Ice Dogs win Sydney battle

The Sydney Ice Dogs managed to take the lead in the Battle of Sydney series after clinching a win over the struggling Sydney Bears on Saturday night at the LCC Sports Complex.

The Sydney Bears were missing several players, notably imports Kurtis Dulle and TonyDemelinne, however played three lines during the night allowing development players to get much needed ice time.

“I’m not surprised by the result tonight, at this point of the year we are focusing on developing the young kids. Our main focus for the remainder of the season is building up the third line which did really well tonight,” said Bears assistant captain Brett Nelson-Bond.

Both teams started out slow, with Mitch Bye of the Ice Dogs scoring the only goal in the first.

Tension rose between these two rivals in a penalty filled second period, and the Dogs PP unit capitalized on these chances with Scott Stephenson and Anthony Wilson scoring back-to-back goals.

Tensions climaxed between the two teams when import goalie Sheldon Baerg held off the Dogs attack, causing a scuffle between him and Scott Stephenson of the Dogs. Bears defensemen Geoff O’Hare and Todd Stephenson engaged each other behind the net, resulting in both players receiving game misconducts.

James Herbert performed particularly well in the crease for the Ice Dogs rendering the Bears scoreless for the majority of the game.

However the Bears offence came alive, and their perseverance paid off when Steven Adams scored late in the third putting the Bears on the board.

David Dunwoodie answered right back for securing game winning goal for the Dogs.

Bears captain Michael Schlamp scored the Bears second goal of the game with just under two minutes remaining.

“It was a good hard game, with lots of hitting. We were slow to start off in the first, and seemed to lose our spark in the second and I would say we lost the third period, “ said Ice Dogs coach RonKuprowsky. “It was a lucky win for us.”