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With a huge win over The Bears in their season home opener, the pressure was on the Blue Tongues to once again prevail over the league leaders. Having been introduced to the smaller rink and hard checking style of play produced by Gold Coast, The Bears were expected to hit back, and fast, against the Blue Tongues in their second game of the double header.
The Bears did not disappoint, coming at the Blue Tongues early in the game and changing their tactics to not only start playing a physical game, but also stamping their authority over the control of the game. Both teams seemed to lack the energy they had during Saturday’s game, and some simple rookie errors caused a line change for the Gold Coast team, starting to run two lines instead of three. Despite The Bears claiming control of the puck for majority of the first period however, it was Dave Upton of the Blue Tongues who netted the only goal of the first.
Tempers flared in the second, with roughing calls on both teams, and it was clear that neither team were giving up on their race to be the next to pot a goal. Both Sydney’s goaltender John Daugulis and Gold Coast’s Simo Mustonen had their work cut out for them in net as each team made shot after shot on goal. However, once again the Blue Tongues made some silly mistakes, costing them dearly on the penalty kill. It was The Bears that led going into the third, winning the period 3 goals to the Gold Coast’s lone goal, ending the period 3-2.
Excitement ruled the third, as the Blue Tongues tied up the scores on 3 a piece, before The Bears took advantage of a lapse in concentration and took the lead once more at 4-3 with little more than 8 minutes left in the game. The Blue Tongues never gave up, and with just under 2 minutes left, tied the game 4-4.
Anticipation was high in the stands as the teams took to the face off after a penalty was called on The Bears, giving the Blue Tongues a powerplay with a minute left in the third. Their fans behind them, Gold Coast focused on the job at hand and with 46 seconds left in the game, defenseman Ross Howell netted the game winning goal. The Bears failed to even up the scores in the dying seconds of the game, giving the Blue Tongues their third victory in the last three games.
The first star of the game was Blue Tongues Captain and centre, Billy Crumm. Second star of the game was Blue Tongues Defenseman, Don Burke and third star of the game was Bears’ Roberto Franchini.
Next weekend, the Blue Tongues face the Newcastle North Stars on June 21 & 22 at Gold Coast Iceland, Bundall. Games start at 3.30pm.
The Bartercard Gold Coast Blue Tongues have done what many believed to be the impossible. After starting out 5-0 on the road, they have come back to win back-to-back games against the AIHL league leading Sydney Bears. The game, a hard checking, end-to-end battle came right down to the wire, with the final puck going in the net just 40 seconds before the end of the third period while the Blue Tongues were on the Power Play.
The Blue Tongues now have a week to recover before playing the Newcastle Inski North Stars next weekend.
We’re down to the wire now. Detroit lead the game 2-1 going into the second break, but the Penguins have momentum after Malkin scored on the powerplay.
Brian Rafalski and Valtteri Filppula both scored for Detroit.
Todays article by Ross McKeon of Yahoo! Sports is all about the Brad Richards trade to the Dallas Stars, and talks about how Richards shines during the post season. Richards fit into the Dallas system didn’t come easy however. After a career best 5pt game in his first appearance for the Stars, the star forward went the next 11 games with only a handful of points.
“It was a lot tougher than I ever imagined,” Richards said in preparation for Saturday’s Game 2 of a best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal series the Stars lead over the Anaheim Ducks. “The last couple of weeks I wasn’t doing anything wrong but I wasn’t doing anything right either. I had clogged my head with too many things. It’s tough when you get traded and your new team loses. It’s a new experience for me.”
- Yahoo! Sports
And then there was 2 days ago in Anaheim, in the Dallas Stars post season opener against the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Anaheim Ducks. A game that saw the Stars, with Richards assistance win by a convincing 4-0 shutout.
…Tippett said it was Richards’ best game as a member of the team, and that includes the Feb. 28 score-a-thon against the Chicago Blackhawks.
“It’s like when a traded player finishes up and comes back the next season. Everything comes easier, and that’s what we’re looking for right now,” Tippett said. “And (Game 1) was a byproduct of that transition from one phase to another.”
- Yahoo! Sports
Anaheim Ducks players and coaches alike had nothing but praise for Richards after his impact on Game 1 of the series.
“You’re talking about an MVP of the playoffs, we’re not talking about a player who doesn’t know how to get around the rink,” Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said.
“He’s one of those guys who can cause everyone a lot of headaches when they’re on the ice because it’s up to everybody to play smart and be in position to protect breakout passes and stuff like that,” Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer added. - Yahoo! Sports
Game 2 between the 2 clubs starts this evening, and the Stars can be sure to see a much more physical and determined Ducks team than they did in game 1.
It was quite possibly the most important game the Washington Capitals have played over the last 5 years. Going in to todays game against the Florida Panthers the Capitals were tied with the Carolina Hurricanes on 92 points for the lead of the South East Division.
Todays game left the Capitals with just 2 possible outcomes; Win the game and win the division, therefore securing themselves 3rd seed in the Eastern Conference. Lose the game and be be knocked out of playoff contention.
Alexander Ovechkin & the Capitals were never going to let this year slip away from them. After 60 minutes of play, the Washington Capitals won the game, their division and in the process secured the 3rd seed in the Playoffs.
Normally a team others look up for strong defensive play, a never say die attitude and gritty, hard hitting forechecking, the Dallas Stars of late have not fit the bill. In fact over recent games the Stars, who have gone 3-7-0 in their last 10 games are in a major slump, and have chosen the worse possible time to do it.
All teams go through slumps though, and in the NHL these days a slump means very little in the big scheme of things. The Detroit Red Wings, who lead the entire league in points went through a slump very similar to the one the Stars are in, and went on to a hot streak soon after. The San Jose Sharks had a slump before going on their current hot streak.
For the Stars then, it’s surely only a matter of time before the team gains back its confidence and gets back on track. Stars Captain Brenden Morrow spoke of confidence recently…
“That’s probably one way to describe it,” Stars captain Brenden Morrow said. “I think confidence is an attitude you have. We’ve had it at times, but right now we don’t, and it’s going to take more than just one game to get it back. It’s going to take a handful of games where you get ugly, where you dig in, and where you earn your bounces. That’s the way we have to look at this, we have to look at it that we have a lot of work to do.”
- Mike Heika, Dallas Morning News
The Stars face the San Jose Sharks later this week, and hope to break their slump in California. Word is BJ Crombeen has been called up from the minors, so maybe look to see a cold-streak winger be a healthy scratch during the upcoming games.
Pavel Datsyuk and the red hot Detroit Red Wings clinched the first playoff spot today by defeating Marty Turco and the Dallas Stars at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The win gives the Red Wings 100 points on the season, and gives them the win in their Division, and a guaranteed playoff spot.
The Dallas Stars looked good early on, pushing the lead out to 3-1 at one stage with goals from Jere Lehtinen and Brenden Morrow. Datsyuk scored with just under 4 minutes left in the 2nd period taking the Red Wings to the 2nd intermission only 1 goal down and boosted with confidence.
Datsyuk took just 34 seconds into the third period to score again bringing the score to 3-3. Mikael Samuelsson deflated the Stars hopes just 25 seconds later when he also found the back of the net. The Stars never recovered, and in the closing minutes Valtteri Filppula scored an empty netter to seal the victory.
“The first goal was a bad goal and the second, we didn’t check very well,” Stars coach Dave Tippett said. “Once you give up two quick goals to start a period, it’s hard to get the momentum back.”
- Yahoo! Sports
The challenge for the Detroit Red Wings now will be to maintain momentum through the final10 or so games of the season.
Going into the All Star break this year many people you could have been forgiven for assuming the Red Wings were guaranteed to take out the conference at the end of the regular season.
Who would have thought that the Red Wings, who dominated the season to that point in the competition would come out of the break looking like another, far less impressive team.
At the point of the All Star break, the Red Wings had a 17 point lead over the closest competitor. After todays loss to the Dallas Stars, their 6th loss in a row, that lead has been cut to just 8 points.
If the Red Wings are not scared yet, they should be. The Dallas Stars are on a roll and have their sights set on that top spot. 6 points behind Dallas are the defending champions, the Anaheim Ducks, who have yet to see the success they expected after the return of Scott Neidermayer and Teemu Selanne.
The west is a hot spot, and in the battle for the top 8 spots, there are in fact 12 teams still battling it out with realistic chances of making the top 8.
Todays article by 
It was quite possibly the most important game the Washington Capitals have played over the last 5 years. Going in to todays game against the Florida Panthers the Capitals were tied with the Carolina Hurricanes on 92 points for the lead of the South East Division.
Pavel Datsyuk and the red hot Detroit Red Wings clinched the first playoff spot today by defeating Marty Turco and the Dallas Stars at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The win gives the Red Wings 100 points on the season, and gives them the win in their Division, and a guaranteed playoff spot.
