Dogs Split Opening Weekend

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Photography: Injected Ideas Photography 

After falling 6-3 to rival Sydney Bears in a ferocious packed home opening derby on Saturday night, the Sydney Ice Dogs bounced back and defeated the Brisbane Lightning in a high-scoring 8-5 game on Sunday, led by a hattrick from Import forward Grant Toulmin.

The dogs drew first blood in the Derby with Mackenzie Bolger scoring early (assisted by Strat Allen and Jeremy Vasquez), before the Bears tied up moments later.  The hard hitting game stayed deadlocked at 1-1 until 6 minutes left in the second period.  The Bears managed to score four unanswered goals over the next ten minutes of play taking a strong 5-1 lead.  

The Ice Dogs however did not give up as Slovakian Import Defenceman Samuel Ivanic scored a nice top shelf goal in the high slot, assisted by Grant Toulmin and Jeremy Vasquez.  Dimitri Kuleshov made it 5-3 with under a minute remaining.  The Dogs pulled the goalie with less than 47 seconds to go, but the Bears managed to get an empty netter making it 6-3.

Sunday however was a different story. The Dogs stormed out to a 5-0 lead  over the first period and a half with two goals by import Grant Toulmin, a goal by Vasquez, Ivanic and Kuleshov.   

The Lightning responded in the second thanks to goals by David Nelson and a penalty shot from Julian Fodor. In the third period, the Lightning made a valiant effort to catch up, scoring three goals. Jordan McTaggart scored an unassisted goal at the 14:05 mark.

Toulmin completed his hatrick with an assist from Import Defenceman Brandon Egli. Strat Allen scored the seventh goal for the Ice Dogs with assisted by Toulmin. The Lightning managed to score two more goals however, the Ice Dogs secured their victory with a final goal from Strat Allen, assisted by Brandon Egli who finished his Ice Dogs Debut with 4 helpers. 

The Ice Dogs will be pleased with their performance, securing a much-needed victory after a tough start to the season.

The Ice Dogs are off to Canberra this weekend to take on the Brave this Saturday 22nd of April.  Subscribe to AIHL.TV to stream the game.  The Ice Dogs next home game is University Night Sunday May 7th at Macquarie Ice Rink.