A hat-trick from Grant Toulmin has led a gallant Ice Dogs to a 6-4 victory over the Finals-bound CBR Brave at the Liverpool Catholic Club Sports Complex on Saturday night.

Although the Brave still had a chance to claim third on the AIHL ladder, the Ice Dogs proved too strong and increased the Sydney-sider’s streak at home to three games for the first time since 2014.

The first period opened with plenty of end-to-end action, and each side saw a number of chances fall agonisingly short.

The Ice Dogs would be the first to capitalise on their chances, despite being on the penalty kill.  

With just one second left on the penalty kill, Grant Toulmin calmly slotted a shorthanded goal past Aleksi Toivonen to give the Ice Dogs a 1-0 lead with just over six minutes left in the first period.

The Ice Dogs would continue their onslaught, adding two more goals through Toulmin and Andrew White to give the Ice Dogs a 3-0 lead over the CBR Brave to end the first.

The second period saw very few stoppages, with neither side able to convert on their chances until late in the play. 

The Ice Dogs’ Petr Stepanek would score the only goal of the period, and extend the Ice Dogs lead to 4-0 and give the Brave a steep challenge to come back in the game.

The Ice Dogs looked well in control of this game heading into the second intermission, despite having to start the third period on the penalty kill.

The CBR Brave exploded out of the gates in the third period, and they were rewarded for their sustained pressure with Geordie Wudrick opening the account to make it 4-1 early in the period.

Intent on maintaining their lead, the Ice Dogs responded just 30 seconds later with Toulmin combining with import teammates Strat Allen and Stepanek to complete his hat-trick and make it 5-1.

Tyler Kubara and Kai Miettinen looked to spark the CBR Brave offence with two goals coming in as many minutes to peg it back to 5-3 in favour of the Ice Dogs.

It would be the former Brave and returned Ice Dog David Dunwoodie that would put the final nail in the coffin for the Brave, extending the Ice Dogs lead to 6-3 with just under five minutes to play in the game.

Assists for Strat Allen and Petr Stepanek would cap off a massive night from each of them with Stepanek collecting 4 points (1 goal, 3 assists) on the night and Allen piling on 5 points (5 assists).

The CBR Brave’s Casey Kubara capitalised on a man-advantage shortly after to make it a two-goal game with 4:30 left but it was too much for the Brave as the Ice Dogs ran out 6-4 winners.

CBR Brave assistant coach Dave Rogina lamented the slow start from the CBR Brave.

“They played a good game, they came out and jumped on us early,” Rogina said. “They played very solid; they wanted it. We’ll go to work this week and practice the little things and work hard, it doesn’t change anything. It’s just business as usual.”

Sydney Ice Dogs Coach Vlad Rubes was glad to sign off his first season in charge of the Ice Dogs with a win.

“Winning is always fun,” Rubes said. “We had a good start, we scored three goals in the first period and then being 4-0 after two [periods] was encouraging for the rest of the game. We closed the game 6-4, so we’re pretty happy to win the last game of the season.”

The loss for the CBR Brave has confirmed the match ups for the 2016 AIHL semi-finals with the CBR Brave facing the league leading Melbourne Ice for the first semi-final, at 3pm next Saturday at the O’Brien Group Arena in Melbourne.

The second semi-final will see the Perth Thunder taking on the Newcastle North Stars.