Adrenaline can't overcome heavy hitting Mustangs at home

The Adelaide Adrenaline did everything they could to make their homecoming an exciting one for the fans who packed the Ice ArenA on Saturday afternoon: A Mother’s Day raffle, an AIHL debut from Nikita Loria, Zach Boyle’s 200^th AIHL game (puck drop courtesy of Zach and his mum), and the team wearing their brand new official alternate jersey. With less than a dozen tickets remaining when the doors opened this may have been the biggest crowd the Adrenaline have seen at home in nearly two years, which is a true testament to how much they have improved in such a short time.

Long standing rivals Melbourne Mustangs tried to take control early on with heavy puck possession in the first period but the Adrenaline were always quick to cause traffic in front of the net, helping Toth to keep the shots on goal down before Mustang forward Scott Timmins was able to get the go ahead goal.

Eager to pull the game in their favour, the Adrenaline went on the offence in the second period with forward Josh Adkins leading the way by setting himself up perfectly for a handful of scoring opportunities. Mustang goalie Sebastian Woodlands was able to fend off any chance of the Adrenaline getting on the board until Kaden Elder was able to put one past him on a powerplay goal late in the second period. The third period started in favour of the Adrenaline when rookie Daniel Koudelka took an incredible shot and scored his first goal of the season, and his AIHL career.

“It was an unreal feeling, I kind of blanked out in the moment!” Koudelka laughed.

That goal absolutely electrified the hometown crowd and for the first half of the third period, the Adrenaline looked like a different team. However, the Mustangs were able to capitalize on several rebounds and messy turnovers and ultimately took the 7-2 win, with veteran Timmins racking up four goals alone.

“Looking ahead to next weekend, we’ve got to control the middle of the ice better and put some more pucks in the back of the net.” Koudelka said.

Adrenaline captain Joey MacDougall agreed that while the team has improved defensively overall this season they’ll need to focus on their offence in order to come up with more wins.

“Melbourne is a good team and we’ve got to find a way to step up and consistently play to that level,” he said. “Three weeks straight on the road is tough but we’ll try a few different things and make some change-ups against Canberra next weekend to see what sticks,” he said.

Catch the Adelaide Adrenaline as they play host to the Canberra Brave on May 18^th and 19^th at the Ice ArenA.