Double Hatricks In Blue Tongues Win

With veteran goaltender, Milan Novysedlak returning between the pipes, the Blue Tongues took to the ice to face off against the Sydney Ice Dogs in Bundall on Saturday night. The game started hard and heavy, as the Ice Dogs brought a physical element to the game straight off the puck drop. Just under three minutes into the first period, Gold Coast local Dave Upton left the ice with a lower body injury, and didn't return to the game. Blue Tongues import Brad Smulders was the first to score on Sydney's Jim Herbert just over two and a half minutes left in the first, to take the Blue Tongues to a 1-0 lead going into the second period.

Heartbreak occurred just over 3 minutes into the second period when Novysedlak was assisted off the ice with a suspected knee injury, having faced 18 shots in the game. Back up goaltender Mark Paulsen skated out to take his place between the pipes in a period that started with the Ice Dogs dominating for much of the first couple of minutes. Seemingly spurred on by the loss of Novysedlak, and finding their positioning in the offensive zone, Brad Smulders and Andre Selander put two quick goals on Herbert only 8 seconds apart. With a 3-0 lead, the Blue Tongues built on the momentum, when Trevor Walsh and Marco Bertossa also scored less than three and four minutes later respectively. There was only 102 seconds left in the second period when Smulders scored his hatrick, bringing the score to 6-0. The Ice Dogs refused to let sleeping dogs lie, however, and Shannon McGregor slid one past Paulson only 21 seconds after Smulders celebrated his third goal of the night to take the teams to the intermission at 6-1.

The Ice Dogs came out firing in the third period, with hard hitting checks and strong passing in the neutral zone. The Blue Tongues found it difficult to keep possession, especially when Andrew White managed to get Sydney's second goal past Paulsen. Gold Coast regained their focus, and import forward Andre Selander wasn't about to let Brad Smulders take all the glory though, as he added to the Blue Tongues tally just under 4 minutes into the third period. Nearly two minutes later, Smulders scored his fourth goal of the night, before Selander got one more past Herbert with only 50 seconds left in the third period. The game ended in a 9-2 victory to the Blue Tongues.

Brad Smulders finished the night with 4 goals and 4 assists. Andre Selander scored 3 goals and 2 assists and the Gold Coast put 38 shots on net. Paulsen did a great job in net, letting in only 2 goals off 22 shots.

The Blue Tongues face the Sydney Ice Dogs again on Sunday 21 June 2009 at Iceland Bundall. Puck drop is at 3.30pm.