Selected photos from the Saturday game of the Australian Women’s Ice Hockey League double header between the Adelaide Rush and the Sydney Sirens played at the Ice Arena, Adelaide, South Australia on 21/02/2026. This would be the last home games of the season for the Rush and they were desperate to make some inroads towards the next team above them on the ladder, the Sirens. Starting goaltender for the Rush was Emma Moonen, and for the Sirens Ella Licari.
The 1st period was one-way traffic as the Rush used their home ice well, with Kirsty Venus starting the scoring at the 13:31 mark, unassisted. Elana Holub would send a long shot from the blue line through traffic to find back of net with a bit over 10mins left in the period (assist Rylee Martin). Then on a powerplay (Sirens Kelsie Lang for roughing), Martin would score a goal of her own at 4:29 (assists Nat Ayris, Jordan Kulbida). Shots on goal for the period were however relatively even as Moonen stopped 10 shots, with the Rush sending 12 shots on Licari.
Play got a bit heated early in the period at the 18min mark as Sirens Adriana Herink and Rush’s Elana Holub were called for roughing and Amber Bedell for holding). There was a missed goal to Anika Wegund (refer to the photo in this series which was waved off by the referees) which would have put the Rush up 4-nil. Coach Stu Henly and photographer Pete Podlaha providing the evidence of it bouncing off the back upright but couldn’t sway the referee Connor Oxlad. This resulted in the Sirens suddenly awakening and piling on 3 goals for the period, silencing the home crowd (goal to Stephanie Newmark, 2 goals to captain Shelbi Guttormson). The penalties in the period didn’t result in a change to the score. Shots on goal for the period saw both teams put on 9 shots.
The 2nd break must have been interesting for the Rush after the frustrating 2nd period as they meant business. Rylee Martin would add her 2nd goal of the game on a powerplay (Sirens Kelsie Lang for holding) at 12:10 (assists were Kate Tihema, Kaitlyn Malthaner). Once the Rush had their noses in front they weren’t headed as Torie Cybulski scored at the 8min mark (assists Tiffany Venning, Jordan Kulbida) and Kirsty Venus her 2nd for the game at 5:54 (assist Jordan Kulbida). The Sirens made a change in net as the beleaguered Ella Licari was sent back to the bench to be replaced with Nayoka Wellard who would face 3 shots. With under 2mins to play Wellard was sent back to the bench of for the extra attacker. Not to be denied this time, Rush’s Anika Wegund would fire a long shot from near the left side of the goals all the way down the ice to find the empty net. Shots on goal in the last period of the 7-3 win to the Rush was Rush 12 shots to Sirens 10 shots.
Game 2 on the Sunday morning saw the Rush take out the 2nd win of the weekend in the high-scoring 8-5 game. Rush’s Jordan Kulbida had a quiet Saturday game, but put on a show for the home crowd as she scored 4 goals, including a hat trick in the last period! Nayoka Wellard was the goaltender for the Sirens. The double win put the Rush only 2 points behind the Sirens.
When selecting a photo to view, click on the thumbnail, then click on the small photo that first appears, to then view the larger image
