The atmosphere was electric as the lights were turned off and the strobe lights came on for the entrance of the home team, Newcastle North Stars, and their opponents, the Gold Coast Blue Tongues. In front of a packed crowd, the Blue Tongues took to the ice to the cheers and horns blaring from their home contingents, who made the trip down from Queensland to witness the Blue Tongues historic first semi-final. As the teams lined up for the national anthem, the anticipation in the arena was palpable throughout the crowd.

On one end of the rink the hometown favourite, goaltender Matt Ezzy scraped up the ice in front of his crease in preparation of the showdown. On the other end, Blue Tongues goaltender Milan Novysedlak did the same. When the whistle blew and the first puck was dropped to start the game, the chanting from the crowd started – for both teams.

It was 16 seconds into the first period when the first penalty was called – on both teams. From that point, it was clear that both teams were there to win, and neither was going to give anything away to their opposition.

Newcastle struck first on the powerplay when Blue Tongues defenseman Don Burke was penalised 2 minutes for interference. With the man advantage, Newcastle’s Steve Kaye, assisted by Eric Lafreniere and Adrian Saul, netted the puck past Novysedlak seven minutes and twenty-one seconds into the first period.

Only 59 seconds after their first goal, Newcastle’s Matt Price was penalised two minutes for hooking. While shorthanded, Newcastle’s John Halverson, assisted by Adrian Saul and Rob Starke, took the North Stars to a 2-0 lead just 24 seconds after Price was sent to the box.

The Blue Tongues didn’t back down or give up. Exactly 20 seconds after Newcastle’s second goal, defenseman Henrik Ivarrson, assisted by Brad Smulders and Andre Selander, sank Gold Coast’s first past Matt Ezzy, sending the Blue Tongues supporters into a screaming frenzy.

Tempers were pushed to the limits on both sides as the Blue Tongues fought back from the 2-0 deficit to trail by 1. A minute and a half left on the clock in the first, Blue Tongues winger Andre Selander, assisted by Brad Smulders and Dave Upton tied up the scores to take the teams to the first intermission at 2 a piece and Newcastle on a powerplay from a penalty on Blue Tongues’ defenseman Don Burke for slashing.

The Blue Tongues successfully killed off the penalty carried over from the first period and into the second, before Brad Smulders, assisted by Henrik Ivarrson, gave Gold Coast their first lead in the game when he got the puck past Ezzy. Blue Tongues’ fans went wild in the stands as the boys celebrated their goal on the ice. The lead was shortlived, however, as Newcastle evened the score 36 seconds later. Ben Morrison, assisted by Matt Murrell, successfully buried the puck in the Blue Tongues’ net to even the teams up at 3-3.

Newcastle fans celebrated what they thought was their snatching the lead again with just under 2 and a half minutes left in the second however the referees waved off the goal and play was restarted in the Newcastle offensive zone. Novysedlak stood strong, making some spectacular saves and risky poke checks by coming out of his crease to challenge the Newcastle offense. The teams were still tied at 3-3 at the end of the second period.

By the time the third period started, it was evident that both teams were giving everything they had. All players were losing speed and unmistakably exhausted. Neither team lost intensity though, and responded to the constant chanting of the fans cheering both sides on.

11 minutes and 51 seconds left in the game, Newcastle’s Steve Kaye scored his second goal of the game, assisted by Matt Price and Adrian Saul. The Blue Tongues gave everything they had, but were unable to come from the 1 goal deficit in the third period, and when Steve Kaye scored his hatrick with 6 minutes and 40 seconds left in the game, it was all but over.

Newcastle North Stars defeated the Gold Coast Blue Tongues 5-3 in the second semi-final of the 2009 AIHL season playoffs.

To end the season on a high note, Blue Tongues top line centre Brad Smulders was named the AIHL’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) as voted by coaches over the season. Smulders finished the season with 33 goals and 43 assists for a total of 76 points, breaking both the goals and points records to become the highest scorer in AIHL history.

The Blue Tongues will return to the ice in the 2010 season. For next season’s schedule, news and events, check the website for updates.

Images courtesy of Wulos.  Full sizes of the images used here can be found at Hockeypulse