Brave 3 @ Bears 4 (Canberra)

The Sydney Bears headed down the Hume and Federal Highways to become the home team in Canberra against the CBR Brave due to a scheduling clash at Penrith Ice Palace on Saturday June 20.

The last time the two teams met on the opening night of the 2015season, the Brave defeated the Bears 4-2. While the Bears took 6 games to record their first win of the season, they have looked better in recent weeks. Both teams were recovering after 2 losses the previous weekend (Bears against Sydney Ice Dogs and Perth Thunder, Brave against Melbourne Ice) and were keen to improve on their positions on the ladder.

Both teams came out strong with lots of chances for both teams until the Brave opened the scoring with 6.30 remaining in the first period. Despite the protests of Bears goalie Kamil Jarina, the goal was confirmed. As the period continued, the hits from both teams stepped up but the Brave kept their 1-0 lead at the first intermission.

The second period saw a lot of backwards and forwards play, punctuated with a period of 4 on 4 play approaching the mid point of the period. After lots of pressure, the Brave increased their lead with a shot from far out by Brave captain Mark Rummukainen.

The Bears replied almost a minute later thanks to a shot off the iron and into the back of the net by import Ales Padelek. A hard slap shot by Joe Harcharik led to a temporary stop in play as the puck hit Brave goaltender Josh Unice directly in the mask with a great deal of force. After being stunned, Unice continued. During the period, the goalies and the defence from both teams had a lot of work to do, robbing the opposition offence of quality chances on several occasions.

59 seconds into the third period, the Brave scored with their recent nemesis Stephen Blunden adding his second goal of the evening. Were the floodgates about to open for the Sydneysiders?

No.

A few minutes later, Ales Padelek backed himself from near the left faceoff circle with another goal off the iron beating Unice for the second time. With plenty of time remaining, the Bears picked up their intensity, only down a goal.

Midway through the 3rd period, a wrestle between CBR's Kai Miettinen and Bear Richard Tesarik could have resulted in another period of 4 on 4 hockey. Instead, it led to a Bears power play and a powerplay goal to Padelek, a great shot from near the blue line on the grandstand side stunned the large Brave crowd and pleased the Bears faithful nearby.

A hat trick one minute, a trip to the penalty box the next for Padelek after a tripping call in the defensive corner, If the pace was fast before, it picked up again. Both goalies certainly worked hard for their money and either team could nail their colours to the wall in victory.

Just when it looked like the Bears were heading to a shootout for the second Saturday in a row, the Bears called a time out. Both benches were surprisingly calm as they plotted their final moves.

With under 40 seconds to go in the game, Joe Harcharik intercepted a clearing shot from near the Brave defensive blue line. He gathered control and passed the puck to Padelek, loitering to the right of Unice. Faking a shot, he passed it back to Harcharik who buried the puck from close range with 33 seconds remaining, sealing the win. After a 3 goal period, the Bears won the game 4-3 in a great game.

Having secured the Bears' first ever win against the CBR Brave in their current form, Bears head coach Vlad Rubes was very happy with the final result. “It’s always good to win the game and it’s always good to win in Canberra; we haven’t won here in a long time,” Rubes said. “I think it just showed the character of the team that we never quit, we never give up and we deserved to win tonight.”

It was hard for coach Rubes not to be happy with the performance of fellow Czech Ales Padelek who scored a hat trick and assisted Joe Harcharik's game winning goal. “Ales is a top player; he played in the top division in Czech,” Rubes said. “He’s getting a little bit older but he’s still got it. He’s a great player and he’s been waiting for his sticks and they finally came today. He scored three goals and made the assist for the final goal, so he was definitely the best player of the team tonight.”

“Today we started the second half of the season,” Rubes said. “We knew we had to win because Canberra was three points in front of us and this was essentially a six-point game.”

The Bears would return from Canberra now equal on points with the Brave. The Brave now face the Newcastle North Stars & Sydney Ice Dogs the following weekend while the Bears had a quick turnaround and returned home to play the Melbourne Ice the following day.

Story by Eric Brook
Additional reporting by Geoff Koop
Photo by Paul Furness Photography