The CBR Brave were looking for redemption in their Australian Ice Hockey League clash with the Sydney Bears at the Phillip Swimming and Ice Skating Centre on Saturday evening. Two close defeats by the third-placed Bears had set this clash up as an important game for the ladder-leading Brave to regain their ascendancy and bragging rights over their close rivals to the north.
Any thoughts that this game would follow the pattern of their last two meetings were very quickly dispelled.
The Bears had a number of good shots at Brave Goaltender Alex Tetreault in the first minute of play. This time, though, the Brave met the Bears’ physicality with their own and this quickly paid dividends when a second-minute pass from Brave Import Mario Trabucco found a charging Casey Kubara who beat two defenders to score.
Three minutes later the lead was doubled, when a cross-ice pass from Casey Kubara found Wehebe Darge waiting at the far post. At the ten minute mark, the Brave made the score 3-0. Sustained pressure in the Brave attacking zone led to a long-range strike from Brave Defenceman Mike Giorgi which took a deflection from a defender and found the back of the net.
The Bears finally got onto the scoreboard at the end of a Power Play, capitalising on their man advantage when Jake Ratcliffe put a long range shot on-net beating a number of defenders and the Goaltender. The Brave struck back soon after, with a long range shot of their own from Brave young-gun Jordon Brunt. Goals to the Bears (Tommy Moncrieff) and the Brave (Casey Kubara – with an assist from his brother, Bayley) then made the score 5 to 2.
In the final minute of the First Period, Brave Captain Kai Miettinen put the icing on the scoring cake with a short-handed strike. With the Bears again having the man advantage, Miettinen took the puck on his defensive blue line and skated nearly the length of the ice to beat the Bears Goaltender in a one-on-one contest – sending Brave fans into raptures.
After trailing at the first break in their last two games against the Bears, the Brave’s goal blitz put them up 6 goals to 2 at the First Intermission.
At the start of the Second Period, the Brave continued their attack but it was the Bears who scored first with a short-range snipe from Michael Poirier, who cut the lead to 3. This was answered half way through the Period by Kai Miettinen, who forced the rebound from a Nick Christensen shot into goal.
The Brave’s eighth goal was the result of crisp puck movement at the end of a Bears’ 2-man advantage, with Mario Trabucco scoring on a shot from the hash-marks.
With both sides playing a physical brand of Hockey and pushing hard to score, many penalties were taken – with the Brave successfully killing a 5 man-on-3 penalty. The Period ended with the home team ahead 8 goals to 3.
The Third Period began as the second had ended – with more penalties and another goal to Trabucco, following more crisp passing in the Brave’s attacking zone. The Bears hit back with a shot from Timmy Newmark, before the Brave completed the scoring with a late goal to Mitch Henning and a third goal for Casey Kubara. The Final Score was an 11 goals to 4 win for the CBR Brave.
The Brave took the opportunity in the Third Period to get ice time for some of their younger players and this experience in big games against quality opposition will only serve the team well.
Brave Defenceman Mike Giorgi credits hard work for the winning result. “The big thing (with this game) is that everyone played for each other.” said Giorgi. “Everyone was in the uncomfortable positions – taking the hits, making the plays and giving that extra bit of effort to support (Brave Goaltender) Alex Tetreault and to support each other. I think a little bit extra playing for the guy next to you makes all the difference in the world.”
Next weekend the CBR Brave head north to Newcastle to face the second-placed Northstars. Statistically, it will pit five of the League’s top scoring Players against the leading Goaltender in the League. It is sure to be a testing weekend for the League-leading Brave.
