Fans at the Ice ArenA were treated to a heated double header this weekend between the Adelaide Adrenaline and Canberra Brave which included a 13-goal game on Saturday that culminated in an elimination penalty shootout round.
Improving their defence has been a goal for Adelaide this season and each line held a tight formation to hold Canberra back as they dominated the offensive zone. Canberra opened the scoring in the first period with Jake Ratcliffe sneaking the puck around starting goalie Rylan Toth. Adelaide responded soon after as Daniel Chen got his first goal of the season with an assist from Daniel O’Handley, who later put away his first goal of the season with an assist from Daniel Chen.
“This week in training we’re learning to push it up and not be scared to take a few risks in the offensive zone,” Chen said. “We’re all going to rest up tonight so hopefully we can tire them out (Canberra) tomorrow.”
From there, it was tit-for-tat in goal scoring with Canberra and Adelaide taking equal turns finding the back of the net and neither team holding the lead for more than a few minutes. Toth played it safe, often covering the puck to bring the play back into the Adelaide zone as his team increased their faceoff wins in the second period. Josh Adkins and Kaden Elder worked together to get a goal and an assist each before the period was over.
Energy ramped up in the third with explosive goals from both Elder and Adkins once again as their line continued to put pressure on Canberra’s starting goalie Alexandre Tetreault.
“Our line hasn’t been producing as much as we’d wanted to in the past few games, so to be able to open up those floodgates today and put some more in the net was a big confidence booster for us,” Elder said.
Adelaide continued to fight for the puck and a game tying goal late in the third by Adkins with assists from Elder and Sean Greer brought the Ice ArenA to their feet. A tense three-on-three overtime brought no results except for an incredible save by Toth on a breakaway from Canberra’s Austin Cangelosi.
Elder was able to put a goal past Tetreault in the shootout round but Canberra’s Casey Kubara scored twice against Toth and secured the win for Canberra.
Sunday’s game was muted in comparison as Canberra’s tactic of keeping the puck from advancing past centre ice kept Adelaide on the defence for most of the game. Austin Cangelosi put Canberra on the board first with a shorthanded goal followed by a pair of powerplay goals from Casey Kubara. Down 3-0 heading into the third Adelaide began forcing their way into the offensive zone and Adelaide finally scored their first goal of the game; a wrist shot courtesy of Josh Adkins.
Ultimately, Canberra walked away with a 4-1 win and more than half of the game’s total penalty minutes. Adelaide still earned a much-deserved point from Saturday’s shootout loss and will be looking for different results as they head to Melbourne this weekend for a pair of games against both the Mustangs and the Ice.
Puck drop for both games begins at 12:30pm ACST so be sure to catch all the action on AIHL.tv.
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