The Newcastle Northstars responded from their first loss of the season exactly how captain Liam Manwarring wanted, with a hard-fought 3-2 win over league leaders Canberra Brave at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium on Sunday.
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The match was the second of a weekend double-header and came after the hosts succumbed 6-1 to Canberra on Saturday night in what Manwarring described as "probably our worst showing as a team".
On Sunday, and in John Kennedy's 100th outing for the Northstars, the score was locked at 1-1 going to the first break. Newcastle trailed 2-1 heading into the final period before Manwarring scored the second of his match double and teammate Francis Drolet also found the back of the net.
"Redemption is a pretty big thing in sport and [after Saturday night's game] I said to the guys, the best part of this is that we can have redemption 24 hours later instead of one month to six weeks later," Manwarring told the Newcastle Herald on Sunday morning.
"We can bring the fans of Newcastle what they deserve and last night we definitely didn't give them any of that."
Heading into the double-header, Canberra were top of the table and Newcastle second after an unbeaten run of eight wins to start the Australian Ice Hockey League season.
Brave led 3-0 at the first break on Saturday night then 5-1 going into the final period. That game was the 50th Northstars appearance for Richie Tesarik, who scored the hosts' lone goal.
After the weekend, Canberra remained top of the table with 28 points and Newcastle were second on 27.
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