Northstars split points on Brisbane Roadtrip

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On Saturday night, Brisbane Lightning 5 defeated Newcastle Northstars 4 in overtime, and on Sunday night, Newcastle Northstars 5 defeated Brisbane Lightning 1 to bring home four out of six possible points.
 
The team was bolstered by a dozen travelling Northstars supporters who wore the team colours proudly and cheered on from the stands.
 
This battle was important for both teams, with Newcastle wanting to stay at the top and Brisbane Lighting fighting to maintain a playoff position in second or third of the Rurak conference.
 
Assistant coach Dave Ferarri reflected on the team’s effort over the two games, sharing, “We’ve seen this group of guys really grow while our other guys have been out. Again, the Patrick Nadin line tonight was excellent, and we had some great shifts from them. Our special teams tonight were excellent, and our powerplays really sealed the deal for us.”
 
On Saturday night two goals scored by Ethan Hawes in the third period, including one scored with 26 seconds left in regulation took the game to overtime, where Brisbane would score and take the win.
 
On Sunday night, Newcastle came out fighting from the drop of the puck with Daniel Berno putting the visitors ahead 1-0 at the first intermission.
 
Brisbane scored early in the second period, and with a goal from Beau Taylor, Newcastle would go to the second intermission with a 2-1 lead.
 
Goals from Beau Taylor, Drew Robson and Alexander Yuill in the third period would seal the 5-1 victory. Robson’s goal during the third was his first AIHL goal as a Northstar.
 
“We’re in an important stretch of the schedule here”, stated Ferrari, “while it’s all in-conference games and we’re hunted by Canberra and Brisbane. So we’re really seeing the group like we want to be in Melbourne and we want to finish first. “
 
Assistant Captain Francis Drolet smiled as he shared, “There are a lot of positives, tonight was a big response after a crushing defeat in OT last night.”
 
“It’s always tough to come in and battle back and it’s a tough fight, so the guys bounced back and all the lines played well systematically and our powerplay was really clicking tonight.”
 
“I think the momentum we now have has the group feeling good, we’re sticking to the game plan and it’s been good.”
 
The Newcastle Northstars will travel to play against Canberra Brave on Saturday 29^th June and will play the Brisbane Lightning at Hunter Ice Skating Stadium on Sunday 30^th June.