, Josh Adkins snuck the puck through the five-hole tying his AIHL-best just 16 games into the season. He’s been creating plays to drive the puck into the offensive zone all weekend and his efforts finally paid off.

With two minutes left on the clock, Steve Best scores Adelaide’s fourth goal right off the face-off. The late surge from the Adrenaline boosted the team’s spirit after struggling to get the puck past Melbourne.

Three Stars
#51: Daniel Chen sustained a gruesome ear injury in the second period of Saturday's game, but he came back for period three, battling through. A trip to Urgent Care and a few stitches later, he was back in action in game two giving it his all, not letting the injury slow him down as he looked to make a mark on the weekend.

#6: Zach Boyle scored Adelaide’s first two goals of the weekend in Game 2 to get the team’s momentum back. He opened Adelaide scoring with a centring play and followed it up by capitalising on a power play – a crucial breakthrough after the team struggled to
score with the man advantage in Game 1. His execution gave the Adrenaline confidence to bounce back, spurring the team on to a further two goals.

#1: Sam Poole recorded his first playing minutes in net this weekend, stepping up in the last minutes of Game 1 and 2. Despite being thrown in late on both games, he totalled over 10 minutes without conceding for his AIHL debut weekend.

What’s next?
The Adelaide Adrenaline will be looking to reset as they prepare for their first clash of the season against the Brisbane Lightning at Adelaide’s IceArena. Special teams will be a major focus after going 0/8 on the powerplay in Game 1 and 1/5 in Game 2. Converting
those opportunities into goals during a man-advantage will be a key focus as they return home with renewed energy.