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 Kellett (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 Kellett, 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 Kellett 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.
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All photos taken by Karen Kutsche.
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
Game 2 meant the Unicorns could wrap up the series and take out the championship, or the Huskies to win to live another day and try and take out the Division A and B grand finals having both their teams in the two grand final series. Rumour had it that the Huskies had video-taped Game 1 and studied the Unicorns game play of every player the night after their Game 1 loss. It must have paid off as they came out strong, targeting key players to shut down any chance for the Unicorns to repeat their Game 1 dominant ambush of the Huskies. The Unicorns were expecting the Huskies to come out swinging and throwing everything at them in this crucial must win Game 2. Both teams were unable to get an advantage over each other, and aggressive play was the order of the day, no niceties today! Unicorns Paul (Pavel) Hruby would be deemed for roughing at 11:41 after receiving plenty of attention, giving the Huskies the player advantage, but the penalty kill unit saw off the penalty. Then at 9:05, Huskies Mark Ablnger got a 2min minor for hooking but there was no change in the score. With 2:07 on the clock the Huskies made the breakthrough, with Daryl Melhuish scoring from a Alexzandra Baird assist. Shots on goal for the period were Unicorns again dominating with 7 to 2 shots from the Huskies.
Second period was just as intense. Huskies Luisa Cash would head back to the bench for a interference call at 17:15, but the Unicorns were thwarted time and time again by the Huskies defence and excellent goal tending from Tori Kellet. Then at 3:43 Matthew Steele landed a body check and gave the Unicorns another chance on the powerplay, but no goals resulted. Then a minute remaining, and Huskies experienced Peter Baird received a hooking minor. No goals had been scored but plenty of frustrations had been shown with perceived missed calls from the referee as the play was getting very scrappy. A downer for the game was when Unicorns Lara Khoury would receive a heavy knock into the boards behind the goals, winded and disorientated for a while. Shots on goal with the play so tight had been considerably less, Unicorns 4 to Huskies 1.
A lot of soul searching was needed for the Unicorns as the Huskies definitely had their measure, and also a chat to the officials regarding things getting nasty out there. Unicorns coaches Joel O’Brien and Chris Rondeau requested their players to dig deep and just play “their game” and not get sucked in to anything that had been so successful the whole season. This must have been the catalyst as the Unicorns must have just noticed the shiny ASL Cup sitting in the timing booth. Dino Macri combined with Scott Cameron and Morgan O’Brien to tie the score, finally. The spectators and Unicorns bench went absolutely bunta! This spurred on the Unicorns and Dino Macri would score again to put the ‘Corns ahead. Assists came from Morgan O’Brien and Scott Cameron again. It looked like the ‘Corns trait of having enough heart and drive left for the last period burst was happening again. However now came the task of protecting a slender 1-goal lead for the next 16odd minutes, perhaps a tall ask against a rampaging, hungry Huskies side? The Unicorns defence was strong though and determined, and with less than 2mins left to play, the Unicorns bottled up the puck in Huskies defensive zone giving them no chance to send goaltender Kellett back to the bench for an extra attacker. Both teams had managed to thwart leading goal scorers. Jordan Kutsche for the Unicorns, who was playing sick it turned out, and just couldn’t get past Kellett today, and Shu (Mo) Wang for the Huskies, with two Unicorns attacking him every time he tried to power forward. The Unicorns went on to win, and claim back to back Adelaide Summer League Division 2/B Championships. Shots on goal for the last period (which had no penalties) was Unicorns 7 to Huskies 5. Had been an absolute pleasure to play with this Unicorns side this year, especially with son, Jordan as my defence partner.
All photos taken by Karen Kutsche
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Division A Grand Final game 3 – Huskies A v Titans A 1-0
With the Grand Final series at one a piece this game was poised to be an absolute belter. If you thought the Division B was intense, the Division A Grand Final decider (Game 3) dialled it up a notch. Both Huskies and Titans teams did not give an inch and it took until 1min remaining in the entire game before a score was registered. Huskies wily old fox, John Hong put the Huskies up after assists from Stuart Gepp and Duane Hanlon and then shut down everything the Titans could serve up to claim Adelaide Summer League Back to Back Division 1/A championships. Goaltender Tori Kellett have been part of the Huskies Division B losing team cam away with the Cup in this one. Not too shabby playing 2 intense games after each other!
Photos taken by Frank Kutsche (recovering from the Division B final just before) of the 1st period.
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