Bears 5 @ Thunder 4 (SO)

Happy with a 5-0 shutout win the following afternoon against the Perth Thunder, the Sydney Bears returned to the Perth Ice Arena for the two clubs' last game of the weekend and penultimate meeting of the year on Sunday May 24 . The Thunder would be looking to improve their result from the previous day, their first loss of the year. Meanwhile, the Bears need the win to distance themselves from the bottom of the AIHL ladder.

The first period started with an early goal to American import Joe Harcharik, assisted by Adrian Esposito. Was this going to be a repeat of yesterday's game? Not if anyone from the home team had anything to do with it!

3 minutes later, the Thunder scored their first goal of the weekend, delighting their passionate home fans who were enjoying the Sunday afternoon hockey. The scores were now tied at 1-1 and with only a Spencer Austin visit to the penalty box later in the period, the scorekeeper had little to do. The Thunder were a notionally different team on Sunday compared to Saturday. Skating and checking harder, the home time decided to stick with yesterday's back up goalie, Mark McCann.

The penalty box attendants were busy in the second period with powerplays and multiple periods of 4 on 4 hockey. Both coaches would comment about penalties after the game. Thunder coach Dave Kenway commented on the flow of the game after his team had 4 minutes without a player. “The penalties, both ways, disrupted the flow,” Kenway said. “Lots of four-on-four’s disrupted the period.”

Kenway was not alone with Bears head coach Vlad Rubes also talking about penalties at his end post game. “In a game with a lot of penalties, you need to be ready for penalty kills and be able to score on the PK,” Rubes said. In total, the Bears had 8 minutes of penalties in the 15 minute period including some 4 on 4 time.

Later in the period, the Thunder would take the lead of the game to give the home team a 2-1 lead with the 20 minute 3rd period remaining. The Thunder were quicker and often in control of the game with the Bears during their best in defence. On the scoreboard, there was only a goal's difference at this point.

Two quick goals to the Thunder within the first 3 minutes of the 3rd period suddenly increased the score to 4-1 Thunder with 17.38 remaining and well in control. Changing Jarina was not an option at this point so he had to remain out on the ice and the Bears had to step up.

Step up, they did.

With 13 minutes remaining, Adrian Esposito fed Cameron Todd who beat Thunder goalie McCann. After a mid-ice discussion, a good Bears goal was awarded and the margin narrowed to 2 goals. Part of the mid-ice discussion resulted in a 10 minute misconduct penalty to Thunder player Jonathon Bremner. From here, penalties continued including a 5 on 3 period after Bears captain Michael Schlamp & Paddy Ward spent time in the penalty box together for almost a whole 2 minutes.

With Perth seemingly still in control, Joe Harcharik brought himself another unassisted goal, fooling the goalie and putting the Bears within a goal of the Thunder. 4-3 Thunder with 6.42 remaining gave the Bears some hope.

A final period of 4 on 4 with 4.14 remaining gave either team to score and seal the result. Part of the result was sealed with 33 seconds to go in the game. Goalie Kamil Jarina was pulled to give the Bears the extra skater. In the past, this had hurt the Bears in an unbearable way to end the game. Today though, the result went the way of the Bears. Skipper Michael Schlamp and Richard Tesarik combined to give Joe Harcharik his 3rd goal of the game and his first AIHL hat trick. It was also the first regular season hat trick for a Bear for the season.

With Jarina safely back in net, the Bears had come from 4-1 down to tie the game 4-4 at the end of regulation time. It was time to the shootout to start to decide who was going to get 2 points for the shootout win and the 1 point for the shootout loss.

The Thunder shot first and were unable to get the puck past Jarina with any of their 3 attempts. With his hat trick secured, Joe Harcharik shot first for the Bears and scored what would be the game winning goal. Import Ales Padelek also shot but was kept out by McCann. The Bears had beaten Perth 5-4 after the shootout was concluded,

With 3 points from Saturday's win and 2 points from Sunday's shootout win, Bears coach Vlad Rubes was happy with taking 5 out of 6 points home. “I don’t think they (the Thunder) played as well as we thought they would yesterday and they came out stronger today,” Rubes said. “Five points out of six is a pretty good on a road trip.”

“We came out and scored the first goal but they were always one step ahead of us,” Rubes said. “They skated hard. We made some silly mistakes and they got a couple of goals. We had to dig deep and play hard and we were rewarded with the win in the end.”

Both teams again failed to convert their powerplays (Bears 0/3, Thunder 0/7) however the flow of the game was constantly disrupted by penalty calls, especially during the second period. Despite this, the result was still in doubt to the final second.

Down 4-1 in the last period, the Bears could have given up but they did not. Kamil Jarina again starred in net, saving 41/45 during regulation and all 3 shootout attempts. Joe Harcharik had a wonderful day with his hat trick and is now the leading goal scorer for the Bears (7) and leading points scorer (12). Cameron Todd also had a good weekend and leads the team with assists (7) and for his weekend's effort became the Skaters Network AIHL Local Player Of The Week with 2 goals & 2 assists for the weekend.

The Bears returned home a happy club on and off the ice with a great time had by all. Now with 10 games played, there have been 3 regulation wins, 6 losses and a shootout win for 11 points and 6th spot on the ladder.

Next weekend, the Thunder are off to Melbourne for their double header weekend against the Melbourne Mustangs. The Bears have an easier schedule with only a Saturday May 30 game at Penrith Ice Palace against the Newcastle North Stars (currently 2nd place). It will be a tough game however the Bears #bearlieved in each other in Perth and came away with 5 out of 6 points. No other team has done that this season and there may have been little faith across the league that the Bears would be able to do it. Do it, they did. Job done.

Story by Eric Brook
Additional Reporting by Chris McRae
Photo by Metzger Visuals