Mustangs 6 @ Bears 7

The Sydney Bears hosted the Melbourne Mustangs at Penrith Ice Palace on Sudnay 7 June. Both teams were keen to record the win with the Bears flying through a purple patch while the defending premiers were looking to improve on their 2 regulation wins of the season so far. 

 

Apart from the teams in positions 6 (Bears) and 7 (Mustangs) on the competition table, the Bears also hosted Brent Burns, Keith Primeau & Garnet Exelby of NHL fame after the previous night's US/Canada International Ice Hockey Classic. Watching hockey AIHL style would certainly be different to what they are used to back in North America. 

 

The Mustangs played the Newcastle North Stars the previous night in Newcastle while the Bears' last game was also against the North Stars 8 days prior at the Bearsden. 3 Bears players were involved in the previous night's game, however. Joe Harcharik played for USA, picking up the game winning goal and an assist. Goaltenders Kamil Jarina (Canada) and Mario Passarelli (USA) backed up for their respective starters.

 

The puck dropped.

 

SCORES!

SCORES!!

SCORES!!!

 

3 Mustangs goals within the first 3 minutes of period 1 stunned the building. What would happen for the rest of the game? Would the Mustangs complete another 13-0 drubbing like they did against the Sydney Ice Dogs on the opening weekend?

 

The 2015 Bears do not give up easily and this game was no exception.

 

Joe Harcharik opened the scoring on a powerplay for the Bears after slamming home a nice pass from Adrian Esposito. The Bears were now awake and on the scoreboard. 2 minutes later, the best penalty kill unit in the AIHL combined and captain Michael Schlamp scored a shorthanded goal to bring the Bears back to within a goal of the Mustangs. 

 

The Mustangs were not finished with goal scoring, moving their total to 4 within the first 10 minutes of the period. 6 goals in 10 minutes certainly were giving the fans plenty to look at. 

 

Jan Bejcek opened his goal scoring account for the Bears 13 seconds after the Mustangs' 4th goal to again narrow the margin to a goal behind. If that wasn't enough, Cameron Todd added 2 goals within 11 seconds of each other to not only see the Bears tie the game with 3.30 to go in the first period but head to the first intermission leading the game 5-4.

 

After 15 minutes of dazzling, stunning and baffling hockey, the Bears led 5-4 at the end of the first period. Mustangs starting goal tender Michael James did not last that long - he was benched after 11.41 on the ice after Cameron Todd's second goal. Fraser Carson was thrown into the Bearsden with James understandably frustrated with his save percentage being .615 - a figure that is not normally his. Between James & Carson, the Mustangs pair faced 17 shots from the Bears while Kamil Jarina faced 10 shots.

 

For the record, here's the scorers for period 1:

What would the second period bring? Would the score end up like James' Goals Against Average of 22.73? Or did the players from both teams use up all their goal credits in the first period?

 

In a seemingly different game from the first period, there were no penalties and only 3 goals in the second period. In what seemed like a goal scoring drought, the Paddy Ward/Richard Tesarik combination worked again with Tesarik scoring his 5th goal of the season with just over 5 minutes to go in the period. Bears were now leading 6-4. Both goal tenders and defencemen were having more success in the second period.

 

The goal scoring was not over with 2 late Mustangs goals leading to a 6-6 score at the end of the second period. The large crowd were loving the high rate of scoring even though there was a slowdown compared to period 1. Were we heading to a shootout in 20 minutes time?

 

Midway through the third period, Bears import Ales Padelek broke the deadlock with help from Tommy Cooney. 5 minutes later, Cooney saved a potential Mustangs goal but in doing so took down Andrew Belic. Belic was awarded a penalty shot but was unable to get the puck past Jarina, much to the relief of the Bears fans in the stand. 

 

In a game that either team could have won, the Bears managed to hold on and win the game 7-6. It was another win for the Bears (now 5-6-1-0, 17 points, 6th place) and another heart breaking loss by a goal to the Mustangs (now 2-7-1-0, 8 points, 7th place).

 

 

Double goal scorer Cameron Todd was also happy with the win. "It's always good to get a win against one of the top teams in the league. We came out real slow, they got a jump on us but we came back in the first period. The rest of the game was a dog fight & we ended up getting out the other side."

 

The Bears play the Sydney Ice Dogs on Saturday 13 June (away) in the second Battle of Sydney and then Perth Thunder the following day (home) while the Mustangs have a week off before a Perth/Adelaide combined road trip.

 

Story by Eric Brook

Additional reporting by Ryan Darnley

Photo by Rev William Stewart