Ice Freeze Blue Tongues

After suffering a 5-2 loss on Saturday, the Melbourne Ice completely dominated the Gold Coast Blue Tongues in the second of the double header home games at Bundall Iceland on Sunday night.

The Blue Tongues got off to an early 1-0 lead when Andre Selander netted the puck past Melbourne's Stu Denman just over six minutes into the first period. Melbourne's Matt Watkins evened up the score with two minutes remaining in the first, sending the puck past Gold Coast's Milan Novysedlak, playing in his first game back since his knee injury against the Ice Dogs on 20 June, 2009.

Matt Watkins netted his second, and Michael Beaton his first within the first 3 minutes of the second period, giving the Ice a 3-1 lead over the Blue Tongues. Frustration was evident for the Gold Coast, with a lot of turnovers in the neutral zone. The Ice were strong on defense and their offense kept the pressure on Novysedlak. Over seven minutes left in the second period, Matt Watkins scored his hatrick, taking the Ice to a 5-1 lead.

Blue Tongues' Jon Bale found the net to bring the Blue Tongues within 3 goals, but it wasn't enough. Less than 3 minutes in the second period, Keith Seckington and Tommy Powell both scored for the Ice within quick succession. Coach Kevin Sands made the decision to pull Novysedlak and send in the backup goaltender, Mark Paulsen. The Blue Tongues lifted with the change, and Jon Bale scored his second goal with 14 seconds left in the period, sending the teams to the locker room with the score 5-2.

The Ice were unflappable in the third period. Matt Watkins scored a natural hatrick in the third period, netting 3 goals against Paulsen to give the Ice a formidable 9-3 lead with 8 minutes and 46 seconds remaining in the game. The Blue Tongues were determined to not let them score 10 though, and rallied. The Blue Tongues managed to finish the game with 4 goals when fan favorite Ben Spillane scored his first and only goal of the regular season with 17 seconds left in the game. The final score was 9-4.

The Blue Tongues now head to Newcastle for the AIHL finals for the first time in their 5 season history. The Finals are being held at Hunter Ice Skating Stadium in Warner's Bay on August 29 and 30 2009. Tickets are still available, and for further information on how to join the Blue Tongues contingents following the team down, contact Dave Emblem at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .