Some of the photos taken at the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) game between Perth Thunder (in finals contention in 4th place on the ladder) and Adelaide Adrenaline (a very slim chance of making it into the finals if a lot of ducks are lined up the same way) played on 17/08/2025 at the Ice Arena, Adelaide, South Australia. The Adrenaline now needed to top off the weekend with a second win in regulation and stop Yu Hikosaka, their main goal scorer, and 2nd highest points scorer in the AIHL. The Thunder added Kolby Johnson (Jamaican/Canadan) player who had ECHL and WHL North American Ice Hockey experience.
Smarting from the loss the night before by a rampant Adrenaline team, the Thunder ramped up the physicality for this one. Thunders Johnson brought some extra bite and judging by his constant big smile was loving playing here in Adelaide. But both teams seemed evenly matched. Nathanial Benson would score the first goal of the game at 12:10, for the Adrenaline (assist Romans Nekludovs) with the home crowd cheering just as loud as the previous game. Thunders Yu Hikosaka would head to the penalty box a short time later for boarding at 11:22. Nekludovs slotted a nice goal on the powerplay at 10:40 to give the Adrenaline an early 2-goal lead (assists Zach Boyle and Coy Prevost). Hikosaka would again fall foul of the referees, this time for a boarding penalty at 11:22, followed by his team mate Johnson for a cross-checking penalty at 10:15 right what the Thunder least needed with the Adrenaline now on a 5-on-3 powerplay. The Adrenaline were playing composed hockey and Coy Prevost would put the Adrenaline 3 goals up at 9:53 (assists Boyle, Josh Adkins). A late slashing penalty to Adrenaline’s Darcy Flanagan did not result in a change to the score. Shots on goal for the period: Thunder 12, Adrenaline 10.
Kolby Johnson would head back to the penalty box at 17:25 for tripping, but his team’s penalty kill unit saw off the penalty. Recent AIHL 200-gamer Adrenaline’s Steve Best was given a hooking penalty at 8:24 and Hikosaka would make short work of the powerplay sniping the Thunder’s first goal at 7:26. Shots on goal for the period: Adrenaline 9, Thunder 8.
A nasty incident occurred at the 14:43 mark of the 3rd period when Thunder’s Rob Haselhurst cross-checked Adrenaline’s Romans Nekludovs from behind just outside the goal crease with Nekludovs hitting the ice face first and he lay there motionless. This caused numerous skirmishes amongst the players. Thunder’s goaltender Aleksi Toivonen would be ejected from the game (20min game misconduct + 5min) for kicking Adrenaline’s Darcy Flanagan who would also receive a 2min roughing penalty for retaliating against Toivonen. Adrenaline’s Nathaniel Benson received a 2min penalty for high-sticking Rob Haselhurst after the initial cross-check which Rob would receive a 2min penalty for. Nekludovs was eventually helped off the ice by Daniel Chen and the Adrenaline’s first aid trainer. The long stoppage would halt the Adrenaline’s momentum. Once the game resumed, Thunder’s Villi Tenosalmi would reduce the margin to two goals at 12:44 on the powerplay (assists Kieren Webster, Jordan Kyros) as the Thunder now started applying the pressure and gaining the momentum. The Thunder players were starting to get frustrated with the Adrenaline players and their very vocal and enthusiastic fans with Jake Hamilton in particular engaging with the crowd. The frustration possibly stemming from the Thunder not appreciating the aggression from the 2nd to last team they assumed had no chance of playing in the finals (actual Thunder player’s words) and had expected the Adrenaline to just play “nicely” as these two team often do. Hikosaka however would try and get the Thunder back in the game and scored his 2nd goal of the game and the Thunder’s 3rd with 4:53 left in the game (assists Hamilton, Robert Lachowicz). The momentum had shifted to the Thunder, with the Adrenaline having not scored a goal since the end of the 1st period! They needed to whether the storm (pardon the pun) and it would be a nail-biting finish for the loud Adrenaline fans. And the Adrenaline would grind out a hard-fought 4-3 win, taking the full 6points from the weekend’s double header. Shots on goal for the last period were: Thunder 17, Adrenaline 6. The Thunder had thrown everything at the Adrenaline in the last period but the Adrenaline showed plenty of grit, and will hopefully take something from these games and put up a good fight against runaway ladder leaders the Melbourne Ice the next weekend who had the explosive ex-NHL’s David Booth amongst others. That would be the Thunder’s last game of the AIHL season and they would have a nervous wait on the results of the following weekend’s double-header with the Lightning having the potential to steal the 4th finals spot if they beat the Northstars in both of the weekend’s games.
