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HELLYER LADDER

Team	GP	W	L	PTS
Ice	3	3	0	9
Thunder	4	3	1	9
Mustangs	1	1	0	3
Bears	2	1	1	3
Ice Dogs	3	0	3	0

RURAK LADDER

Team	GP	W	L	PTS
Northstars	3	3	0	9
Adrenaline	1	1	0	3
Brave	4	1	3	3
Lightning	4	1	3	3
Rhinos	3	0	3	0

SCORING LEADERS

Aiden
Wagner (NNS)

Player	Points
Jeremiah Addison (PER)	14
Wehebe Darge (NNS)	12
francis Drolet (NNS)	12
Beau Taylor (NNS)	10

GOALIE LEADERS

N Novysedlak (BRE)

1.000

Goalie	SV%
Tatsunoshin Ishida (MIC)	.952
Rhys Pelliccione (PER)	.950
Leo Bertein (PER)	.912
Jeremy Friederich (ADE)	.912

Bears outshine North Stars

Sunday, April 13, 2014 - Submitted by Luke Robbs

The Sydney Bears have started their 2014 AIHL season with a convincing 4-0 win against the Newcastle North Stars at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium.

The Bears, who finished last season in 7^th, stunned last year’s finalists with a pair of first period goals and a solid defensive display as import goalie Daniel Palmkvist recorded a shutout in his first AIHL game.

Bears coach Vlad Rubes said he was very pleased with the team’s performance.

“We didn’t know what to expect from our team because we just got our reinforcements this week,” Rubes said. “Not many people are giving us much of a chance this season, but we’re just focusing on our game plan and [executing] what we’ve been practicing”.

Controlling large portions of the game with strong puck movement and excellent offensive awareness, the Bears made the most of some sloppy play by the North Stars.

153-game veteran Adrian Esposito kick-started the Bears, scoring the first before import Sean Hamilton Steen doubled the advantage minutes later.

The North Stars gained some momentum towards the end of the first period through some enterprising work from Matt Taylor and debutant Canadian import Cody Danberg but couldn’t get past Palmkvist.

Possession was traded between the two teams, but further goals by Spencer Austin in the second and Steen's second in the third period set the seal on the Bears’ victory.

A flurry of late North Stars shots in the last minute couldn’t deny goalie Daniel Palmvist of a well-deserved shutout in his first game for the Bears.

“It was a great shutout,” Rubes said. “Daniel has been excellent and gave exactly what we needed. He made several huge saves in the second period while we were 2-0. It’s exciting for us to have someone like that at the back and if we make a mistake there is someone at the back to cover up. But all the imports played really well and the Aussies stepped up big time.”

The loss for the North Stars highlighted the difficulty of playing two games on the opening weekend as players are looking to build match fitness. Despite the loss, North Stars coach Garry Dore was happy with his team’s effort after a return trip to Canberra only 24 hours earlier.

“We came out here and we thought we had our game plan set but the Bears had a great game and we were on the back foot the whole game unfortunately,” Dores said. “We had a big road trip yesterday a lot of the guys got home pretty late. Backing up this season will be tough for anybody”.

Looking for positives in the match Dore said he thought the North Stars performed much stronger in the second and third quarters.

“In the second period, we were all over them,” Dore said. “But when we made one mistake, they came back and scored that third goal. Then in the third period, we had a lot of possession and a lot of opportunities but we just didn’t take advantage of our shots.”

Both teams next matchup is against the Adelaide Adrenaline with the North Stars welcoming them to HISS on the 26^th of April. The Adrenaline then head to SIA for Bear’s first home game the following day.

* Photos by Pics By Wulos

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