The Sydney Ice Dogs raced off to a flying start last weekend with a 6-1 win over the Gold Coast Bluetongues at home at the Liverpool Catholic Club (LCC) Sports Complex, but couldn’t finish off the Newcastle Northstars on the Sunday Night when they blew a 3-0 lead to lose 5-3 in Newcastle.

With the return of five national team representatives back from tour and all four North American Imports signed the Sydney Ice Dogs were locked and loaded for their match up against the Gold Coast Bluetongues. Canadian import Jamie Galbraith got his team [Ice Dogs] charging as he scored his first goal on Australia soil midway through the opening period. Gold Coast replied early in the second period whilst Sydney was busy in the penalty box levelling the score at 1-1.

That would be the last of the Bluetongues for the rest of the evening when the Ice Dogs buried three more goals (scored by defenseman Patrick Hornacek, import Brock Backus and Captain Anthony Wilson) leaving the second period at 4-1. Despite the score line the action didn’t stop with plenty of big hits, the odd scuffle and some nifty team work from both sides. The Liverpool crowd provided a great atmosphere for their home team to put away two more goals both from the combination of Todd Stephenson and Brock Backus in the third period (which is the last period of the game) to round out a perfect start to the season.

The Dogs picked up right where they left off at the start of their next derby in Newcastle the following night. Ice Dogs import Jassi Sangha opened the pups account as he manoeuvred around the last defender to get in for a close range shot that was a little too quick for the Northstars goaltender Matt Ezzy. Sydney would peak at 3-0 with two more tallies from American forward Matt Monaghan and Scott Stephenson before Newcastle managed to scrape their first one with a minute left in the first frame. Newcastle’s first goal proved to be the turning point of the game as they moved onto the offensive in the second and third period capitalising on the Dogs errors scoring four more unanswered goals. The Ice Dogs have a bit of sharpening up to do this week before they encounter the Canberra Knights next Sunday night May 3rd, 5:00pm at the LCC Sports Complex.