Thunder 4 @ Bears 2

The Bears returned home on Sunday 14 June with their 4th and final meeting with the Perth Thunder. The Thunder had won at Penrith 4-2 while the Bears had won 5-0 and 5-4 (SO) in Perth.

Both teams would be backing up after hard games the previous day with both games going to a shootout. The Bears lost their shootout against the Ice Dogs at Liverpool (4-3 SO) while the Thunder won their shootout against the Newcastle North Stars to win 6-5 (SO).

In almost a replay of Saturday's game against the Ice Dogs, the first period ended up with no goals on the scoreboard despite powerplays to both teams.

Joe Harcharik opened the scoring with a goal with 5 minutes remaining in the period, assisted by Richard Tesarik & Steven Adams. 42 seconds later, the Thunder evened up the score with a goal. The score would remain 1-1 at the end of the second period.

Early in the 3rd period, Thunder import Luc Daigneault scored his second goal of the afternoon. With lots of backwards and forwards play throughout the whole game, Bears Czech import Ales Padelek scored with help from Paul Bond and Joe Harcharik with just under 9 minutes remaining. At this stage, the game was still anyone's to win.

30 seconds later, the Thunder replied much like they had after the first Bears goal with a goal to Andrew Cox. Cox would score another goal with 26 seconds remaining in the period thanks to a Bears empty net as they tried to use the extra attacker.

Somewhat ironically, the 4-2 final score to the Thunder was exactly the same scoreline when the Thunder defeated the Bears earlier in the season. Both margins were increased by a late empty net goal to the Thunder. The good sized crowd did their best to get their Bears team home but to no avail.

Thunder coach Dave Kenway was happy with his team but gave the Bears some credit. “I got a bit worried there; the Bears came at us quite hard and it could have gone either way. Luck for us, we capitalised on our chances and came away with the win.”

Sydney Bears coach Vlad Rubes said his side relaxed after scoring the goals, costing them the match in such a close game.

“It was a pretty even game, a tough loss,” Rubes said. “We outshot them by eight shots. When we score two goals out of 33 shots, it’s not enough and we gave them two goals. Every time we scored, they scored one back so it was tough.”

For Bears coach Vlad Rubes, the focus goes to the second half of the season as he sees his team locked in a tight battle for fourth spot and a place in the AIHL Finals, which would be the teams’ first appearance since 2010.

“This is the first half of the season so we have to do better in the next 14,” Rubes said. “At the moment it looks like it will be between us, Canberra and Adelaide for the fourth playoff spot. We just have to win the season series with each team and see how we go.”

In the next series of games, the Bears play CBR Brave (Bears home game in Canberra) and Melbourne Ice (Penrith) before heading to Melbourne to meet the Ice and Mustangs. Still in a comfortable 6th place, the Bears need to keep winning to keep in contact with Thunder, Adrenaline, Ice, North Stars and Brave.

Story by Eric Brook
Additional reporting by Bianca Musico
Photo by Rev William Stewart