The Gold Coast Blue Tongues faced off against the second placed Melbourne Ice on Saturday night at Bundall Iceland. With Luke Fiveash in net, the Blue Tongues raced off to a 1-0 lead when import winger Andre Selander scored, assisted by Brad Smulders and Chris Martin. Just over a minute later, defenseman Henrik Ivarsson was penalised for tripping and sent to the penalty box for 2 minutes. Shorthanded, Brad Smulders scored his first goal of the game, assisted by defenseman Cameron Trew and winger Andre Selander to give the Blue Tongues a 2-0 lead.

With ten minutes left in the first period, Melbourne had a goal waved off when the puck was deemed by the referees to have bounced on the line and not over it. This didn’t deter the Ice however, when Lliam Webster scored with 5 minutes and 39 seconds left in the first period. At the end of the first, the Blue Tongues led 2-1.

The score increased for the Blue Tongues just 3 mintues and 40 seconds into the second period when Brad Smulders scored his second goal of the game, assisted by Andre Selander and Chris Martin. Nearly three minutes later, captain Don Burke sent a backhanded shot into the top shelf. The goal seemed to be in slow motion, besting Melbourne Ice goaltender Stu Denman to the roar of the sell-out crowd.

An altercation at centre ice against the boards occurred just over seven seconds left in the second period when Gold Coast’s Dave Upton and Melbourne’s Greg Garvie were each given a 2 minute penalty and a ten minute misconduct penalty, resulting in them both leaving the ice until midway through the third period. At the same time, Blue Tongues’ Andre Selander was also sent to the penalty box for a 2 minute minor penalty for roughing. The Ice were unable to capitalise on the powerplay that resulted, however their defense increased their intensity. The increased defense however couldn’t stop a blistering slapshot from the blue line by Andre Selander gave him his second goal of the night, Gold Coast’s 5th, assisted by Brad Smulders and Chris Martin with only 14 seconds left in the second period.

The third period was end-to-end hockey, with neither Melbourne or the Gold Coast willing to give up possession of the puck. Melbourne successfully shut down Brad Smulders, and only the Ice’s Keith Seckington scored in the period, assisted by Sean Jones and Lliam Webster. The Blue Tongues defeated the Melbourne Ice 5-2.

The Ice return to Bundall to seek their revenge against the Blue Tongues in their final home game of the 2009 season on Sunday, August 16 2009. Puck drop is at 4pm.

This is the last chance to see the Blue Tongues play before they head to the AIHL Finals, having secured a playoff position! Finals are being held in Newcastle on August 29 and 30, 2009.