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HELLYER LADDER

Team	GP	W	L	PTS
Ice	4	4	0	12
Thunder	6	4	2	12
Bears	4	3	1	9
Mustangs	2	1	1	3
Ice Dogs	5	1	4	3

RURAK LADDER

Team	GP	W	L	OTW	OTL	PTS
Northstars	4	3	0	1	0	11
Lightning	6	3	3	0	0	9
Adrenaline	3	1	1	0	1	4
Brave	6	1	5	0	0	3
Rhinos	4	0	4	0	0	0

SCORING LEADERS

Jeremiah
Addison (PER)

Player	Points
Aiden Wagner (NNS)	18
Wehebe Darge (NNS)	15
francis Drolet (NNS)	15
Zane Jones (PER)	13

GOALIE LEADERS

N Novysedlak (BRE)

1.000

Goalie	SV%
Rhys Pelliccione (PER)	.950
Tatsunoshin Ishida (MIC)	.933
Leo Bertein (PER)	.905
Charles Smart (NNS)	.903

Pitt and Blunden combine as Brave beat Ice

Sunday, May 31, 2015 - Submitted by Karl Bala

A brace to import Scott Pitt helped the CBR Brave make the most of the their chances to defeat the Melbourne Ice 3-1 on Saturday night at the Phillip Swimming & Ice Skating Centre.

A surprise omission from the CBR Brave was that of in-form Kelly Geoffrey, who has been in red-hot form after claiming 10 points last weekend and was leading goal scoring for the 2015 competition.

The game was also significant for 20 year old CBR Junior Brave goaltender, Alex Tetrault, who was given the opportunity to dress as back-up net minder – reinforcing that hockey is very much alive in the nation’s capital.

On paper, it promised to be the match of the round as the Brave sought redemption against the Ice team who beat them comprehensively 6-1 in last year’s semi-final knockout.

Melbourne set the tone early in the game, and for most of the game, held much of the possession and opportunity outshooting the Brave 38-21 for the match.

Brave’s Scott Pitt broke the deadlock displaying poise and patience as he sniped one past Ice net-minder Jaden Pine-Murphy from close range at the dying stages of the first period.

The CBR Brave were once again forced to absorb the play of Melbourne Ice. The Ice were a lot more dominant in the second but still unable to find a way through the Brave. The Canberra side executing the defensive focus coach Brad Hunt has been instilling into his team over recent weeks.

“As the game went on they got a bit frustrated and we kept our composure and held in there,” Hunt said.

Early in the second, an opportunity went begging for the Ice to get on the board as a loose puck found its way past Unice and tumbled its way towards goal line and stopped.

However, the Brave were next on the board, doubling the advantage to 2-0 when Scott Pitt and Stephen Blunden combined again against the run of play.

Pitt latched on to a Blunden stretch pass, skated in and around the defender and goaltender in a great solo effort.

“Scotty is such a great guy. He’s a pleasure to have on and off the ice,” Hunt said. “He will do anything for this team. He is the ultimate team mate. To see him bag a couple tonight, I’m pretty happy for him”.

Melbourne hit the third period and scored almost immediately through Austin McKenzie.

McKenzie tapped through a deflected puck off a face off to bring the deficit to just one goal within 30 seconds of the new period.

With a new wind in their sails, the Ice continued to play attacking hockey in hopes to tie it up but were unable to take advantage.

The Brave matched what was given to them and returned serve with tough and organised defence.

It took until five minutes from full time for the Brave to seal the result when Stephen Blunden flicked the puck in through a congested goal area, sealing the game for the Canberrans.

Blunden finished his night with 1 goal, 2 assists.

After turning away 37 of 38 shots on goal, Hunt was full of praise for his import netminder.

“Josh is an elite goaltender,” Hunt said. “He has great games and we play average in-front of him. It’s the quality of the shot. He is going to stop everything he sees. If we play good in-front of him he is going to get less shots at him.”

Three points left Hunt in a good mood and left him looking forward to Sunday’s game.

“To beat that team is always good,” Hunt said. “They are the same as all the other teams were for years. They had our number and they would beat the crap out of us. Two years ago they beat us 16-1 or something like that. So to walk away 3-1, I am pretty happy.”

Melbourne Ice coach Brent Laver said he was proud of the way his team played despite the loss.

“I thought we executed what we had spoken about all week really well,” Laver said. “We played the small rink well. It’s pretty cool to play here. The crowd is great and the rink is tight. We did the things we wanted to do early, absorb the pressure and speed and we kept chipping away.”

“The second period was good. They’ve been our Achilles heel as we have struggled in the second period in previous games. We hung in there and kept the pressure up, but we need to have the discipline the whole way through.”

Next week, the Ice have the week off, while the Brave host the Sydney Ice Dogs on Saturday night at Phillip Swimming & Ice Skating Centre.

A special thank you Geoff Koop for interviewing the coaches for the report.

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