Game Recap: Brewers 6 - Xtreme 3

Port Adelaide Brewers goalie Andrew Glass had a Friday night he’ll never forget.

The veteran goaltender, usually the back-up for starter Matus Trnka, got the start vs the first place Xtreme and brought a mixed bag of equipment with him.

Glass had all his goalie equipment stolen last month and needed a patch job just to hit the ice. He borrowed a mixture of equipment from three different South Australian goalies. Glass wore Glen Forbes White’s pads and pants, Sam Poole’s skates and Sam O’Neill’s “everything else.”

But it was the man behind the equipment who got it done. Glass turned away 27 of 30 shots in a 6-3 Brewers win to send his team into the playoffs feeling good.

The Brewers and the Xtreme will now meet in the Finals Series starting on Friday 25 February. The winner of that series becomes NHSL champion.

The Xtreme opened the scoring with Xander Wardlaw’s first of three goals. His hattrick propelled him to the top of the NHSL points lead and tied with Yoann Levesque for most goals in the NHSL.

Wardlaw had the Xtreme up 2-1 midway through the second and a penalty shot – an opportunity to put his team up by two. However, Andrew Glass made a nice glove save on the sharp shooter to keep it a one goal game.

That’s when the momentum changed. Adam Wise, Jeremy Klein and Nicola Pau each scored a Brewer goal inside the last five minutes of the second to surge the Brewers ahead 4-2.

Wardlaw scored again thirty seconds into the final period to make things interesting.

The Xtreme built up the pressure in the first part of the third period but again Andrew Glass stood tall.

When Tyler Leeming scored with 7:13 to go in the game for the Brewers it felt like the wind had been taken out of the contest. Dylan Pope scored with 3:33 to put the game beyond doubt. 

Leeming had another multiple point night, giving him five over the last two games. 

The Brewers and Xtreme both finish the season with a 5-3 record and split the season series with two wins apiece. The Xtreme win the minor premiership because they have more regulation wins.

Both sides will be propelled by the return of notable exclusions for this game. Defensemen Graham Charbonneau and David Huxley missed the final game of the season for the Xtreme, while interstate players Jayden Ryan and Harley Anderson missed this one for the Brewers.

Either way, it should be a closely contested Championship Series that starts in less than a week.