Bears 5 @ Thunder 0

Pleased with their 7-2 home win against the Sydney Ice Dogs but still smarting after their 8-3 away loss to the Newcastle North Stars, the Sydney Bears headed across the country to play the unbeaten Perth Thunder at Perth Ice Arena.

The Perth roadtrip is often a player favourite despite the hectic weekend. A Saturday morning departure from Sydney, a lunchtime arrival in Perth and then off to the rink via the accommodation means a long Saturday. The Bears, though, were looking forward to changing their fortune against the Thunder.

Until this game, the Thunder were undefeated in all 6 games so far. They had beaten the Bears at the Penrith Ice Palace for the Thunder's first game of the season and also had 2 wins against the Ice Dogs, 2 wins against CBR Brave and a win against the Newcastle North Stars.

There was one person that people across the AIHL was talking about affecting the result of this game and he wasn't even there. Temporary Thunder import Peter DiSalvo returned home during the week and his import replacement was not suited up. Local goalies Dan Wilkinson (starter) and Mark McCann (backup) were there with a still potent offensive Thunder team in front of them..

With Kamil Jarina in net with no backup and a shorter bench due to travel, the Bears looked keen to impress and Richard Tesarik opened the scoring for the Bears midway through the first period (assisted by captain Michael Schlamp & Ales Padelek). Passes were connecting for the Bears, hits were being made and Jarina was careful between the pipes.

After 3 penalties between the two teams were killed late during the first period, Paddy Ward nailed another goal with the help of Cameron Todd with 40 seconds to go in the first period. As the team headed into the dressing rooms for the first intermission, the mood of the Bears was notably up-vibe & interesting. Paddy Ward even found time to talk to some young fans during the break as he played musical dressing rooms.

The Bears totally dominated the scoreboard in all respects during the second period. Spencer Austin & Cameron Todd found themselves on the scoreboard for penalties but more importantly, there were 3 Bears goals. Joe Harcharik did all the work himself in the 5th minute of the period to make the score 3-0 to the Bears. A few minutes later, Richard Tesarik & captain Michael Schlamp combined for a Cameron Todd goal. To close out the period, Adrian Esposito also scored an unassisted goal with 2.07 remaining to make the score 5-0 Bears.

So where were the Thunder? After the game, Thunder captain Sam Wilson had some answers for his team's fans. “We’ve got a lot to bring, this team,” Wilson said. “We weren’t skating hard tonight, and after a couple bad goals our game plan went out the window and we stopped playing as a team. When that happens, that’s the result you’re going to get every time.”

While the Thunder would have preferred to have DiSalvo or their new (yet to be announced) import goal tender to be in net, they had to rely on locals Wilkinson & McCann. Wilkinson was substituted by McCann after the Cameron Todd goal. McCann was on the ice for Esposito's late goal.

The back of the ice only tells part of the story though for the Thunder. The usually potent Thunder attack was no match for Bears goalie Kamil Jarina who was putting in an excellent performance away from his home ice. As much as the Thunder through their pucks his way, Jarina had an answer every time.

The third period saw attack at both ends and the Bears spending 6 minutes in the Penalty Box. Despite the long periods of being short handed, Jarina was able to keep the net clean and record his first AIHL career shutout, saving all 28 shots. Neither team converted their powerplays (Bears 0/2, Thunder 0/6) however the Bears worked hard on their penalty kill.

Understandably, a week in AIHL hockey can be a long time and Bears head coach Vlad Rubes was happy with the 5-0 win. “It always feels good to beat the top team,” Rubes said. “We wanted to get a win here, and I think now we can come away with some confidence and just focus on getting another one for us tomorrow.”

Bears coach Rubes wasn't the only one thinking forward to the following day's game. His Thunder counterpart Dave Kenway also looked forward. “The first couple periods were a bit flat for us and the Bears just jumped on the opportunity,” Kenway said. “But our third period looked better, and hopefully we can build on that heading into the tomorrow’s game.”

The two teams would meet again the following day at the same venue. Could the Thunder strike back or would the Bears complete the sweep? Regardless, the Bears had done what no other team had managed to do in the 2015 AIHL regular season to date - weather the storm and extinguish the Thunder.

Story: Eric Brook
Additional Reporting: Lucas Miles
Photo: Foto Rys