What a weekend in hockey! We had shutouts, hat tricks, physicality across all the games, one game went to OT, and some first AWIHL goals.
The teams did not let us down and put on an excellent show, and watching live on AWIHL.TV was a great way to be a part of it. First goal of the season scored in
The Results
Five out of the six games on the weekend went to the travelling team. Often the home team advantage comes into play but this weekend we saw different.
Saturday:
Perth Inferno defeated Brisbane Lightning 6-5
Melbourne Ice defeated Adelaide Rush 7-4
Sydney Sirens defeated Melbourne Ducks 9-0
Sunday:
Brisbane Lightning defeated Perth Inferno 4-3 in OT
Melbourne Ice defeated Adelaide Rush 6-2
Sydney Sirens defeated Melbourne Ducks 6-0
Hattrick Heroes
We had three hat-tricks across the weekend. On Saturday, Melbourne Ice faced Adelaide Rush at home.
Danielle Butler secured her first hat-trick of the season with goal one, a power play, in the first period. She then scored two more power-play goals in the second period and a fourth goal early in the third.
Making her a threat on the powerplay, teams will have to watch out for Butler in the coming weeks.
In the Sydney Sirens vs Melbourne Ducks game on Saturday Sarah Edney opened the scoring for the Sirens with the first two goals of the game giving the visitors a 2-0 lead. Edney with her third goal in the second period would secure her first hattrick of the season.
Edney backed it up in the Sirens second game of the weekend with a natural hattrick scored at the end of the 2nd period and two in the third to help seal the second win for the visiting team.
Sirens Shutouts
Ella and Nayoka secure the first shutouts of the year against Melbourne ducks. Playing both goalies on the weekend Licari and Wellard had an excellent opening weekend.
Licari faced 10 shots from the Ducks, and Wellard faced 19 starting their season with a bang.
Perth vs Lightning match-up
This was an excellent pair of games to watch, making them my games of the round (because they were both THAT good)
They were close, exciting and very edge-of-your-seat. Game 2 going to OT emphasises this.
There were no large leads through either game, with both days the score being tied or only ahead by one goal to have the other team tie it again.
On Saturday, Sara Sammons with the winning goal with half a period remaining in period three secured the 6-5 win over the Lightning and in OT Courtney Mahoney would win it for the home team.
What’s Next
Round two is shaping up to be exciting after round one looked so good.
Brisbane Lightning and Sydney Sirens will be taking the weekend off with Adelaide Rush travelling to IceHQ to play against the Melbourne Ducks, and Melbourne Ice travelling to Cockburn Ice Arena to play against the Perth Inferno.
Catch all the replays and upcoming games on AWIHL.TV
Photo by Matt Hartigan
