The flight home Sunday night was a slow and painful trip for the Ice Dogs as they narrowly defeated the Melbourne Ice in a shootout 5-4 on Saturday but were flattened 8-3 by the undefeated Adelaide Adrenaline on Sunday.

The Ice Dogs will need to go back to more than the drawing board to find their skates again,”I think this road trip really put things in perspective, we have to be mentally prepared every play to get the small things done in order to get the results we want at the end of the game” explains Import Jamie Galbraith who scored the first goal against Melbourne.

Canadian Import Jassi Sangha managed to get his Sydney side ahead scoring two breakaway goals. One of the goals Sangha slid the puck through the legs of three Melbourne defenders before dazzling the goaltender and scoring to stretch a comfortable 4-1 lead.

But before the pups could blink the Ice responded with two flashy goals to close the gap to 4-3. With 30 seconds to go Dogs goalie Jimmy Herbert robbed Melbourne’s import Lacasse with a glove save. Unfortunately the Dogs did not get off that easy when Melbourne tied the game with 0.9 seconds on the clock forcing a shootout.

Sangha was up first in the shootout and scored with ease. Herbert shut out all of Melbourne’s three shootout attempts to silence the crowd and give Sydney the win.
A slow start in the opening period against a high flying Adelaide unit left Sydney down 3-0. Again it would be Sangha to give the Ice Dogs some life to finish the first period down 3-1. The Ice Dogs showed glimpses of crawling back into the game but between spending too much time in the penalty box and defensive zone lapses the Adrenaline took full charge running away with the game.
Captain Anthony Wilson missed the road trip due to a groin injury but hopes to return at full strength for the Ice Dogs next home game against the defending champions the Newcastle Northstars.

Canadian Import Jassi Sangha managed to get his Sydney side ahead scoring two breakaway goals against Melbourne and the Dog's first against Adelaide.

The Sydney Ice Dogs will have to get their act together before travelling to Melbourne and Adelaide next weekend after a disappointing performance in a 3-1 loss against Canberra last Sunday night.

Off the mark the Dogs came out firing as Scott Stephenson put away his first goal at home off a set-up from Import Jamie Galbraith. The Dogs might have headed into the locker room with a one goal lead, but the Knights came back out into the second period with 2 goals.

Ice Dogs top defenseman Andrew White dropped the gloves with Canberra’s Captian Mark Rummakainen in hopes of building some momentum as the two went punch for punch before ref’s intervened.

As the players went hit for hit both goaltender’s Jimmy Herbert (Ice Dogs) and Ryan Lowe (Knights Import) traded save for save. Herbert managed to stop two breakaways and even a 2 on 1, but it would be Lowe who would steal the show and shut out several close attempts from the Sydney attack up to the dying seconds.
The Knights third and final goal was an empty net goal scored with 0.2 seconds left in the game as Sydney had pulled their goalie in exchange for an extra attacker which in the end backfired.

The pups will be on what is regarded as one of the toughest road trips in the league facing Melbourne next Saturday before taking on the Adelaide Adrenaline on the Sunday.

Ice Dogs Defenseman David Dunwoodie doing his best to dodge the Knights defenders

For the last two seasons the Penrith Bears have had the upper hand over the Sydney Ice Dogs winning 7 out of 8 encounters since 2006. But the Sydney Ice Dogs have somewhat reversed the curse defeating the Bears last Sunday night 5-1 at the Penrith Ice Palace.

Missing Captain Anthony Wilson, import Matthew Monaghan and veteran defenseman Patrick Hornacek to injuries the Ice Dogs were in for a challenge.

Canadian Import Jassi Sangha picked up where he left off from last weekend putting the first goal up for the Ice Dogs. The Bears replied just minutes later to level the score at one a piece.

The Bears marker seemed to have sparked something in the feisty pups as the physicality of the game increased tremendously and in the usual fashion the Ice Dogs accustomed themselves to the sin bin. Andrew White would set up Scott Stephenson for a tip in on the power play to increase the lead by one.

White then when onto score shorthanded firing a blistering slap shot past the Bears net minder as he was flying down the wing in the second period.

After that it became the Herbert’s show as dog’s goaltender Jimmy Herbert shut the doors on the troubled bears while his brother and forward Scottie Herbert put home the fifth and final goal.

The Sydney Ice Dogs face off against the Canberra Knights this coming Sunday at the Liverpool Catholic Club Sports Complex, puck drops at 5pm.

Canadian Import Jassi Sangha looks to be settling in, as he tallied a hat trick last Saturday night in the Sydney Ice Dogs 6-1 win over the visiting Penrith Bears at the Liverpool Catholic Club Sports Complex.

Sangha started his scoring spree a few minutes into the opening frame with a blistering slap shot from out far. Determined to redeem themselves after last weeks defeat the Penrith Bears answered back not too long after capitalising on an Ice Dogs penalty. Tied at 1-1, the Canadian struck two more times to give the Ice Dogs a comfortable 3-1 lead and his first Australian Ice Hockey League hat-trick. “It was important for us to get the win tonight, we seem to be coming together as a team and that will benefit us further along in the season” added Sangha.

With a 3-1 score line the Sydney rivalry was re-ignited as the Bears Goaltender did not take too kindly to a collision with Ice Dogs forward Todd Stephenson, in which the two exchanged “gloves” before the referee’s would intervene. Stephenson would later score the final goal for the Ice Dogs to finish off the 6-1 victory.

The Dogs will face the Bears in Penrith next week, before the Canberra Knights come to town Sunday May 24th at the LCC Sports Complex.

A classic Australian Ice Hockey League rivalry kicked off the Sydney Ice Dogs weekend as they defeated the Penrith Bears 5-1 last Saturday in Penrith, before the Canberra Knights rode into town to steal a 3-2 shootout victory at home in Liverpool on the Sunday.

It has happened twice now this season where the pups have sealed victory in the first of a doubleheader weekend to fall short on the Sunday night. Despite outshooting the Knights 36-10, they could not seem to finish the job in regulation time. This worked in Canberra’s favour as their new Californian Goaltender Ryan Lowe was hot and with the majority of the play spent in Canberra’s end the ice was pretty scrappy and not the best to manoeuvre in a shootout. Canberra’s Finish import Marko Raita scored first in the shootout and that was all it took to win as Lowe shut out all three Dogs shooters for the win. “We played solid defensively which is something we stressed after last weekend, but this weekend we didn’t capitalise in front of their net” added Australian and Ice Dogs defenseman Andrew White.

Next Saturday night will be an intense and physical rematch between the Penrith Bears and the Sydney Ice Dogs at LCC Sports Complex in Liverpool. If you ever wanted to check out an Ice Hockey game this would be the one. Game starts at 5:00pm, Adults entry is $12 and Kids entry is $6 and be sure to wear a jumper at the game!