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HELLYER LADDER

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

Brave build momentum with convincing win over Bears

Sunday, July 26, 2015 - Submitted by Bernard McNamara

The CBR Brave tightened their grip on fourth place in the AIHL Standings with an impressive 7-3 win over the Sydney Bears at the Penrith Ice Palace on Saturday night.

In a must win game for both, it was the Brave who were able to build on a strong second period and power past the Bears to remain in control of their playoff destiny.

“If we didn’t win tonight, everything that happened last week wouldn’t have mattered,” CBR coach Josh Unice said. “I thought the guys came out really strong and it was nice to have all three lines contributing on and off the ice.”

The Brave opened the scoring in the first minute through David Dunwoodie, which set off the large contingent of vocal CBR fans, who’d made the trip for the big game.

Tomas Landa and Adrian Esposito in his 200^th AIHL game answered back for the Bears at the midway point of the period, giving the home side a 2-1 advantage with goals 13 seconds apart.

CBR forward Matt Harvey responded only 33 seconds later, burying a loose puck from the slot, and the sides went to the first period break tied 2-2.

The Brave broke the game wide open in the second period, Scott Pitt scored a double and CBR goalie Aleksi Toivonen put up a wall, making a number of key saves.

“Aleksi stepped up big tonight,” Unice said. “I thought the save he made in the second period on a big rebound, which was a three or four shot sequence, was huge. I thought that save was the turning point of the game.”

Toivonen stopped 32 of 35 shots on the night, while at the other end, Bears goalie Kamil Jarina, had a tough night, stopping 22 of 29 shots.

Bears coach Vlad Rudes lamented his sides missed chances in the second period,

“We made a few mistakes in the second period which cost us goals,” Rubes said. “It wasn’t a great period for us. It was up and down hockey, both sides had their chances but that’s not the style we want to be playing when we need points. We have to think defensively. We tried to chase goals and that was the turning point for the loss.”

Both sides swapped goals to start the third period, before the Brave fell into penalty trouble, handing the Bears a pair of five-on-three chances.

The Bears power play unit failed to fire and the Brave made them pay when Stephen Blunden extended the visitors lead, before Kai Miettinen finished off a nice passing play to ice a 7-3 CBR win.

The Bears will shift their attention to next week, when they host the high flying Newcastle North Stars at the Penrith Ice Place.
“It’s pretty simple, we need to start winning and getting points,” Rubes said. “Next week we’ve got Newcastle. They’re a top team and we’re going to need points if we’re going to stay in the playoff hunt.”

The Brave head home to face the Sydney Ice Dogs on Saturday night, the side will be looking to build momentum as they continue their drive for the back-to-back playoff appearances.

“The ownership group we have in Canberra pride themselves on excellence and professionalism,” Unice said. “We had a goal at the start of the year based on last season’s performance. We just have to take it one game at a time.”

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