Brave motivated for tilt at maiden Goodall Cup

For the third time in as many years, the CBR Brave will head to the AIHL Finals in Melbourne, determined to hoist their elusive, maiden Goodall Cup.

Since the emergence of the CBR Brave, the measure of success has always been to bring the Cup back home to Canberra. The first two attempts fell agonisingly short, being beaten both times in the Semi-Finals, the 2014 campaign ending with a cruel 6-1 loss to the Melbourne Ice and the 2015 campaign ending with a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to eventual champions, the Newcastle North Stars.

Brave assistant coach Dave Rogina noted that the team is motivated by the recent finals losses

“We’ve been there twice before now, and haven’t advanced to the final,” Rogina said. “That serves as motivation for the boys that have been there before. We got another guy this year that won it last year [2015 Finals MVP Geordie Wudrick], so he’s motivated. It’s definitely a motivating factor.”

While the final four has been known for some time, the race to the finish has been all about the positioning. The CBR Brave entered their final game in Liverpool against the Ice Dogs knowing that they needed to take three points from the game to stand any hope of avoiding the Melbourne Ice in the first Semi Final, but a rejuvenated Ice Dogs were determined to rain on their parade.

With the Perth Thunder taking three points and the Newcastle North Stars taking four points from the last weekend of the AIHL 2016 regular season, the stage was set for an epic showdown between the Melbourne Ice and the CBR Brave.

CBR Brave alternate captain Kai Miettinen also touched on the recent semi-final history for the Brave serving as motivation for the team

“The first year of the Brave was kind of like a fairy tale, so getting to the finals was kind of good enough,” Miettinen said. “Unfortunately we didn’t do too well in that semi but that’s just the way it was, it was a pretty big achievement just to make it there.”

“The second year of the Brave, the expectation was there to make it again and especially leading in that semi and then losing in the way we did, there’s nothing more heart breaking than that. At least for the guys from the team last year, there’s a lot of motivation fuelling us. Even the new guys this year, no one wants it more than us.”

The CBR Brave head into the Finals knowing that the Melbourne Ice juggernaut can be beaten, and that they have the ability to do just that. The season series between these two teams provided plenty of fireworks, penalty minutes and goals with 47 goals being scored in the 4 meetings of 2016.

In the lead up to the AIHL finals series, Brave Assistant Coach Art Bidlevskii said the team was “confident, we’re ready to go”.

“We’ve had a long week to prepare and we’re taking it one day at a time right now,” Bidlevskii said. “We know that the Melbourne Ice is beatable. We are the underdog, we’re going in there with that mentality, but we know it can be done.”

The CBR Brave will be without the offensive firepower of Stephen Blunden as he continues to serve the four-match suspension that he was handed after an altercation with the Melbourne Ice Captain, Lliam Webster, from the last time that these two teams met.

The Brave will still have plenty of offensive weapons left in the arsenal with Geordie Wudrick (50 pts 20G, 30A), Mathieu Guertin (49pts, 18G, 31A) and Casey Kubara (49pts, 16G, 33A) all ready and waiting to spearhead the attack. Meanwhile, defensive stalwarts Mark Rummukainen, Jimmy Byers, Jan Safar and Matt Harvey are prepared to steady the ship and close down the potent attack of the Melbourne Ice.

Brave Captain Jordan Gavin, touched on the importance of starting strong and the weakness that the Brave are looking to exploit.

“When they’re confident, that’s when they’re really dangerous,” Gavin said. “When they’re on the back foot, they’re really vulnerable. I think we can exploit the pace of their defencemen, get the puck behind them and use our speed, and everyone knows that we’ve got a lot of speed in this team.”

Can the CBR Brave prove the old adage true; will it be a case of third time’s a charm?

The CBR Brave take on the Melbourne Ice in the first semi-final on Saturday afternoon at 3:00pm at the O’Brien Group Arena.