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Round 10 was full of AJIHL action all across the country. In Canberra the first ever AJIHL Tier 2 tournament was held featuring the Brisbane Blitz, Adelaide Generals, and Canberra Junior Brave. Brisbane managed to go undefeated through the tournament defeating the Brave 5-1, Generals 4-2 before beating the Generals in the final 3-2 to book their wild card spot at the AJIHL Finals Weekend February 27/28 at the Penrith Ice Palace. The Blitz were led by Anthony Santilli and Henri Mousset who both picked up two points each in the final.
Gavin Birchler led the Glaciers over the Whalers 6-0 contributing a hat-trick. His third goal coming off an impressive shorthanded effort.
Whilst the Glaciers and Whalers followed the same storyline, the Sabres have continued to build up their season. Their timing couldn’t be any better as they get closer to the playoffs. Liam Manwarring was instrumental on Saturday night (Jan 30th) as he notched two goals and an assist in the 4-2 win over the Wolf Pack. Cian O’Reilly and Cameron Smith got their team rolling as the Sabres raced out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. Manwarring added an unassisted tally early in the first which would turn out to be the game winning goal. Charlie Frazer and Harrison Good tried to get their team back in the hunt closing the gap by one until Manwarring buried the insurance marker early in the third.
Over in Perth the Pelicans managed to hold on for a 4-3 shootout win over the Sharks. The Pelicans blew a 2-0 lead set up by Jonathon Spalding and Joshua Santana. Tomek Sak and the Stolze brothers teamed up to halve the lead before Spalding added his second of the game replenishing the Pelicans two goal lead. Knapman and Sak managed to score the only goals of the third period to tie the game and force a shootout. Unfortunately they couldn’t finish the job as Pelicans Lachlan Dwyer put home the third shoot out attempt to win the game.
On Sunday back in Sydney the Sabres and Wolf Pack battled out another tough game. Aiden Sillato grabbing two points in a 2-1 win for the Sabres. Ellesse Carini got the first goal of the game assisted by Sillato. Bayley Kubara and Patrick Nadin combined to tie the game but Sillato was on fire putting home the game winner in the second period.