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Date: Sep 01, 2010

MELBOURNE ICE 2010 AIHL CHAMPIONS

After being runners-up for a number of AIHL seasons and before a packed crowd of Melbourne Ice fans, the Melbourne Ice finally triumphed to take the AIHL’s 2010 championship honours with a 6 – 4 win over the Adelaide Adrenaline at the new Docklands Ice House.  

This was a fitting historical win for the Ice as this was the Ice House’s first AIHL Final since the opening of the complex in February just prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The first semi-final game saw a fast pace game between the leagues 1stplace Newcastle Northstars and 2009 AIHL Champions & 2010 4thplace Adelaide Adrenaline. After two periods of play from goals by 7 different players, the Adrenaline led the Northstars 7 – 2. Early in the 3rd, the Stars’ wrecking foursome squad - Brian Bales, Blair Tassone, Chris Belanger & Peter Cartwright, made a come-back run to close the gap 7 – 6. With 01:55 remaining, the Stars were unable to score the much needed tying goal to force a possible overtime.  

Despite some incredible goaltending from Bear’s Nick Boucher, the second semi-final game saw the 2ndplace Ice completely dominate the 3rdplace Sydney Bears with 33 shots to 9 and a final game winning score of 2 – 1. The Bears Vladan Stransky scored midway in the 1stwith neither team able to score for the remainder of the 1stand the 2ndperiod. A controversial delay of game call opened the gate for the Ice’s Captain, Lliam Webster’s tying goal at the 11:16 mark of the 3rdand possible elimination from the final series. With 02:20 remaining, Ice’s Joey Hughes found the net for the winning goal.

The Final Game saw a seesaw battle between the Ice and Adrenaline with scores of 2 – 2 at the end of the 1stand 4 – 3 Ice at the end of the 2nd. The Ice opened their lead to 5 – 3 early in the 3rdwith the Adrenaline replying with their 4thgoal seconds later to close the gap 5 – 4. A controversial missed off-side call and both Adrenaline defencemen out of the play allowed Ice’s Captain Lliam Webster to walk in all alone for an unassisted and final goal of the game and the 2010 Championship. 

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