Mustangs maintain undefeated record to start season

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Melbourne Mustangs continued their undefeated run to start the 2023 Australian Ice Hockey League season with a dominant performance against local rivals Melbourne Ice and battling hard to win against defending Goodall Cup champions CBR Brave.

It is the first time in Mustangs history the club has started an AIHL undefeated after four games since coming into the competition in 2011, they have a 3-0-1 record and will now travel to Western Australia to take on the Perth Thunder in week four of the season in what will be another big test for the team.

Friday night would see the Mustangs take care of business in the first instalment of the Melbourne Derby this season with a 7-1 win, then on Sunday it was a 3-2 shootout result to beat the Brave in a tight contest.

Scott Timmins was the star of show on Friday night, netting his first hattrick of the season as the Canadian import looked in top form on the ice. Against the Brave it was Liam Hughes in net who would rise to the occasion as the Canadian goaltender came up with some big clutch saves down the stretch, including blanking the Brave in the shootout to get the win.


v Melbourne Ice
The Ice would open up the scoring in the first period through Hector Vrielynck to take an early lead in under three minutes, it was however, short lived as the Timmins show would start to get going.

Timmins would score three minutes after the Ice’s opener to level the scores, then alternate captain Sean Jones would give the Mustangs their first lead of the game and one they wouldn’t give up for the remainder of the contest. 3:54 before the period would end that man Timmins would once again pop up and bury one into the back of the net as the Mustangs took a 3-1 lead into the locker room following one period of player.

The second period would see the Mustangs put their foot on the peddle outshooting the Ice 20-6 and scoring three goals. Matt Armstrong and Vladislav Rachinsky hit the scoresheet for the first time, while Timmins netted his third and grabbed his first hattrick of the season. Two of the Mustangs three goals for the period were on the powerplay as their special teams went to work.

A more even contest in the final period would only see one goal scored as Armstrong put another one past his former team to pick up his second of the match.


v CBR Brave
Two teams that seem evenly matched it would be Matt Armstrong who would open the scoring for the Mustangs, getting his six of the season to give the home side a 1-0 lead halfway through the opening period. The Brave would even the scoring through Matt Harvey with under a minute remaining in the first period to send both teams into the first intermission locked at 1-1.

The final two periods were tight battles as each team scored once each as Thomas Flack scored the lone goal of the second period, Flacks second of the season, while once again Harvey would come up big for the Brave less than two minutes into the third period to make it 2-2.

Nothing could separate the two teams as the game headed for a shootout as Mustangs goaltender Hughes would stop all Brave shooters to get the win and keep the Mustangs undefeated record intact.


Speaking after the Melbourne Derby head coach Pat McMahon was pleased with the result and how the roster has handled the start of the season.

“The team group that we have got is really cohesive, everybody is getting along, it’s a great group of guys, and they are all buying into the system that we are coaching this year and working hard on it every practice.”

Scott Timmins is one of the biggest names to have arrived and played in the AIHL, this season his game has gone to another level, being dominant off the faceoff draw giving first puck use to the Mustangs.

“When you get a player that is at his calibre you kind of build a team around him, well we got other guys too that are on the same par as him, we are lucky to have the quality imports that we have, and it really brings the level of play up.

“We have been talking about that all season is just puck possession, we are really big on puck retention, passing the puck, making sure we are making solid passes and keeping the puck and not throwing it away.”

Mustangs squad depth is noticeable this season and while not getting the same attention as the top lines on the team, combinations of Flack, Jones and Rachinsky have been impressive on the forecheck and driving pressure, something McMahon was full of praise about.

“We got a lot of depth this year and it kind of shows in those lines, and I have been changing the lines around a little bit trying to find that right chemistry and balance for all the lines.

“And so far, it has been working out with that line, they just hustle hard and really grind down and just out play the other team all the time when they are out there.”