Music
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Hi, I'm Dan Nichols and welcome to Top Shelf.
It's the final round of the NZ IHL regular season and we've had a great time bringing
you the action so far this year, but we've got one more round for you.
We're here at Alpine Ice Drink in Christchurch where the Dunedin Thunder will take on the
Canary Red Devils.
Now the Dunedin Thunder will be wanting to finish this season on a strong positive note
where the Red Devils will be wanting to bounce back after the loss of the TKRT trophy last
weekend.
Nichols down rinks over the head coaches to get their thoughts on the upcoming games.
So Anatoly, are you looking to rest any players in preparation for the finals this weekend?
Well, no, the three of them, we're full on.
I mean, there's a few guys who have some minor injuries and stuff, but basically all the
best players are playing today.
How do you feel you've handled the injuries for the team this year, Janos?
Obviously, we haven't had a great season, but at least we had a lot of young players
stepping up and getting a lot of ice time.
So we're just waiting for the future and I think those guys have a bright future in
using on ice hockey.
Tonks picks that in his own zone, sends it up the boards.
Lichandia gets it, center ice, and he sends it in deep, it's tipped in.
Hajou picks it up on the blue line, comes in, has a quick shot, and he gets it through.
Hajou there following in his own shot, getting the rebound, Coleman couldn't cover that one
in time.
Pressured there by Harrison, but he gets away.
And a penalty is called.
Penalty there on the Thunder play, gets called for holding as he was trying to stop Brown
making his way up the ice.
Another puck drop, and it comes back to Eden, has a quick shot on the point and it goes
in, water rocket.
He sends it to Tonks to center ice, finds Kopecky coming through the middle, Kopecky
holding there on the side, finds Tonks coming through the slot, has a shot, and he goes
top shelf, what a goal from Tonks.
Lovely set up there by Kopeck, he just delays a little bit on the sideboards, finds Tonks
in space and Tonks just does the rest.
Gets back to that one, and Lane picks it up coming out, Dee falls over for the Thunder,
Lane has a quick shot, and he scores.
Lane with his speed goes round the outside, straight in on Shuck and beats Shuck, local
up.
Sends it up, finds Pickering, but it's stopped there, Kopecky picks it up, coming into the
Thunder zone, drops it to Tonks, Tonks has a shot, and he nails it right up top, what
a shot from Tonks.
Puck drops in the Canterbury zone, shot from the point there, but it's stopped, Rackler
finds Spears coming into the Thunder zone, Spears does a nice move, has a quick shot,
and he puts it home, what a move by Spears, he pops that one up top shelf.
With that goal, Brett Spears now moves to 50 points while playing for the Canterbury
Red Devils.
Kopecky has it, sends it across to Lawrence, sends it up to Tonks, Tonks coming in, he
waits up, has a quick shot, and he finds the back of the net once again, what a shot.
Lovely patience there by Tonks, just makes a little wee move there, gives him a bit more
time and just gives him plenty of time in front of the net, very hard save there for
a goalie to make.
It's a needed thunder again going for another change from the goalie, Shucks going back
in instead of Wilson.
Puck's in the corner there, plays Batlem for it, and the puck comes out to the point,
Schwertec winds up for a quick shot, and he rips it right into the back of the net.
A lot of physical play here, Kopecky has the puck, chips it in, White chases into the
Thunder zone, gets the puck there, sends it on a bad angle and it goes in.
Oh wow, bad angle shot there, just throws it towards the net, makes the most of it.
Schuck just wasn't ready for that one, and White gets his first NZIHL goal, goes wide,
Eden still has it here, pressured by a lot of players, Spears picks that one up in the
corner, sends it in deep, Ratcliffe with it, drops off to Schwertec, and he makes no mistakes
there and puts that one in the top corner, Kopecky in the corner, tries to stand in front
but it's picked up there on a breakaway, here's Hyde, comes in, nice move, and he scores.
Lovely read, Parasite picks off the pass from Kopecky there and back in the zone zone,
goes straight through the D, powerful skater Parasite, lot of speed, pressured there by
the Thunder, Tonks comes away, comes into the zone, nice pass to Kopecky, sends it back
and Tonks puts that one in, tic-tac-toe there, lovely play, Tonks looks to see Kopecky up
there but Kopecky has the idea and just sends it straight back to Tonks. And the puck drops
again, Devils have it in their own zone, Argo with the puck, sends it up to Tonks, nice
pass there, finds Polesov coming in, Polesov has a nice shot and he gets his first goal
as a red Devil. Polesov has got on the scoresheet here, we're in a red Devil shirt, moves them
on to 51 goals here in his NZIHL career. And it looks like the Thunder changing goal is?
Yep, Wilson's going to head back into the net there, see if second time round he can
be a bit more solid on the play. And the Devils get it out, Kopecky with the puck and a huge
hit put on by Pickering, Kopecky with the puck and a huge hit put on by Pickering. And
the puck is now in the Thunder zone, Kukali pinned there, goes wide and the Thunder managed
to get it, spring hide on his second breakaway, coming in, nice move and he goes top shelf.
And Thunder come away with it here, coming into the Devils zone, sends it across, quick
shot on, goes wide from Apps. Thunder still in possession and they pick up another one,
Pickering, the Thunder keep their 100% power play. Indeed, indeed they do, crowd would
be happy with the goal scored tonight, they've definitely got their value for money. Absolutely.
How important is it for you to finish the final game of the season strong? I think it's
really key for us, I mean this season's been pretty tough this year, we've had a lot of
injuries and everything, ended up with quite a short team, we've really struggled quite
a lot and I think the boys are really keen to play and just show some pride and show
what we can do. I think in the last 10 minutes of that last period we really showed how
we can go, you know. Took a bit of a mornin' early on but we finished 4-5 for the last
period so we can definitely skate with these guys, it's just finding that last key element
to get us flowing as a team. Dean, how's it feel to break the NZ IHL record for goal
scored in a game by a team? Yeah, it's pretty good but I think our main focus is on the
finals now, you know, Dunedin had their Kiwi goalies in there so not much to take it up,
we've just got to be focused and get ready for tomorrow and probably play their import
goalie and get ready for Stumpy, they've got their weekend off this weekend so I think
they'll be getting prepared for us. 17 goals scored by the Cannery Red Devils in game 1,
it's an NZ IHL record for most goals scored by one team. During the game, Chris Eden notched
up his 300th point in the NZ IHL, being the first player to that milestone. Sunday game
for the Cannery Red Devils though has caused them troubles in the past, it'll be interesting
to see how they go on this one. Dunedin Thunder on the other hand, it wasn't their best performance
for them, their goalies got pulled a couple of times throughout the game so we'll see
who starts the net for them. I could up with the coaches before game 2. We're approaching
the end of the season now, how have you been impressed with the younger members of your
team throughout the season so far? Obviously we have a lot of young guys and I think the
improvement is huge. They played in our top two lines, some of them are only 17 or 18
years old, they're getting points, this is definitely the future for Dunedin Thunder
and even for New Zealand ice hockey, some were pleased with the improvement in the season.
How are you going to approach today's game versus Dunedin Thunder?
Well, we've had difficulties with some of our Sunday games throughout the season so
it wasn't only swarm, we did actually have quite a few bad Sundays and Thunder was one
of them in Dunedin. We just tried to stay focused and we have same lineups pretty much
as we had last night because we're still looking to those games as a preparation for the finals.
So hopefully you guys learn the lesson from what they've done in the past and those Sundays
and they'll be a different Sunday today.
There's the puck drops in the Thunder zone and Devils have a shot on and it leaks through
and it's put in.
And Eden might have got that one just as I was mentioning in his milestone at the point
so I think the puck bounces up over Proctor and I think Eden was there as well to try
and just jam it home. Tonk's coming into the Thunder zone, stops up there, has a quick
shot on, comes wide, saved by Proctor and a quick shot there from Eden, goes in.
Eden just sneaks through from the face off there, puck comes to the stack and he just
rips it.
Nice and quick, probably catches Proctor a little bit off guard.
Haji gets there, sends it in deep, hide with the puck, finds Haji again, sends it across
in front and all, tips it in for a nice goal.
Lovely play by Haji there, watching him last night, he has some good hands and in that
case he managed to find all right in front of the net there.
No one marking him and he just slots it past Coleman.
Pulls off, goes to get it, doesn't manage to, abs turns out over and there's a player
down, Tonk says an opportunity and it goes in.
Yeah, well it might be a little bit of controversy on that one.
Need to play a co-car, I think he might have taken a bit of a high stick there, Devils
pounced on that at a 2 on 1 chance, Pickering has that for the Thunder, has a quick shot
on, saved by Bigsby, yeah, category Devils have changed their goalie here at the start
of the second period, Richard Bigsby has replaced Michael Coleman, potentially a resting strategy
there for Michael Coleman before the finals next weekend or maybe a chance for the coach
to give Bigsby some game time just in case he's needed in the final rounds.
Darling tries to pass it up but it's intercepted by Brown, Brown gets that into the Thunder
zone, Lawrence has a quick shot on and there was a penalty on that play.
Yeah, Darling's going to get cold here for a hook, I believe it was on Brown, it was
Brown trying to get away, always a couple of words to referee Ryan Kens and I think
he might be in a bit more time in the penalty box after that one.
Co-car with the puck, finds Hajou coming into the Devils zone, comes in front, gets to hide
and he does a beautiful take to get past Bigsby.
Oh, Paris Hyde wide open in the slot there, can every defence know where to be seen and
Hajou lucky did on their last goal there for the Denino Thunder, finds Hyde in front of
the net and Hyde just a simple take there, throws Bigsby off and buries it into the back
of the net.
Got a scrappy play there, a lot of physical action going on there, Thunder come away
with it, send a pass across and the play is called dead, Hyde coming with good speed
has a quick shot, deflects off a body, goes wide, Shveetek picks it up and a big hit by
Hyde on Shveetek, yeah Hyde getting the better of Shveetek there in the corner, Shveetek
kind of turning away, doesn't have his head up fully in and it's kept in, Co-car keeps
that one, sends it to Aps, quick shot there but it's blocked and another shot from Co-car
just flutters in over Bigsby, yeah Bigsby was not ready for a shot there, he tries to
hit Aps up there, doesn't quite connect but Hyde turns it over, Hyde coming in, comes
in, has a shot and he puts it past Bigsby, wow two goals here for Denino Thunder, quick
succession putting eight seconds apart there, bad turn over there by Dean Tonks just on
his own blue line, Taras Hyde steps in and slots one pass low on Bigsby, sends it back
in deep, Shveetek battling with it, gets brought down there and a delayed penalty is called
Referees decided that it was holding the stick as opposed to hooking by the Denino Thunder
player and so Denino will have a chance here to increase their lead, sends it back to Aura
on the point, all the slap shot gets blocked there, Hyde still has the puck, sends it across
to Harrison, Harrison with the puck and he buries a shot, what a goal, Hyde went to receive
it there and he found Harrison wide open in the slot and with a screen in front of the
net, he picks the top corner, Thunder definitely stepping up there again in this third period,
now taking a two goal lead, great shot from Harrison there, how do things change as opposed
to the Saturday game, I think we just came out last game of the season, few guys playing
their last game tonight so we just wanted to go out and enjoy ourselves, I think boys
put in the effort after last night we all kind of felt a bit down to that so we had
to give our fans something to support about it and it was a good way to finish the season,
you obviously started as a backup tonight but the coach put you on there at second,
get you a bit of game time, you're looking forward to the final series coming up?
Yeah, definitely looking forward to it, Queenstown are a tough team you know, Stampede played
against them this season and obviously the results speak for themselves, we've got a
bit of work to do and yeah looking forward to the final.
A couple of rumours going around Hayden, are you going to be hanging up the gloves after
the end of the season?
Ah yeah, these finals will be my last game, there you go, hit it, Anita will be happy,
ah she is, alright thanks for joining us and all the best to the finals, cheers, thank
you.
In this week's other matchup, the West Auckland Emerals closed out their season strong, winning
both games 5-2 plus a 3-2 overtime thriller to claim the Toa Kohanga at Eddie Teo.
Botany Swarm only held the TKRT for a week so it will now reside with the Emerals for
the off season.
You know, playing against the Swarm is always a lot of fun because of the crosstown rivalry,
you're played with a lot of the guys growing up so it's always a good hard battle and you
know the Emerals have been a tough season for us but managed to come out on top in that
so it's always good.
Andrew Hayden, captain of Botany Swarm here, just want to say thanks to all the fans that
have supported us this season, it's been a bit of an up and down ride and you know we
appreciate the support, we've had a good fan base, we've got a growing fan base, we really
appreciate your support and we'll see you next season, thank you.
Next week is finals week, the Canterbury Red Devils will face a charging Southern Stampede
team who will be well rested after their buy.
Game 1 is Saturday, August 15th at the Alpine Ice Rink in Christchurch with games 2 and
3 the following Friday and Saturday at the Queenstown Ice Arena.
We also have the Skate of Origin coming up August 29th so make sure you get along to
support your favourite Kiwi players, for ticket information visit NZAHL.com.
On behalf of myself, Dan Nichols in the Crew at SlapShelf Productions, thanks for watching
TopShelf, see you at the finals.
