Time to face the Thunder

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After a week off from hockey, the Adelaide Adrenaline, proudly presented by Hards Transport, take to the road to face the Perth Thunder this weekend.

Whilst the week off presented a good opportunity for the players to get some much needed rest, behind the scenes it was a tumultuous time for the club, culminating in the difficult decision to part ways with head coach Trevor Walsh.

Full Trevor Walsh press release

Taking the reigns as interim coach for this weekend’s road trip will be Adrenaline forward Graham Charbonneau who previously coached the Adrenaline for two games last season in the absence of Ryan O’Handley.

Adrenaline Captain Greg Oddy said parting ways with Walsh was difficult but has full confidence in the playing group.

“The only thing we can do in situations like this is win and all the cracks that were starting to show disappear,” Oddy said.
“We have to go away and start winning some games, the guys are committed and we are a tight group.”

Winning will be no mean feat for the Adrenaline, facing a Thunder outfit who currently sit second in the AIHL.

The last time these teams met was a double header earlier this season in Adelaide.

The Thunder took all six points from the two games, however the Adrenaline were snapping at their heels the whole way, losing both games by the margin of a single goal.

“There’s no harder trip in hockey to travel over to Perth but we are confident in the guys we have in the room and we can turn things round because those one goal games are disappointing,” Oddy said.

There is mixed news on the injury front for Adelaide too as the team welcomes back imports Gabe O’Connor and TJ Battani, and star forward Josef Rezek will also make his much welcome return.

Whilst the team loses Steve Best and Tyson Boyd for the trip West, young guns Jake Reilly and Ryan Foll will get their opportunity on the road as they are set to travel with the squad.

Reilly who is just 16 years old, made his Adrenaline debut earlier this month against the Sydney Bears and is travelling with the team for the first time in his short career.

It has been a tougher than expected week off for the Adrenaline and it may be tough to turn it around in such a short period of time, but according to Oddy this weekend is massive and presents a real opportunity for his side.

“Everything has happened very quickly, we found out Wednesday night (about the coach), we can’t re-write the playbook overnight but there is definitely some stuff we can be better at. Every guy has go out there and produce this weekend.”

The Adrenaline face the Thunder on Saturday (3.30PM local time) and Sunday (4.30PM local time) this weekend. You can keep update with the games via our social pages, Facebook and Twitter.

The next Adrenaline home games are July 2^nd and 3^rd against the league-leading Melbourne Ice. Tickets for both these games are on sale now via TryBooking: http://trybooking.com/LCOZ