2024-2025 Adelaide Summer League Ice Hockey Semi-final series between Unicorns B and Stingrays B
Division B Semi-final game 1 – Unicorns B v Stingrays B 6-4
Selected photos from the Adelaide Summer League Ice Hockey Division B Semi-final Game 1 (best of 3 series) between the Unicorns B and Stingrays B teams played on 9/02/2025 at the Ice Arena, Adelaide, South Australia, straight after the Division A game. The Unicorns had finished on top in the minor round on count back and had beaten the Stingrays in a close one the last time they met. The Unicorns really wanted to win this one after two members had lost loved ones during the week, and the players wore white armbands in support. Goaltenders were Nick Merifield (Unicorns) and Kieren Smith (Stingrays).
The Unicorns were definitely fired up, and went in time and time again to pound the Stingrays goaltender. Andrew Sherman posted the 1st 2 goals at 17:45 and 14:01 to give the ‘Corns a good head start. Then Jordan Kutsche stunned the Stingrays coming from defence and carving his way through the Stingrays defence to add another. The Stingrays had no answers to the Unicorns despite trying aggression to counter the onslaught. Paul (Pavel) Hruby added another for the Unicorns at 6:23, before Sherman scored his hat trick goal at 4:24 (with his father smiling down on him)! Stingrays Dylan Smith countered soon after to put the ‘Rays on the board. There had been no penalties despite the occasional rough play. Shots on goal had been an economical 8 shots from the Unicorns to 2 shots from the Stingrays.
No time to rest on your laurels for the Unicorns as they knew the Stingrays would come at them hard and try to unsettle them. Hruby would restore the 5 goal lead at 10:42. A holding penalty at 7:16 to Unicorns Bonnie Mechan gave the Stingrays the powerplay and Steven Gresch made good use of it to score the ‘Rays second goal. Then deep into the period with 15secs remaining a bad pass from Unicorns Frank Kutsche to Jordan Kutsche saw the puck spill free and Arjuna Ravindran sprinted off the goal and scored the Stingrays 3rd goal to mount somewhat of a comeback, albeit a long way to go. Shots on goal for the period were 7-a-piece.
The Unicorns had been relatively good in the season at coming over the top of teams and holding onto leads and this would definitely be needed again to stop the Stingrays comeback and cause a boil over after the 5-goal lead. A strange high-sticking call at 18:48 was made on Lara Khoury of Unicorns to give the Stingrays a chance with the powerplay, but there was no change to the score. The Stingrays Yasmin Wilson did however find a way past goaltender Merifield at 12:00 on the clock to close within 2 goals, so it would be an interesting run to the final buzzer. Then another strange high sticking call at the 10min mark to Unicorns Paul Spray so their penalty kill unit back in action and saw off the penalty. In both cases the players claimed the sticks were not near other players, which would normally just result in just a puck drop….have to watch that on the video. The Unicorns snuffed out the Stingrays revival with Deon Nottle screaming at this team mates to gee them up. A late tripping penalty to Stingrays Daniel Porter all but sealed the final 6-4 result in favour of the Unicorns who had weathered the aggressive tactics. Shots on goal for the game were 21 to Unicorns and 17 to the Stingrays.
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All photos taken by Karen Kutsche
Division B Semi-final game 2 – Stingrays B v Unicorns B 0-5
Selected photos from Adelaide Summer League Ice Hockey Division B Game 2 of the best-of-3 Semi-final series between the Stingrays B and Unicorns B teams played on 15/02/2025 at the Ice Arena, Adelaide, South Australia. The Unicorns were looking to win the game and advance to the Grand Final series to defend their crown against either the Titans or the Huskies (last year’s runners up). The Stingrays were looking to win and take the series to Game 3. In goals for the Unicorns was Nick Merifield and for the Stingrays was Kieren Smith. The Stingrays would be without one of their best plays in Arjuna Ravindran, and the Unicorns would be missing the experience of Hayden Crafter.
The Unicorns were expecting the aggressive play from the Stingrays this time and withstood it well, so the two teams were very evenly matched but unable to score an early marker. The first major change happened when Stingrays Blake Smart went to the penalty box for hooking at 8:27 giving the Unicorns the powerplay, but they were unable to capitalise as the Stingrays penalty kill unit shut down all attempts. The deadlock was eventually broken when Unicorns Defenceman Jordan Kutsche broke through the Stingrays defence to put one up high on goaltender Smith and scored, unassisted, again with no Unicorns player close by for a pass (must have been mesmerised watching him). Shots on goal saw the Unicorns dominate with 7 shots to the Stingrays 2 shots.
The Unicorns Andrew Sherman was deemed for interference early in the period at 18:17 giving the Stingrays the chance to equalise with the player advantage. The play remained tight with neither team blinking! Eventually Unicorns Bonnie Mechan scored one of her freaky goals, with her body bouncing of the boards behind the goals launching the puck which collected the goaltender Smith from behind and went in. The goal was scored at 12:47 to give the Unicorns some much needed breathing room. Stingrays Dylan Smith then gave the Unicorns a further chance to go ahead at 6:58 as he headed to the bench for a tripping minor but the score remained at 2-0. Paul (Pavel) Hruby’s roughing penalty at 3:21 gave the Stingrays some hope but the penalty kill unit of the Unicorns were not going budge. Shots on goal for the period saw the Unicorns with another 7 to the Stingrays 4. The order at the break on the Stingrays bench was “MORE SHOTS NEEDED”.
The coach’s request on the Unicorns bench had been for the defence to be on their toes as they were expecting the Stingrays to come at them hard as per Game 1. However, Defenceman Morgan O’Brien put the ‘Corns up 3-0 at 10:17 as he barrelled his way through the entire Stingrays line to score, unassisted. A dampener for the ‘Corns came soon after when chasing a puck to beat a fast-charging Stingrays forward in the defensive zone, Frank Kutsche (me) got snagged and headed (bad pun that) into the boards head first and went back to the bench injured. Then at 7:50 Unicorns Scott Cameron would then add a further goal for the ‘Corns to go ahead by 4 goals to inflict some real pain on the Stingrays and make it very hard for them to come from behind to win this one, especially without the skill of Ravindran. Assists came from Morgan O’Brien and Dino Macri. With just under 4mins remaining in the period, Jordan Kutsche would add his second goal of the game, and the score would remain at 5-0. Frank Kutsche would return back to the ice with 2mins remaining nursing a stiff neck but determining to see out the game. The entire Unicorns team were ecstatic with their goaltender Nick Merifield’s shutout. The all-round team effort win was even more amazing given that about half the Unicorns team were suffering from the 2 day coughing virus!
When selecting a photo to view, click on a thumbnail, and then click on the single thumbnail that appears to view the larger image (larger photos available off site).
All photos taken by Karen Kutsche
