The Newcastle Northstars have leapfrogged the Sydney Ice Dogs into second place on the Australian Ice Hockey League ladder after striking twice against the same opponents in a home-and-away double header across the weekend.
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The Northstars prevailed 6-4 in a high-scoring encounter at Hunter Ice Skating Stadium on Sunday after clinching a 3-2 penalty shootout victory at Macquarie Ice Rink on Friday night.
“We’re really happy with the outcome,” Northstars coach Joe Theriault said. “We’ll take five out of six [points] but on top of that we’ve taken the series, which is huge.”
After 16 games, Newcastle now move to 27 points and sit one ahead of the Ice Dogs (26), who have a two-way share of third. Perth Thunder lead on 33 and the Sydney Bears are fifth with 20.
Sam Lawson’s goal midway through Sunday’s third term broke the 4-all deadlock before Richie Tesarik netted his second in the dying stages to increase the margin.
The Northstars led 3-2 after the first term while import Nick Rivait’s double made it 4-2 at the end of the second.
A slip in Newcastle’s defence saw the Ice Dogs score two goals and level the game mid-way through the final period. But a goal from Sam Lawson, his first in front of a home crowd, and Richie Tesarik saw the Northstars clinch the three points and win the series against Sydney.
Sunday’s game between Newcastle and Sydney was the fourth and final encounter between the teams during the regulation season. From four games, three were decided by a shootout. The Northstars claimed the win in three of the four encounters.
On Friday night in the shootout Rob Haselhurst netted the winner for Newcastle, who rallied from trailing the Ice Dogs 2-0 to level the game. A lengthy shootout, Haselhurst’s goal was the winning shot from nine attempts.
The Northstars will face Adelaide Adrenaline and Melbourne Ice at HISS this weekend.
