Thunder survive late Bears fightback

The Perth Thunder survived a late push to overcome the Sydney Bears 4-2 at the Penrith Ice Palace on Saturday night.

Both teams started slowly with turnovers prevalent and neither team able to grab the edge.

Thunder Assistant Coach Darin Bryce said the long flight from Perth often sees the side needing to warm into the match.

It’s always tough here,” Bryce said. “We want the guys to lose the plane legs as soon as possible. It took a good half a period until we started to see a bit of momentum. We weathered the storm, but I felt like we had the momentum after that for the better part of the game.”

After surviving a few Bears rushes early, Ben Breault found himself on a breakaway chance, only to be denied the chance when two pucks were on the ice.

However, it was much longer before the Thunder got on the board when Jamie Woodman scored his third AIHL goal to allow the Western Australians to put their noses in front.

It was a game for the goalies with the Bears’ Anthony Kimlin and Thunder’s Thomas Heemskerk pulling off big saves and keeping their respective side’s in the match.

After the match, Bears Captain Michael Schlamp heaped praise on Kimlin, the national team goalie.

“Kimlin is the backbone,” Schlamp said. “He is making huge saves back there and he is always keeping us in games. We are struggling a little bit to score some goals right now so it is always going to be a bit tight. He's huge; he's MVP for sure.”

The break came at the right time for both sides they returned to the ice with a renewed intensity.

With plenty of whistles and stoppages, neither side was able to get back on the board.

It took until midway through the final period for the Thunder to double the scoreboard advantage when Per Daniel Goransson slotted the goal past a well-screened Kimlin.

It opened the floodgates with the Thunder scoring two more in the next 80 seconds through Ben Breault and Jessyko Bernard to claim a 4-0 lead with 11 minutes still to play.

The Bears fought back hard with Schlamp thundering a slapshot from the blue line and Billy Cliff slotted a wrist shot but it was too little too late as the Thunder claimed a 4-2 win.

Bears Coach Ron Kuprowsky said the game was tough to lose another close game.

“It was closer than the score was even though it was only a two goal game,” Kuprowsky said. “It is just disappointing to work that hard and come away with nothing.

“I think defensively we played good until the third period and then we let down a little bit. They got three quick goals really quick and by the time we recovered it was too late.”

For the Thunder, Bryce said it was another gutsy win.

“It’s been a battle for us all season,” he said. “We get in the zone, we get enough shots, and we just aren’t burying more. It was a good effort. The guys are setting up and doing the good things.

“I liked what I saw from our local guys tonight. They stepped up and made the right plays and really contributed to the win tonight.”

Both sides are in action next week with the Thunder hosting the Sydney Ice Dogs in Perth, while the Bears visit Newcastle to face the North Stars on Saturday before hosting the CBR Brave on Sunday.