Buoyed by a big home crowd, the Newcastle Northstars won their second consecutive game against the Sydney Ice Dogs, 3-1, in the McCormack Cup at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium on Saturday night.
And, it was young gun Ethan Hawes who proved to be the difference.
Following a tense and scoreless first period, the Northstars struck twice – with both goals being orchestrated by the 19-year-old dual national.
The Ice Dogs mounted a counter-attack in the third stanza, scoring one goal.
But, the hosts put the icing on the cake with another blow one minute before the final siren.
The teams were locked at 0-all early on.
Then Hawes stepped in.
Assisted by John Kennedy Jr and Thomas Landa, the gifted “local” lad scored for a 1-0 lead.
He and Kennedy Jr then combined to set-up Alistair Rye as the Northstars surged ahead 2-0.
However, with nine minutes left on the clock, Sydney’s Grant Toulmin and Jeremy Vazquez teamed up, which allowed Daniel Pataky to reduce the margin to 2-1.
The Newcastle outfit composed itself, with Tim Stanger and Richie Tesarik enabling Frankie Vlasic to seal the hard-fought victory.
Photos: AK Streetphotography
The result keeps the Northstars competitive with the Ice Dogs and CBR Brave, their tally now two wins and one loss from their three games thus far in 2021.
Speaking after the game, Hawes credited assistant coach Ray Sheffield’s first break speech for putting him into the right frame of mind for the second period.
“Ray highlighted how a focus on our defence, through the neutral zone, had won us our last game against the Ice Dogs,” he said.
“So, we were able to call on that to claim another triumph.”
The Northstars’ next fixture, an exhibition with the Sydney Bears at Warners Bay, will take place on Saturday 5 June from 5pm.
