Selected photos from the Adelaide Summer League Ice Hockey Division B Grand-final series (best of 3 series) between the Unicorns B and Huskies B teams played on 22/02/2025 and 23/02/2025 (and the following Thursday if needed) at the Ice Arena, Adelaide, South Australia.  The Unicorns had beaten the Stingrays in 2 games in their semi-final series, and the Huskies had beaten the Titans in 2 games in their series so it was expected to close and tightly fought Grand Final series.  The Unicorns had persisted in playing their Division B team with minimal input from their Division A side the whole season (ie only to had 10 on the bench) and this would be a strong point for their game play.   The Huskies had some big intimidating players and the Unicorns would need to shut down players such as Shu (Mo) Wang, Mark Ablinger and the very experienced Peter Baird.  For the Unicorns, the Huskies would need to curtail the likes of Andrew Sherman, Morgan O’Brien and Jordan Kutsche.  Goaltenders were Nick Merifield (Unicorns) and Tori Kellette  (Huskies).  As the episode of Shoresy said “Set the tone” and this would be crucial.

Game 1 – Unicorns B v Huskies B 5-1

The Unicorns did set the tone early as only 34secs into the period Andrew Sherman would beat Kellette, unassisted to give the Unicorns a very early lead.  At 9:26 Jordan Kutsche carved his way through the Huskies defence to score, unassisted.  Huskies big man John deCaux would head to the penalty box for roughing at 4:04 giving the Unicorns the powerplay but there was no change to the score.  The Unicorns had put a lot of shots on goal to “set the tone” and this was evident with shots on goal 13 to the Huskies 2 shots as the Unicorns defence did the job.

The Huskies would need to find solutions fast as the Unicorns Joel O’Brien put their 3rd goal on the board (assists came from Lara Khoury and Jordan Kutsche).  The Huskies John McClounan would receive a tripping minor at 6:36, and Unicorns Paul (Pavel) Hruby a roughing minor at 2:07.  The Huskies had managed to stifle the Unicorns scoring machine and this was evident with their 6 shots on goal to the Unicorns 3 shots, however the Unicorns held a commanding 3-0 lead.

Unicorns Hayden Crafter would inflict more pain on the Huskies, scoring early in the period, unassisted, at 18:37.  At 13:51, Unicorns Matthew Harms would be given a holding penalty, although it was dubious who was holding who.  This gave the Huskies a chance to start eating into the 4 goal lead.  However, Jordan Kutsche had other ideas and beat goaltender Kellette for his 2nd goal of the game shorthanded, on a Morgan O’Brien assist.  Unicorns Joel O’Brien would receive a tripping penalty at 2:21.  The Unicorns were heading for a shutout for goaltender Merifield for the 2nd week in a row, but a lot of traffic in front of goals with 20secs remaining saw the puck spill loose and Huskies Peter Baird would score top shelf from the “back door”.   Shots on goal for the game were Unicorns 22 to Huskies 14.  The Unicorns had played another all round team game.

In the Division A Grand Final game 2 played afterwards, the Huskies would level the series against the Titans, taking it to the deciding game 3.

Game 2 – Huskies B v Unicorns B