Blue Tongues Led Newcastle - Ends In Shootout

The Blue Tongues came out firing in the fourth game of the series against the North Stars tonight in what turned out to be an epic battle. Within a minute and a half, the Blue Tongues were up 1-0, with an unassisted goal by Trevor Walsh. Eight minutes later, Chris Martin and Brad Smulders had added to the tally with two powerplay goals in a period where the Blue Tongues had completely dominated the North Stars. The period ended 3-0, and the sell out crowd had high hopes for the rest of the game.

Newcastle hit back hard in the second period, with a short handed goal by John Halverson 5 and a half minutes into the second period. The intensity rose from both teams, and while the physicality wasn't as strong as Saturday's game, the battles for the puck, the continual turnovers, strong defense from both sides and the ongoing pressure on both goaltenders remained. Sean Oultram scored for Newcastle with 4 minutes and 53 seconds left in the second period and they went to the break 3-2 with the Blue Tongues holding tenuously onto that lead.

In the third period, continual stoppages due to the puck out of play, players being offside and a couple of time outs halted the flow of the game, however the Blue Tongues managed to get another goal past Matt Ezzy, Tino Sandhu giving the Blue Tongues a 4-2 lead over the reigning champions. But with 2 minutes left in the game, two quick goals from John Halverson, giving him a hatrick, meant the tide had turned drastically, and the Blue Tongues now had to face Newcastle in yet another shootout.

Gold Coast goaltender Luke Fiveash couldn't stop Newcastle's shooters, Steve Kaye, Adrian Saul and John Halverson, while for the Blue Tongues, Dave Upton scored on Matt Ezzy, but the Newcastle goaltender saved the shot from Tino Sandhu. Newcastle won 5-4 in the shootout.

The Blue Tongues stars of the weekend were Andre Selander and Brad Smulders, each receiving a gift certificate from Benowa Tavern.

The Blue Tongues will regroup this week and take on The Bears (of Sydney) next weekend, May 23 and 24 2009 at Bundall Iceland. Puck drop is at 4pm. Tickets are available at the door for $10 per person.