Brisbane Lightning News: June 17-18, Week 10

Weekend Update – June 17/18 2023 – vs Adelaide

It was a bit of an up and down weekend away in Adelaide for the Brisbane Lightning, with a 4-0 loss on the Saturday and a 7-4 win on the Sunday versus the Adelaide Adrenaline.

The weather was a bit of a shock when the team landed from sunny Queensland with rain and cloudy weather combining with strong winds and temperatures maxing out in the mid-teens – it was not the welcome that the team wanted from Mother Nature, and it was met with an equally inhospitable temperament from the Adelaide Adrenaline!

The first game of the doubleheader weekend was a case of a good effort from the Brisbane Lightning running up against a combination of a brick wall goaltender in the person of Adrenaline netminder Matus Trnka, a strong effort from the new Adelaide imports and a lack of discipline from the Lightning putting the opposition on the powerplay 8 times over the course of the game.

Trnka stood tall in the Adelaide net and saved every one of the 30 Lightning shots over the three periods. It could be argued that the Brisbane side didn’t generate enough traffic in front of the young goalie, but there is no doubt that whatever Trnka saw he saved to obtain his first AIHL shutout. In addition, strong games from the new Adelaide imports Brett Thompson and Brett Radford up front and Coy Prevost and Connor Vermeulen at the back led the charge for an Adrenaline team looking to push past last weekend’s two losses at home to bottom dwelling Central Coast Rhinos.

The Lightning held their own in the game with respect to possession and zone time during even strength play. However, the significant number of minor penalties put the visitors behind the 8-ball, and every time they seemed ready to take over the game another minor penalty sapped the intensity from them. A strong effort in goal from starter Steve Harris was not supported by goals from the skaters, and the welcome return to the defence by Christian Fuschini didn’t lead to the desired spark for the Lightning.

Game 2 was a real turnaround for the Brisbane Lightning on the scoresheet and on the list of infractions.

“We met as a team and had a good discussion about what we needed to do as a team to win games in this league”, said forward Arum Rapchuk. “We may feel that we are one of the top teams, but we can’t just turn up and expect to win. We have to stay out of the [penalty] box, we have to play a strong team game, and we have to get pucks to the net with traffic in front.”

The meeting seemed to do the trick. A strong effort between the pipes – especially with the game very close in the tightly contested 3rd period – by Nick Novysedlak was not wasted. In addition, the Lightning only served 3 penalties the entire game despite playing with grit and determination throughout.

Julian Fodor opened the scoring at 8:14 of the 1st period, and although the Adrenaline tied things up later in the period to make it 1-1 at the break there was a positive feeling heading into the dressing room from the disciplined play and favourable zone time. The 2nd period saw Brisbane finish in the lead with goals from 3 of their imports – Kasey Kulczycki, Patrik Popovics and Alexis Girard. Brisbane was the dominant team in the 2nd period, however Adelaide tied the game up at the very start of the 3rd period with a goal against the run of play from young local player Nathaniel Benson.

There was the chance to collapse under the pressure of the goal. However, the Lightning rallied to push the pace and the play, and with their second goals of the game from Kasey Kulczycki and Patrik Popovics followed by an empty net finisher from Arum Rapchuk they extended the lead to the very end.

A 7-4 win was fully deserved in this game and allowed the team to head home with a bit of success on the road. This win was critical for a few reasons – the Lightning kept their hopes of a second place finish in the conference alive by keeping pace with the Newcastle Northstars; they ended a long losing streak to produce some positivity in the direction the team is moving; and the players seemed to find the right balance between grit, aggression and discipline.

This will hopefully lead into some inspired play during the long July home stretch for the Brisbane Lightning.

Words by Ivan Rapchuk
Image by Frank Kutsche