Mid-Season Team Guide: Adelaide Xtreme

The Noarlunga Stars and Port Adelaide Brewers returned after the Christmas Break and played one of the most dramatic hockey games you’ll ever see.

The Stars led 7-0 in the second period before coughing it up. The Brewers stormed back to win 8-7 in a shootout.

Welcome back to the NHSL, where logic goes to die and anything can happen.

The Xtreme will hope to avoid this chaos when they return on Friday 21 January vs the Brewers. The last time they played the Brewers it was exactly that – chaos. It was a 7-6 Brewers win to hand the Xtreme their only loss of the season. 

The Xtreme are in first place with a 3-1-0 (6 points) record. Managed by Tash Farrier and coached by Eric Lien, the Xtreme have looked good but not unbeatable. 

They’ll play their first game since December 17 on Friday.

Here’s your refresher. Get your tickets for the game at bit.ly/NHSLTickets. 

Here's the review for the Port Adelaide Brewers.

How have they gone so far? 

November 19 – Xtreme 5 def Brewers 3
November 26 – Xtreme 6 def Stars 4 
December 10 – Brewers 7 def Xtreme 6 
December 17 – Xtreme 4 def Stars 3

The Xtreme have been the most consistent of the three teams. They roll three solid lines, have built leads in three of their games, and have a lot of depth. 

They seem to play a much more controlled game than the other teams in the first half. 

At first place you set the standard but the other teams will be gunning for them now. 

What are the trends? 

Let’s start with the good stuff…

- Face-off percentages. The Xtreme have won 68% of their face-offs this season. When you start with the puck you have a better chance of controlling the tempo. 

- Versatility. The Xtreme drafted seven centres. That’s more than any other club. You can see it already pay off in the face-off circle but it also helps them when injuries occur. The last game vs the Stars captain Joey MacDougall was a late scratch due to a rib injury. Noah Maley slotted over to centre the second line, Jared Siemens moved to the third line, and they deployed a different look that got the job done. It’s a big depth of players that seem to know their roles. 

- Starting on time. The Xtreme have scored first in three of their four games. In fact, they’ve scored a goal in the first ten minutes of all four of their games. Their offense doesn’t take long to generate.

- Power play percentage. It’s probably not as high as they’d like it to be but the Xtreme own the highest power play percentage in the league showing they are able to take advantage of opportunities. 

- Sharing the love. 11 players have at least two points. 15 players have found the scoresheet. That’s more than any other team at the mid-way point.

And now the stuff that needs improving…

- The Xtreme have been outscored in every third period they’ve played except for one. I get that the other teams are generally behind and chasing goals, but you’d like to show that either a) you have the ability to close teams out and pull away or b) come back yourself. Being outscored 11-6 in third periods is something that they wouldn’t be happy with. Let’s see if they can complete the 60 in the second half.

- Short handed goals. The Xtreme have allowed a short handed goal in each of their last three games. YoannLevesque has two of those goals.  

Who are the key performers? 

Scroll to the bottom for the full breakdown of players and stats. But here are five players who you should know about on the Xtreme:

1. Xander Wardlaw. A player who moved here from Sydney. The 21-year-old has been electric on the ice. He leads the team in goals and shares the lead in points. He can create something out of nothing. I’m sure he’s gaining national team attention. 

2. Nathaniel Benson. Wardlaw’s linemate, 20-year-old Benson has distributed the puck well. He has six assists which leads the Xtreme and the NHSL. He has the ability to play a two way game when required.

3. Noah Maley. Get to know his name. He’s an absolute “dog” on both ends of the ice. He creates opportunities out of pure hard work. He’s played centre and on the wing. The 18-year-old has made a name for himself and is maybe the Xtreme’s most consistent player.

4. Joey MacDougall. Captain Mr. Showtime has led by example and backed it up with five points in three games. He can play up and down the line up and leads the team in all respects.

5. David Huxley. The 260+ game AIHL veteran came out of retirement to play in the NHSL. He stabilises the back end. 

The biggest reason to feel optimistic is…

The Xtreme are as deep as a team as any. They’ve played the best and most consistently out of the other three teams. It would feel good to be on top!

That’s no reason to get complacent. But they are detail oriented, versatile and already in first place.

If they can defeat the Brewers on Friday they’ll gain distance and move just one point away from clinching a finals birth.

Quote from the Coach, Eric Lien 

It’s definitely a unique time to try and assemble a hockey team.

At the start of the season our team goal was to be 3-1 at the Christmas break and to establish a solid foundation of agreed Principles. As part of our journey it was important to get validation that we could achieve our goals if we stayed focus, worked hard on and off the ice, and followed the Principles. So to look back in the rear view mirror we should be happy we started well.

We have jumped out to early leads in three of the four games but we have lacked the ability to put teams away, last Friday was a classic example of no lead being safe in the NHSL. We will have to focus on finishing off games strong and we will have to learn how to win when playing from behind; no team wants to have a negative goal differential in any period let alone the third period when the game is on the line.

So going in to the second half of the season we have the choice to be satisfied with what we have accomplished or we continue to put in the work, clean up the deficiencies in our game, and treat every game as a must win. The fact we are currently in first place but only have a +4 goal differential and we have been outshot in 2 of 4 the games highlights the parity in the League and the difference between a winning record and a losing record is a very fine line.

We know the second half will be more difficult as the race for play-offs intensifies so we have to be up for the challenge.

Player Stats