Brave Take Season Series in Thunder Clash

Hewitt a brickwall between the pipes. Photo: Richard Sak.

The CBR Brave beat the Thunder 6-2 in the final meetings between the two teams this season at Perth Ice Arena on Saturday.

The Brave took the season series between the two teams winning three out of four meetings between the two clubs this year which saw the Brave outscore the Thunder by a 10 goal margin putting up 20 goals to 10 from the Thunder throughout the year.

Another impressive performance on Saturday saw the Brave head into the third period tied 2-2, before taking control of the game with a four goal period in the third to take the convincing win. Although the final score was already fairly uneven, the Brave had plenty of chances to be up by an even larger margin than the final result at the end of regulation.

Hayden Dawes opened the scoring of the first before Piere-Olivier Grandmasion levelled the game at one goal apiece just thirty seconds later. Mathew Harvey had given the Brave the lead heading into the second, however the game was tied once more, this time a wobbly shot from the point off the stick of Alastair Punler had brought the game even heading into the final twenty minutes of play.

Although the scores were level, the Brave had the majority of chances through the game thus far, and the Thunder seemed lucky to be heading into the final frame with a chance to take the win with a solid final period.

It seemed however that this was not the Thunders night, as the Brave stormed out of the gates and scored four goals in the final period as their multitude of chances finally started going in favour of the winning side as the difference between the scores quickly rose from a 2-2 tie to 6-2 game in favour of the Canberra side with two goals each from Ainars Podzins and Chris Leveille.
 

Brave outplay Thunder. Photo: Richard Sak.

The Brave outplayed the Thunder in just about every area of the Ice, they outshot the home team 64 to 35 and there were times when the Thunder seemed to struggle in their own end as the Brave hemmed them in and forced the Perth side to give up a number of costly giveaways in areas which proved hurtful to them at crucial times in the contest.

Thunder Captain James Woodman said his team lacked intensity throughout the game, and the Brave forced them to make mistakes which cost them. “Sometimes when you’re playing against a team like that, you end up over complicating your own game and get away from your own style of play rather than playing solid simple hockey. And at times we dropped off in intensity as a team and didn’t play with the speed and physical presence you need to beat a team like that” He said after the game.

Over the Entire season series, the Brave outshot the thunder by over 70 shots on goal, and they took advantage of opportunities to score when they came there way at crucial points in every game. CBR coach Rob Starke felt like his team managed to come out and play at a consistent pace throughout all the games against the Thunder this year, and even when the games were close the Brave managed to push the pace and pull away when they needed.

“We’ve seen similar results in most of our games against this team this year and even when we have been neck and neck at times, this team has managed to play the right way and pull away when it mattered most and you have to be proud of them for coming out and taking on what is a good team here in Perth.” He said.
“We’ve managed to outshoot them in every game this season, and with that constant sustained pressure you would expect to win in that scenario.” He concluded after his side had won all but one game against the Thunder this season.

The Thunder will have a week off to recollect themselves after a disappointing loss this weekend before taking on the Melbourne Ice at home on the 14^th and 15^th of July. Buy your tickets here: http://aihl.net/2q2wsmE