North Stars lose out on points

North Stars force a diving save. Image (c) Mark Bradford

After a fantastic weekend of ice hockey, the North Stars will begin preparing to meet the Sydney Bears and the Canberra Knights next weekend.

This weekend saw the North Stars on the road to the Gold Coast to again meet the Blue Tongues.

In what Coach Garry Doré called a “very very hard game”, the North Stars were just beaten by the Blue Tongues, 3-2.

The North Stars only got points on the board late in the second period, taking out their lead to 2-0 in the third period.

But, in the final five minutes the Blue Tongues kicked their game into high gear and managed three quick goals to take out the game.

Sunday saw the North Stars home to meet the Sydney Ice Dogs, fresh off their 5-2 win against the Bears in their home of Liverpool.

The previous weekend the Bears beat the Ice Dogs, 5-2.

In a usual rivalry filled game, the North Stars and Ice Dogs put on a fantastic display of ice hockey, right down to the final seconds, keeping everyone on the edge of their seats.

The Ice Dogs drew first blood two minutes into the game, much to the stunned silence of the crowd until Billy Cliff cheered for his first goal.

North Stars import Jeremy Boyer answered the Ice Dogs goal several minutes later which was followed by a goal from Rob Starke off Boyer.

Todd Stephenson didn’t let the Ice Dogs trail for long, tying up the game 2-2 until Boyer once again answered to end the first period 3-2.

The second period was a tit-for-tat goal fest with Ice Dogs import Casey Mignone tying the game up 3-3, Scott Stephenson taking the Ice Dogs to a 4-3 lead, Beau Taylor closing the gap and Kirk Golden giving the Sydney side a 5-4 end to the period.

The third period was filled with frantic energy as a clearly frustrated North Stars side tried to break through the Ice Dogs defence, and get past Sydney goaltender Gabriel Robeldo Jnr.

But even after a five on three North Stars powerplay, the home team were unable to utilise their advantage, with the Ice Dogs getting yet another goal to take the score to 7-4.

Down but not out, seconds later import Brian Bales shortened Sydney’s lead, 7-5.

Following a game delay penalty called on the Ice Dogs with 46 seconds left on the clock, Boyer just missed on a penalty shot, hitting the goal post.

Six seconds later, Beau Taylor scored the North Stars one more goal, ending the game 6-5.

The North Stars will play as the away team against the Sydney Bears at the HISS next Saturday but will host the Canberra Knights on Sunday.