Melbourne Ice have managed to dominate the 2016 Australian Ice Hockey League season from start to finish. They fought their way to the top of the ladder in week three and stayed there till the end, cementing their position with every passing week and finishing off the regular season with 66 points, which is a new record, breaking the previous record of 65 points which was also set by the Ice in 2006 and 2011.

After making the AIHL Finals for the 11^th straight season, the Ice will be looking reunite with the Goodall Cup after finishing runners up the past two seasons, including last season’s overtime loss to the Newcastle North Stars during the 2015 Goodall Cup final. The team will face CBR Brave on Saturday at 3pm at the O’Brien Group Arena in Melbourne.

Ice Head Coach Brent Laver is looking forward to the game and is sure it’ll be a cracker no matter the outcome.

“I just think it's going to be real excitement from the drop of the puck to the very end,” Laver said. “It's going to be the team that can hold it together, make the least mistakes, both hugely offensive, both good goal tending, so I think it's going to be like a pressure corker and it's going to be the first one to pop that pressure valve that'll be the winner.”

The arrival of the Danish Ice Hockey star Lasse Lassen at the beginning of the season definitely would’ve boosted the team’s chances, with Lassen having claimed a total of 27 goals during the regular season. This was followed closely by Jason Baclig with 24 goals. Baclig also celebrated his 300 point milestone in the AIHL during week seven of the season.

Captain Lliam Webster will also be making his return on Saturday, after receiving a double match penalty and a four game suspension during the last match against the Brave, along with Stephen Blunden.

“It just gives us those set three lines back,” Laver said. “We play as five man units so our defence are pretty carefully structured to play with a certain forward three, so we just get that back straight away, it just makes it so much more even across the three lines. We can shift our defence pairs back to the way we've wanted them with Lliam in, and he's had an outstanding season so we can't wait to get him back on the loop.”

The last time the Ice played the Brave in the semis was in 2014 where they beat them, to then lose to the Mustangs 6 – 1. During this season, Ice last faced the Brave in week 15 in Canberra for a double header, where they took the Saturday Victory with a high scoring game settling at 10 – 9, but then were beaten on the Sunday 4 – 3.

Since then, Brave’s Head Coach, Josh Unice, has stepped down due to personal reasons and been succeeded by the assistant coaches. Laver is sure this will have its impacts on the game compared to previous encounters, but that they may not be as major.

“It's going to be interesting,” he started. “I think with any shift of coach, you will notice a difference. I think it's probably too late in the season to necessarily see any shift as far as the way they structure up or the way they play systems wise. But the message may be a little different.”

Melbourne Ice will face CBR Brave for the first Semi-final match of the weekend at 3pm on Saturday, at the OBG Arena, followed by the Newcastle North Stars taking on Perth Thunder at 6pm. The Goodall Cup finals will be at 3pm on Sunday between the two victors of Saturday’s games.