The Newcastle Northstars is keen to maintain its winning streak in the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) on the weekend.

And, the in-form local boys will have a big crowd cheering them on at home.

After successive triumphs over the Central Coast Rhinos (13-3 and 8-4) and Perth Thunder (4-2), Newcastle crushed top-of-the-table Brisbane Lightning 8-5.

They then backed that up to account for the Adelaide Adrenaline 6-5 in a last-round thriller.

The South Australians led 5-3 at one stage, however a double to Riley Klugerman and another goal to Josh Adkins saw the Northstars victorious in the dying stages.

“A win is always great… but we expect more from ourselves,” defenceman Ethan Hawes said.

“We want to start better.

“We can’t go down in games like that and we are a better team than that.

“They gave us a good fight, so we need to go back to training and work on it.

“We take a lot of pride in our special sides and our coach (Kevin Noble) doesn’t like them scoring against us on a penalty kill.

“So, it’s something we’ve been working on a lot.”

Newcastle next hosts a double-header at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium.

The Northstars face the Melbourne Mustangs on Saturday 10 June, from 5pm, and then the Thunder on Sunday 11 June at 4pm.

Injured captain Liam Manwarring is confident the outfit will prevail on the back of its recent performances.

“It was a good character win for the boys [against Adelaide]… and it was good to see it happen in regulation time, too,” he said.

“I don’t think it was our best, but I am proud of them for getting it done.

“We’ve done plenty of work on a number of aspects this week in readiness for the upcoming matches.

“And, I’m sure we’ll see them click into gear.”

• Newcastle Northstars roster: (3) Matthew Lindsay, (5) John Kennedy, (7) Riley Tonks, (8) Hamish Powell, (9) Wehebe Darge, (10) Daniel Berno, (11) Timothy Stanger, (12) Riley Klugerman, (13) Connor Schultz, (14) Matthew Price, (15) Beau Taylor, (16) Melker Molund, (17) Francis Drolet, (18) Ryan Duchemin, (23) Maliq West, (24) Josh Adkins, (25) Andrew Smardon, (26) Zane Jones, (27) Liam Manwarring, (29) Thomas Wedesweiler, (31) Charles Smart, (33) Sean Oultram, (43) Patrick Ward, (44) Tanner Butler, (71) Shane Southwood, (75) Matthew Montgomery, (77) Ethan Hawes, (86) Mackenzie Gallagher, (91) Patrick Nadin, (96) Hunter Ellen, (98) Ethan Spelde

For more sports stories:

• REAL NRL: Plenty of sting still in Scorpions, says Kirkwood
• Newcastle netballers urged to ‘have fun’ at state titles
• Northstars numb Adrenaline in ice hockey thriller

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