Championship Guide: Port Adelaide Brewers

The NHSL Finals are upon us. The Adelaide Xtreme and the Port Adelaide Brewers are the last two teams standing and ready to compete in a best-of-five series to determine the inaugural NHSL Champion.

The winning team also takes home a $25,000 cheque.  There's a lot on the line and it's some of the highest stakes these Australian players will have competed in.

If you're just joining us, welcome. Here is a refresher of Australia's first professional ice hockey league.

Or maybe you're here to get prepped for a big series that starts Friday 25 February at the Ice ArenA. Either way, let's have fun.

Yesterday we previewed the Adelaide Xtreme. You can read it by clicking here. 

Tickets are nearly sold out. Get them at www.bit.ly/NHSLTickets. All games will be broadcast live on SBS On-Demand each Friday at 7:00PM. The game replay will be shown on Free-To-Air TV on NITV at 2:00PM the Saturday immediately following the game. 

Today we'll break down the Port Adelaide Brewers.

Port Adelaide Brewers

Season Record: 5-3-0, 10 points (2^nd) 
Goals for: 44 (1st)
Goals against: 38 (2nd) 

Power Play %: 8-53 (15.1%, 2nd)
Penalty Kill %: 50-58 (86.2%, 2nd)

Biggest win: 5 goals (8-3 over the Stars)
Biggest loss: 2 goals (5-3 to the Xtreme and 7-5 to the Xtreme 

Season Results

Game 1 – Brewers 4 def Stars 3 (OT) (1-0, 1st place)
Game 2 – Xtreme 5 def Brewers 3 (1-1, 2nd place)
Game 3 – Stars 4 def Brewers 3 (1-2, 3rd place)
Game 4 – Brewers 7 def Xtreme 6 (2-2, 2nd place)
Game 5 – Brewers 8 def Stars 7 (SO) (3-2, 2nd place)
Game 6 – Xtreme 7 def Brewers 5 (3-3, 3rd place)
Game 7 – Brewers 8 def Stars 3 (4-3, 2nd place)
Game 8 – Brewers 6 def Xtreme 3 (5-3, 2nd place)

Season Story

The Port Adelaide Brewers enter the championship series as the hottest team in the league as winners of four of their last five. They started their season with a dramatic 4-3 overtime win over the Stars before dropping two straight games. After starting 1-2, they went 4-1 and enter the finals outscoring opponents 14-6 in their last two games. 

The Brewers dug themselves out of an early season hole but perhaps their most telling game was an 8-3 win over the Stars in Round 10. The Brewers were facing elimination in this clash and pulled out arguably their best game of the year with their backs against the wall. Zach Boyle had two goals and two assists in the win. 

Their defense and goaltending has been excellent the last two games and they’re starting to find their form.

It’s been a strange four games for the Brewers in 2022 but they’ve gone 3-1 and other than a handful of shaky minutes they’ve been the dominant NHSL team. 

Look at it this way: The Brewers allowed seven goals in the first 29 minutes of their first game of 2022. That was a game when they were down 7-0 at the midway point and came back and won 8-7. They also led 5-3 with ten minutes to go in a 7-5 loss to the Xtreme. If you eliminate that 40 minutes of hockey where they were outscored 11-0, the Brewers have outscored opponents 27-9.

Rephrased: The Brewers have played 12 periods of hockey in 2022. They’ve been outscored 11-0 in two of them and outscored other opposition 27-9 in the other 10. 

It's a team getting hot right now at the perfect time.

Key Strengths 

Goal scoring – They’ve scored more goals than any other team in the NHSL and it’s been a remarkable run as of late. In their last five games the Brewers have scored 34 goals. That’s an average of just less than seven goals per game. They also shoot more pucks on net than any other team, averaging a little over 44 shots per game. 

Never say die – This is the “never quit” Brewers. They’re literally never out of a hockey game. The most remarkable moment of the season was when they were down 7-0 to the Stars at the midway point of a game and somehow clawed their way back to win 8-7 in a shootout. They were also down 3-2 and shorthanded with three minutes to go in the first game of the year. They scored a shorthanded goal and won 4-3 in over time. There’s been moments this season when the Brewers are down three goals but get within a shot late in the game. You can never rule this team out ever. 

Top-to-bottom Production – The Brewers have 11 players who registered at least five points on the season. The next closest is the Xtreme with seven players. The Brewers are finding a way to get all lines involved and that makes it a really difficult proposition for any opponent.  

Goaltending

Their goaltender is 17-year-old Matus Trnka. He had a couple rough patches this year (see the 11-0 outscoring stretch in 2022) however Matus’ mental strength is excellent. 

He’s been the rock the Brewers have needed in all of their comeback efforts so far. He finds a way to stop the bleeding when required and keep his team in games. Matus has a knack for making a clutch stop that can alter the momentum of a game.

Matus is acrobatic and makes eye catching saves. An easy guy to cheer for with a big future (and present) ahead of him. 

Biggest X-Factor

The Brewers power play unit is heating up and that will need to play a big role in this series. After a slow start out of the gates this season, the Brewers have found some form with the man advantage. They are four for their last twelve opportunities and the puck movement has been strong.

Tomek Sak will also play a critical role in the series. He started the year as a forward but has played the last two games on defense. He can play anywhere on the ice, has a high hockey IQ, is as hard working as any player in the competition and can lay bone crushing hits. 

Point Leaders and Production

Zach Boyle led the team in goals and arguably carried the team when they needed it the most. His nine goals are the most as a defenseman and third most in the league. He also led the NHSL in +/- with a +11 mark. He is a catalyst.

Steve Best led the team in points with 13. He’s been doing it more with his vision lately, chalking up five assists in his last two games. He was a marquee player for a reason and remains one of the best players in the state.

The rest of the line up has been very balanced in scoring. If interstate players Harley Anderson and Jayden Ryan play each game then the offense will continue to be a handful. As mentioned earlier, 11 players have at least five points and that doesn’t even include Anderson or Ryan who missed a handful of games. 

Tyler Leeming is also heating up with 5 points in his last two games. The multiple-time IHSA MVP could be in for a big series.