The Newcastle Northstars wanted to finish the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) regular season on a high… and they did just that at the weekend.

Facing the CBR Brave at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium in the final round, the hosts prevailed to the tune of 7-5.

They’ll now meet the Perth Thunder in a play-off fixture at home on Saturday 19 August, from 5pm.

Newcastle led 2-1 at the end of the opening period against CBR, via goals to Daniel Berno and Shane Southwood while rival Felix Plouffe snared one for the visitors.

The Brave then hit back, through Plouffe and Tyler Kubara, with Zane Jones netting the puck for the Northstars to level it all up at 3-all.

Francis Drolet and Berno pushed Newcastle ahead 5-3 before Kai Miettinen responded for a 5-4 scoreline.

In the third term, the Northstars surged to a 7-4 lead, courtesy of Drolet’s second and Matt Price.

However, Jake Riley replied for CBR to round it out at 7-5 in front of a capacity crowd.

“Even though we were down a couple of players, I thought the Brave brought their A-game, forcing us to lift to play our best,” assistant coach David Ferrari said.

“We stitched together 60 minutes of hockey [tonight].

“And, that’s what we’ve been working on all year… we’re seeing it come to fruition at the right time.

 “From the first to the last shift, we were relentless, and it’s definitely a positive going into play-offs.

“Getting the job done was fed by the fans, too.

“We’re really feeling the buzz of our sell-out crowds and we’re going to carry that with us into the coming weeks.

“The bench feeds off it, and the guys on the ice feel it, especially when they erupt with a chant or celebrating after a goal.

“We really see it in our following shifts as our boys are running off the adrenaline from the crowd.”

Newcastle captain Liam Manwarring said the win helped build momentum into this weekend.

“Everyone knows CBR Brave are one of the top teams in the league,” he added.

“We’ve had a lot of bumps this past month, and this victory puts us right back on track to get the job done as move forward.

“I am really proud of the boys tonight, everyone chipped in… it was unreal.

“We changed a few things up with some strategy and I think that’s helped us massively.

“It’s tough for teams to break out and do all the small things right and, when everyone does their job and we are as close to perfect as we can be, then we are setting ourselves up for finals.

“The crowd we have supporting us is so surreal.

“It is such an honour to not only lead this team but also this community.

“It gets me emotional to think about how far sports have come in this city and having them a part of our side and our journey is special.”

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