Blue Tongues Put Out Smoke In Sydney

The Bartercard Gold Coast Blue Tongues left for Sydney at the start of the weekend in fifth place and outside the top four for finals play on the last weekend in August. Two losses to the Ice Dogs and the Bears would have certainly left the Blue Tongues starting to rely on results from other games in the coming two months. Instead the team got off the plane this morning at Coolangatta airport tied for second place on the ladder after defeating the Ice Dogs 5-3 and the Bears 4-2 on successive nights.

What a turning point in the season for the team after being down three defencemen for the trip and having to convert two forwards to defence in the names of Marco Bertossa and Alex Boyd, and what a job they did. Every player over the weekend really showed that Blue Tongues have big hearts and certainly the legendary Queensland spirit. Having to play two games in Sydney with only three playing imports due to the injury of Adam Gebara the whole team needed to find that little extra. Imports Dallas Costanzo and Mike Mcrae certainly did that featuring in eight of the nine goals scored by the team, with Costanzo taking out the weekend’s first star and Mcrae the second star. Both Blue Tongue goalies, Luke Fiveash and CJ Anderson shared a game each as well as sharing the third star for the weekend. The team was out shot on the road in both games yet Fiveash and Anderson did what they had to and kept the team in the game.

Though the Ice Dogs were in last place the Blue Tongues were certainly aware this was the game they had to win against an always physical side and that they did. Then going against the red hot Bears in Penrith who are sitting on top of the table with the seven wins in a row, and having to face import goalie Nick Boucher the AIHL’s leading goalie with a goals against average of only 1.34 goals per game and a save percentage of 95.7% of shots faced, the 4-2 result to the Blue Tongues was inspirational as the team heads into the second half of the season.

On individual performances as a result of this weekend’s games, Dallas Costanzo has jumped to first spot as the AIHL’s leading scorer with 13 goals and 16 assists for a total of 29 points, and Mike Mcrae has cracked the top five scorers in the league only three points behind Costanzo with 13 goals and 13 assists for 26 points and one less game played.

The Blue Tongues now have four games in a row at home two against the second place Melbourne Ice and two games against the league leading Bears from Penrith. The first two games are this coming weekend against Melbourne with both games at 4.00 PM. Saturday’s game will be played at Iceland in Bundall, and Sunday’s game to be played at Acacia Ridge in Brisbane. Sunday’s game will give Blue Tongue fans in Brisbane a taste of Australia’s best ice hockey in their own backyard.