Jalbert lifts Brave to 3 wins in a row, downing the Sydney Bears 7-4

The CBR Brave have continued their strong form on the road, defeating the Sydney Bears 7-4 at the Macquarie Ice Rink on Saturday night, recording their third consecutive win in the month of July.

The Brave came home strong in the third period, defenseman Dominic Jalbert breaking the dead lock with a pair of goals in the final frame to seal the win in front of big crowd, which included over 150 Brave supporters who travelled to Sydney to cheer on their team.

“It was a huge win” said Jalbert after the game, “The Bears really battled tonight, we were expecting them to come out hard and they did. Their goalie played great, we had almost 60 shots on the net, it was a great battle.”

In a wide open first period, both sides exchanged a number of quality chances. Brent Vandenberg opened the scoring for the home side, before the Wehebe Darge and Stephen Blunden found the back of the net to give the visitors a 2-1 lead heading into the first break.

The Sydney Bears turned on the offense in the second period, young forward Tim Rye scored his first AIHL goal and Jeremy Vasquez also chipped in with a  pair of goals. However, Brave goals to Casey Kubara and a second to Stephen Blunden, saw the sides tied 4-4 heading in the final period.

The Brave pushed the pace in the third period and kept the Bears pinned down in their own end. The Brave recorded 27 shots on Sydney Bears goalie Anthony Kimlin in the final period, who was back in the line-up after missing four weeks with an injury.

Jalbert broke the deadlock midway through the third period, the import defenseman linked up with Jan Safar and Wehebe Darge, firing the puck into the net after a nice passing play.

Jalbert extend the visitors lead with a power goal just minutes later, and Gordie Wudrick put the game out of reach with an empty goal in the dying minutes.

The Brave currently sit in third place on the AIHL ladder and the win gives the Canberra side a six point lead over the fourth placed Melbourne Mustangs.

Prior to last weekend’s road trip to Adelaide, the Brave had only collected two competition points in the month of July and were in danger of being caught the Mustangs and Ice Dogs. The Brave have also been boosted by the return of sharp shooter Stephen Blunden, who has 9 goals in his past three games.

“We never panicked” said Jalbert “we lost the four games in a row against the Perth Thunder, their a really good team”

 “The chance were there for us and the fact we have Stephen Blunden back is huge for us”

The Brave will be back action on the 6^th of August when they host the Sydney Ice Dogs at the Philip swimming and Ice Skating rink, while the Bears hit the road on Sunday, as they travel to Newcastle to take on the Northstars, who still have a mathematical chance of the making the finals if they can secure all three competition points.