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AIHL LADDER

Team	GP	W	L	OTW	OTL	PTS
Thunder	8	5	3	0	0	15
Ice	6	4	0	0	2	14
Mustangs	4	3	0	1	0	11
Lightning	6	2	1	1	2	10
Brave	7	2	3	2	0	10
Rhinos	6	1	2	1	2	7
Northstars	7	0	5	2	0	4
Adrenaline	4	0	3	0	1	1

SCORING LEADERS

Brandon
McNally (CBR)

Player	Points
Yu Hikosaka (PER)	19
Kolton Shindle (MIC)	18
Scott Timmins (MMS)	16
Ty Wishart (MMS)	14

GOALIE LEADERS

T Ishida (MIC)

.940

Goalie	SV%
Jakob Doornbos (BRE)	.939
Anthony Kimlin (MMS)	.931
Matus Trnka (BRE)	.902
Aleksi Toivonen (PER)	.900

Brave bounce back over Thunder

Monday, August 10, 2015 - Submitted by Karl Bala

The CBR Brave overcame a tight loss on Saturday to record a confidence building 6-3 win over the Perth Thunder at the Phillip Swimming & Ice Skating Centre on Sunday.

The Brave were led by a starring performance from import Kelly Geoffrey who scored a hat-trick and had a hand in two other goals, moving past 50 points for the season in just 19 games.

Sequels are generally hit and miss, but Sunday night’s sequel picked up where things were left at the night before.

"This is some of the best hockey that I know I've seen this year,” Brave coach Josh Unice said. “And it's a credit to our guys, we're playing for our lives and it was definitely nice to see everyone battling."

Both teams hit the ice seeking redemption, whether on the scoreboard or personal, and tested both defensive lines as Toivonen and Guggenburger were kept busy between the iron.

CBR could count themselves unlucky as they produced more opportunities for themselves and held strong, but Perth broke the nil-all deadlock deep in the opening period against the run of play and possession when Alex Hudson was able to guide one past Toivonen in the 3rd minute.

Soon after, with just 90 seconds left in the first period, the Brave cancelled out any advantage Perth could take into the first break as Geoffrey scored after sustained pressure from the home team.

The Brave dominated the opening stages of the second period, but still unable to beat Guggenberger or the iron.

Much like the first period, the Thunder gained their second goal against the run of play when Jordan Kyros fed Alex Hudson for the second time in the game to score on a counter attack.

With the match evenly contested it took a Kyle Mariani specialty from back on the blue line to weave one through traffic, evening up the game at 2-all with less than six minutes remaining in the second.

Unfortunately, at the end of the second, an altercation took place between the Brave's David Dunwoodie and Thunder's Mark Guggenburger in the close vicinity of spectators.

The result of this was that Dunwoodie and Guggenberger would not return to the ice for the final period.

Kyle Mariani and Kelly Geoffrey scored in quick succession giving Perth's backup goalie Daniel Wilkinson in a baptism of fire.

Both teams' matched each other in tempo, desperation and physicality throughout the entire game in attempts to gain an edge on the game.

An injury to Perth's Anthony Nottle saw him clutching at ribs and watching the rest of the game from the bench, and sent emotions to boiling point – adding to the tension of the already spicy game.

Harrison Byers took a page from Mariani's textbook and struck from deep after the Brave managed to control possession with Perth players sitting in the box.
With five minutes remaining, Thunder import Luc Daignealut was able to pull one back, giving his side faint hopes of a comeback with the score at 5-3.

Daigneault's hard work was undone as he was sent to the penalty box with Geoffrey able to seal his hat-trick in the resulting power play.

Both coaches respected the competitiveness of the weekend’s matches.

"At the end of the weekend, one team could have easily come out with two wins, or two losses, or we could have won last night, and they could have won tonight," Unice said.

Thunder coach Dave Kenway said the game often hinges on certain moments.

"There wasn't a lot in it,” Kenway said. “It was an even match going in to the third and stupid stuff happens off the ice and other influences in the game and it turns. What do you do?

“The boys performed well. It was an even match for both sides obviously all the way through the game. I would have liked to not being on the penalty kill for as long as we were but it is what it is. You come here, the home team got a bit of an advantage, the boys stepped up; we got an answering goal there. But with your back-up goalie in - he stepped up, he did the best he could at his level - but it was a hard fought game all the way to the end."

With both sides closing in on a place in the AIHL Finals, the Brave host the Newcastle North Stars next Saturday, while the Thunder face the Melbourne Ice in Perth in a double header.

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