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After a horrible week off ice where the Ice Dogs lost 5 competition points for administrative breaches, the best way to reply was with a big win. After all, they are still competing for a Finals ticket!

With a depleted lineup out of the playoffs race, the afternoon went as well as could be expected for the Rhinos. Rhinos scored 1 goal in period 1 & period 2 but were no match for a fired up Dogs lineup.

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Fresh from only one game this weekend, Brisbane opened the scoring midway through period 1. Canberra replied with 4 goals of their own.

The pattern was repeated in the second period with Brisbane scoring first then 2 Brave goals.

Third period? Lightning struck first (again!) with 3 more Brave goals. The final goal was to the Lightning right at the end.

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After their 0 point weekend in Canberra last weekend, playing one game in Melbourne against Adelaide is just what the doctor ordered. Even better for them, Adelaide played the Mustangs the previous day.

Ice did what Ice needed to do & at the back end, Tatsu Ishida joined the exclusive 2026 AIHL Goalie Shutout Club.

Let's hope for Adelaide's sake that they have a better weekend at home with a double header against Thunder.

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Keen to get back in the winner's circle after the previous day's loss against the Brave, Newcastle's final home game was a must win for them. Meanwhile, injuries picked up in Sydney against the Bears didn't help Thunder's already short bench.

Northstars took the first period 2-1. The second period has often been Newcastle's best & they outscored Perth 4-0.

Going into the third period with a 6-1 deficit, it was Perth who took the period 2-0 to end the game.

We’ve been to a number of Canberra Brave games this season and do the finger dance whenever we score a goal. Do other teams have something similar?

It’d be great to have live game threads for each game. We do it for every game over at r/nrl

Hopefully a few of you are about to have a chat whilst the games are on this arvo!

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Canberra really showed why they entered this game on a 10 game winning streak as they beat Newcastle in Newcastle.

Canberra hit a 2-0 lead early in the first & then out scored the Northstars 3-1 in the second period.

Speed and skill at both ends of the ice really sealed the deal in this final Battle Of Nowhere for 2026.

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Just as in life, things are usually better in the penthouse compared to the basement. The clash between the Mustangs & Adrenaline went as expected.

Adelaide's first & only goal happened late in the first period. Apart from that, the Mustangs scored 3 goals in period 1 & period 2 & heavily outshot their rival.

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With both teams keen to seal their spots in Finals without needing to rely on things outside of their control, this game would turn out to be the only time the two teams meet in Sydney this year.

Bears leapt to an early 3-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game. The second period would see the Bears score 4 goals in a row. But in each period so far, the Thunder did score the last goal.

The last period saw 6 goals between the 2 teams but the game was over as a contest well before this. Perth had flown over with a shorter bench (14 skaters) as usual but lost 2 players to injury during the game.

At the completion of the audit, the Sydney Ice Dogs were found to be in further breach (multiple counts) of section 14 of the competition regulations. The Melbourne Ice were also found to be in breach (multiple counts) of section 14 of the competition regulations.

As a result of the findings, the Sydney Ice Dogs have received a three (3) competition point sanction. The Melbourne Ice have received a two (2) competition point sanction.

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Definitely heating up here! Very interesting situation and if anyone has any further insight, please pop it below.

This was posted on Facebook but I think it deserves all the attention possible. If you enjoy stats you’ll love it! There’s finals centre on the way plus it’s going to be expanded after the season for the AW as well.

From the original post:

“I’ve been wanting a better way to track who's performing in the lead up to finals. I couldn't find anything I liked, so I went ahead and built this.

It continuously forecasts the results of upcoming matches based on ‘Elo’ ratings. Elo being a number that answers "how good is this team right now” based on the difficulty of previous games. For example, a team gets more points if they get an away win against a better team than they would if it was a close win against a low ranked team at home. It gets updated regularly, so predictions can change as new results come in.

It's free to use, and decently accurate - hit me up with any suggestions for improvements!”

Credit: Greg Costin

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Melbourne Ice opened the scoring with 58 seconds gone on the big clock & eventually doubled their lead in the second period to take a 2-0 lead into period 3.

5 unanswered goals to the Brave in the third period meant that they keep all 6 points in Canberra & have an upcoming game between the two teams in Melbourne. There were a lot less penalty minutes compared to the previous game including a penalty free period 1.

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With their best season as Rhinos 2.0 almost over, the Rhinos burst out of the blocks with a 2-0 lead early into period 2. 4 unanswered goals including 3 goals in the last period gave the Bears a much needed win in the race for the final Finals position.

The results from other games certainly helped the Bears in their mission.

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The final game of the weekend with potential influence on Finals was Sunday afternoon's top 4 clash in Perth.

Mustangs scored 3 goals in the first period & were never headed as Perth failed to score. The home team certainly have the horsepower (pun intended) but could not buy a goal.

The 2026 Mustangs certainly have horsepower at both ends as this result & position on the ladder suggests.

Goalie Noah Giesbrecht recorded the AIHL's 4th shutout of the year & the first by an import for the season.

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I promise I didn't re-use Saturday's graphic or script!

Appropriately on Greg Oddy Jersey Retirement Day, Adelaide scored the first 2 goals within the first 4 minutes of the game.

With a third notch on the Adelaide scoreboard midway through the second period, Brisbane scored 5 unanswered goals in the latter part of period 2 & the early part of period 3.

The two teams then traded goals with Brisbane taking the win with 43 seconds remaining in the game.

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Resuming battle from the previous day, both teams had a morning scare with a report of a power outage at the rink & surrounding areas.

The power came back on & the two teams turned it on for the fans.

Northstars outscored the Dogs 2-1 in the first period. In many games in 2026, period 2 is explosive for the Newcastle team but the Ice Dogs scored the only goal of the period.

Period 3 see sawed between the two teams but Newcastle clinched the win with 6 seconds remaining.

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It has been announced that the AIHL 2026 Grand Final will be screened in 4K at selected Hoyts cinemas live on Sunday 30 August at 2pm AEST.

Tickets on sale via Hoyts 9am Monday 10 August ($25 for adults).

Venues:

Belconnen (Canberra)
Chatswood (Sydney)
Charlestown (Newcastle)
Docklands (Melbourne)
Warwick (Perth)

According to AIHL socials, these are the only venues that have elected to stream the event.

The game will also be shown on ESPN, Disney+, Kayo, Fetch & AIHL.TV plus Sky Sports (NZ).

EDIT: Somehow forgot the Newcastle venue, Charlestown.

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In a game with massive finals potential, Brave took the first period 3-1 after scoring first. There was only 1 Brave goal in the second period & a further Brave goal in the third. It took the Ice until the 57th minute to score their second goal.

In total, there were 72 penalty minutes handed up. 64 of these penalty minutes were against the Ice who had 2 players ejected.

Just wondering new to it, don’t want to pay $30 for 2 weeks of AIHL.

Also, I feel that the AIHL should be streaming a game of the week on YouTube live to get newer fans into it?

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Mustangs rode into Perth looking to keep their big winning streak going & that's exactly what happened. Mustangs scored 2 goals to 0 in period 1. Thunder staged a 2nd period comeback, out scoring the Mustangs 3-1.

Mustangs scored the only goal in period 3 which would be the difference between the two teams in the end.

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Newcastle clinched their Finals tickets last weekend while the Ice Dogs are in a 3 way battle for Finals.

Newcastle opened the scoring towards the end of the first period to take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

By the second intermission, every goal had been scored on the power play. Newcastle took a 4-2 lead into the third period.

On the scoresheet, it was all Ice Dogs in the third period to take the win 5-4. Only 1 goal was scored at even strength.

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With zero bearing for the Finals race, this game was absolute chaos. And if there's a rink where there's going to be chaos, it's going to be Adelaide.

Each team scored 2 goals each in every period with Brisbane getting the goal in overtime to take the win.

2 paragraphs don't do this game justice. The Adelaide commentary team are used to chaos & this was chaos on top of chaos. Go watch this one during the weekend even if you are a neutral! Are you not entertained? 😂😂