Selected photos from the 1st of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) games of the weekend between the Adelaide Adrenaline and Brisbane Lightning played on 8/08/2026 at the Ice Arena, Adelaide, South Australia. Jeremy Friederich would be the starting goaltender for the Adrenaline with Sam Poole as backup. Jakob Doornbos would be between the pipes for the Lightning. The game plan for the Adrenaline was simple, stop the 2nd highest point scorer in the AIHL league Tanner Hopps and get plenty of shots on goal. The Adrenaline also had the 6ft 6in/198cm Mongolian/Russian giant Batu Gendunov to contend with. Adrenaline’s Zachary Steele, their tallest player was a mere 6ft 3in/191cm tall. The teams were languishing in last and 2nd to last place on the AIHL ladder, and unable to make the finals this year so would be playing for pride.
The Adrenaline home crowd would have plenty to cheer about early as Nathaniel Benson struck first blood at the 16min mark (assists Zachary Steele and Coy Prevost) followed by Kolby Johnson scoring their 2nd goal at the 12min mark (assist Nathaniel Benson) to take an early 2-goal lead. Kolby Johnson would get a tripping penalty at 11:19 but there was no change in the score. Lightning’s Tanner Hopps would put the Lightning on the board with about 7mins to play in the period (assists Zachary Shankar, Grant Hebert). Scores would be all tied up at the 2min mark as Lightning’s Bryce Hodges equalised (assists Batu Gendunov and Sacha Rapchuk). Adrenaline’s Tim Payne would receive a hooking penalty with 13 seconds remaining to give the Lightning the powerplay in the next period. Shots on goal for the period: Lightning 14, Adrenaline 12.
The 2nd period was pretty even, and it would take until the 10:53 mark before a major change occurred as Lightning’s Thomas Kiliwnik received a roughing penalty. Coy Prevost would fire a shot on Doornbos, but it would be deflected out, and Adrenaline’s Julian Friederich hammered it home to put the Adrenaline up by one at the 10:14 mark. Lightning’s Neil Pretorius would tie things up at the 7:08 mark (assists Batu Gendunov, Sacha Rapchuk). At the 6:13 mark there would be a skirmish around the Lightning goal with 2 separate fights breaking out, resulting in Adrenaline’s Joey MacDougall (roughing) and Julian Friederich (unsportsmanlike conduct), and Lightning’s Luka Ouimette (roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct)2x 2mins) and Sacha Rapchuk (unsportsmanlike conduct) heading to the penalty box. At the 3min mark Lightning’s Zachary Shankar would get his team in front (assists Tanner Hopps and Grant Hebert). Adrenaline’s Coy Prevost got the home crowd erupted, as with 7secs remaining in the period tied things up, and more importantly, gave the Adrenaline much needed momentum going into the 3rd period. Shots on goal for the period: Adrenaline 15, Lightning 11 shots.
However, the Lightning would strike first at the 18:05 mark through Bryce Hodges (assists Aaron Wanat and Thomas Kiliwnik), but the seesaw scoring continued as Adrenaline’s Julian Friederich would tie things up again 5-all at 14:36 (assists Austin Pickford and Kolby Johnson). Lightning’s Grant Hebert’s roughing penalty and Adrenaline’s Kolby Johnson’s charging penalties at 7:52 would cancel out any powerplay opportunity. Austin Pickford would get the Adrenaline home crowd to go bunta as they edged ahead at the 7:05 mark, but there was plenty of time for the Lightning to strike back (pardon the pun!). The period was winding down and then a mad scramble in front of Jeremy Friederich goalmouth saw Lightning’s Batu Gendunov send the game into overtime with 37secs remaining in regulation time (assists Bryce Hodges and Zachary Shankar). Shots on goal for the period: Adrenaline 13, Lightning 10.
Overtime is played as a 5min 3-on-3 stint before the game goes to shootout to decide the winner. It would be Tanner Hopps to do the damage (assists Zachary Shankar and goaltender Jakob Doornbos) as the Lightning took the 2 points for an overtime win and the Adrenaline would receive the single overtime loss point.
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