Season Preview: Adrenaline ready for bounce back year

originally published on theaihl.com.au

Summer has only just ended in Australia, but all AIHL teams have been hard at pre-season training for quite some time now, aiming to get the edge in the ever-increasingly close competition.

The Adelaide Adrenaline have been well into their pre-season training since early January, aiming to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2012.

A disappointing end to the 2014 season for the Adrenaline, when they missed out on the finals by only four points despite winning eight of their last 10, has only made Ryan O’ Handley’s team hungrier.

Adelaide head coach O’Handley said the Adrenaline’s pre-season was travelling well with sessions on and off the ice.

“Everybody’s looking good; we’ve got David Chubb - who was one of our imports last year—leading our off- ice program this year and he’s doing an outstanding job,” O’ Handley said. “The guys are looking really good.”

Adelaide Adrenaline captain Greg Oddy is entering into his sixteenth season in the Australian Ice Hockey League and said the team was looking good and ready for the season to begin.

“The team have set realistic goals and think if they can continue the momentum they finished with in 2014, winning eight out of their last ten games, they have every chance of making the finals,” Oddy said.

He continued, saying the team's’ main goal for the year was to get back playing finals but they don’t want to look too far ahead.

“On ice, we want to get back to playing finals. We know if we can make it we’re a good chance to win another championship,” Oddy said. “Our number one goal is to not look too far ahead and get through that first bump of away games and put ourselves in a good position. We have a whole heap of home games later in the season.”

The Adrenaline start the 2015 season with a four-game away stand; however, they finish the season with eight home matches out of their last ten.

A solid start on the road will give the side the opportunity to consolidate in front of a home crowd come August.

O’Handley said in order to make the playoffs the team need to take more shots and in turn score more often.

“From my perspective we want to increase our shots for and decrease our shots against,” he said. “We need to score a few more goals this year—increasing our offensive output is one of our goals. We think achieving that will help us to achieve the ultimate goal of making the finals and winning a championship.”

A new season means new recruits to help the team achieve the goal of making finals and winning the Goodall Cup.

They have already picked up former Sydney Ice Dogs captain and Mighty Roo Andrew White, who retired in 2012, to join the team.

The experienced defenceman has played almost 200 games in the AIHL.

White will bolster Adelaide’s defence and help achieve O’Handley’s goal of allowing less shots on the Adrenaline’s net.

Adelaide has also been holding tryouts and talking to possible imports.

“We’re still in tryout mode, so we’ve still got a few guys in camp trying out for the team,” O’Handley said. “We’ve got a pretty strong group of guys, but there is a few guys we’re interested in that look good and might crack the team.”

O’Handley and Oddy hinted that the team were also talking to some imports, however they are unable to mention any names at the moment.

Oddy said the team was looking for the right imports who would complement the local players, rather than holding them team together.

“I think picking the right guys that will complement the local guys—we’re very close to signing a couple of guys,” Oddy said.

Wehebe Darge was a standout player for the Adrenaline in 2014 scoring 13 goals and 15 assists, and O’Handley thinks he is starting to show some leadership qualities.

“I’m expecting some really big things from Wehebe Darge this year,” O’Handley said. “He’s coming along as a player and really starting to demonstrate some leadership qualities.

He is also really impressed with veteran captain, Greg Oddy’s progress and expects that he’ll have another solid year.

Oddy said he was excited for another season and wants to help the team make the finals.

“After the last half of last year was a lot of fun, I’m excited to take the team back to where they should be—the finals,” He said. “Pre-season has gone well; I’ve changed a few things which you have to as you get a bit older, but I’m really excited to get on the ice.”

The Adelaide Adrenaline Look revved up for a new season and they expect nothing less than a finals appearance this year.