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AIHL LADDER

Team	GP	W	L	OTW	OTL	PTS
Ice	15	11	0	1	3	38
Lightning	12	7	2	1	2	25
Mustangs	13	6	5	2	0	22
Thunder	14	7	6	0	1	22
Northstars	12	4	6	2	0	16
Brave	14	4	8	2	0	16
Adrenaline	14	4	8	0	2	14
Rhinos	14	1	9	2	2	9

SCORING LEADERS

Yu
Hikosaka (PER)

Player	Points
Scott Timmins (MMS)	33
jules sturny (BRE)	29
Tanner Hopps (BRE)	28
Kolton Shindle (MIC)	27

GOALIE LEADERS

T Ishida (MIC)

.919

Goalie	SV%
Jakob Doornbos (BRE)	.918
Anthony Kimlin (MMS)	.909
Matus Trnka (BRE)	.896
Aleksi Toivonen (PER)	.884

Coach Gainer's Rant Vol 3

Thursday, May 9, 2013 - Submitted by Mike Gainer

Mike Gainer is no stranger to Australian ice hockey having been the Adelaide Adrenaline’s head coach between 2010 and 2012 as well as an official for 23 years, advisor to officials, and a player. Coach Gainer’s Rant is the musings he offers up on the AIHL season.

Sydney Bears

"Too Few Bearing the Load"

The Sydney Bears went out and recruited a first class goalie in Latvian Renars Kazanovs who was the starting goalie for Smscredit.IV which won the Latvian League.

Latvia has produced a couple NHL goalies despite having only a population of just over two million people.

Artus Irbre would be the most well-known who played from 1991-2004 and in the All-Star games in 1994 and 1999. Kazanovs is not in the same league as Irbre, but many Bears fans will remember back to when Nick Boucher played for the team in 2010 and helped carry them to the play-offs.

Bears fans will hope Kazanovs can do the same.

Kazanovs is a 6’2” goalie and had a 2.93 GAA in 19 games. Unfortunately I could not find a save percentage which is a more accurate way of evaluating a goalie’s performance. I believe Kazanovs might turn out to be the best goalie in the league, but I do not think he will be as good as Boucher was.

I still cannot believe Boucher has not been given an opportunity to play at a higher level in North America as he has put up consistent good numbers in the minors for years.

In short Kazanovs will definitely help the Bears but will need some serious assistance if they are going to make the finals.

Last year’s equal league leading import scorer Tomas Landa will help provide the fire power, along with long time league stellar players Vlad Rubes and Michael Schlamp. These three usually provide around 90 per cent of the team’s scoring power. If opposition team’s shut down these players they will have a good chance at winning.

Other players in the Bears organisation need to pick up the slack for them to be a contender, like Brett Nelson-Bond and rookie Australian team member Todd Cameron. Nelson-Bond has always shown a lot of potential but needs to take it to the next level if the Bears want a shot at the finals.

Prediction: The Bears will be a team that you cannot take for granted with good goaltending and players who can score regularly. The Bears have the players to win games and be competitive, but do not have enough players to win consistently at this level. Predicted regular season finish: seventh.

Note: these predictions were made at the beginning of the season and do not take into account recent results.

If you want your team to be evaluated next contact me at @coachgainer.

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