Bears 3 @ North Stars 8

The Sydney Bears headed north to Newcastle to meet the Newcastle North Stars on Sunday 17 May at Hunter Ice Skating Stadium. The Bears went into this game with successive wins against Adelaide Adrenaline (away) & Sydney Ice Dogs (home). Meanwhile, the North Stars had a close loss against the Perth Thunder the previous day and a shootout loss to the Melbourne Ice the previous weekend, both in Newcastle.

The two teams had some idea about the tactics of their opposition after 3 meetings in the pre-season Wilson Cup with the silverware going to the Hunter for the first time. However, both teams were without most of their imports and some of their locals on those occasions.

The Bears welcomed new import Ales Padelek who had arrived from the Czech Republic the previous morning. Cleared to play with his new team mates the previous night, Padelek would be un unknown quality in the #94 jersey that had been worn the previous day by fellow import Mario Passarelli. To add to the confusion, Adrian Esposito was not wearing his usual #84.

The North Stars came out firing with many shots on or near the goals. Try as they might, the Bears spent most of the period chasing the puck and trying to keep the puck out of their net.

The first penalty of the game was against Bears goaltender Kamil Jarina as he looked to try and slow the play down, stopping the puck well away from his crease. This earned him a delay of game penalty, served on his behalf by defenceman Tyerell Clare. Later in the period, Spencer Austin would add his name to the list of penalised players with a slash after the whistle.

The Austin created powerplay saw the North Stars open their account after Matt Wetini buried a rebound with under 2 minutes to go in the period. Not even a minute later, the score increased courtesy of another rebound, this time to Beau Taylor.

The Bears would go to the dressing room for the first intermission down 2-0 with a massive 22 shots against them compared to the 4 shots that they made for the period. With no backup dressed and no Passarelli on the ice, Jarina would be in net for the duration of the game.

The second period ran much like the first period did but luckily for the Bears, the shots at goal counter was not as active against them. A couple of powerplays produced nothing for the Bears but a shorthanded goal to the North Stars. Former Ice Dog captain and now North Star Robert Malloy would pick up the first of his 3 goals to see the home team up 3-0 early in the 2nd.

The North Stars would score their second powerplay goal of the game towards the end of the period after a roughing minor to Cameron Todd. North Stars import Geordie Wudrick saw the Bears down 4-0 in the shadow of the second intermission.

With seconds to go in the period, Cameron Todd skated hard down the left wing, firing a pass to Lee Tuner. With only North Stars goal tender Dayne Davis to beat, Turner pocketed his first goal of the season with 2 seconds on the clock to make the score 4-1 to the North Stars, making the scores a little closer with 20 minutes to play.

With the score being a little more respectable from a Bears viewpoint at the start of period 3 (4-1), the North Stars added another goal within the first 40 seconds, Malloy's second of the evening. It was a goal that could have been prevented but is a cruel goal for a goalie to look at on a replay. Jarina tried to clear the puck out of the zone however the puck was a gift for Malloy who took advantage despite playing defence for the blue team this year.

The next 2 goals went to the Bears' growing Czech connection with new import Ales Padelek picking up an unassisted goal close to midway through the period. Giving the Bears a little more hope, Cameron Todd won a faceoff and passed the puck to Richard Tesarik. Firing a cannon into the North Stars net, Tesarik picked himself up his second goal of the season.

With the score 5-3 to the home team with 7.24 remaining, Adrian Esposito was assessed to be guilty of using his elbow. With the echo of the penalty box door still a recent memory, it took the North Stars 3 seconds to convert the powerplay into a goal. Another dangerous import, Luke Moffat, had his name on the game sheet.

With both teams tiring but the North Stars dominating, Beau Taylor picked up his second goal of the game and Robert Malloy picked up his hat trick with just over 3 minutes remaining in the game. Just like the first period, the Bears were heavily under fire, taking 22 shots against them compared to 9 at the far end of the ice.,

Thankfully for the Bears, the shooting stopped as the clock ran down. The respective coaches had understandably differing opinions on the game based on where they were on the scoreboard. “We knew we were facing a good team,” Bears head coach Vlad Rubes said. “When you play a team like that you need to be disciplined out of the box but they kept us in the box a lot and we lost momentum. (In training) we will go back to our basic stuff and feel good and comfortable again ready for next week.”

Meanwhile, North Stars head coach Andrew Petrie was pleased with his team's performance. “That’s the performance I’ve been looking for, for the past few weeks,” Petrie said. “Even through the early games we won, we did it with momentum and energy but not style and substance.”

After a mixed weekend and being at both ends of a heavy scoreboard, the Bears head to Perth to play the undefeated Perth Thunder. Meannwhile, Newcastle play CBR Brave in Newcastle this upcoming weekend before heading to Penrith the following weekend for the next Bears home game on May 30.

Story by Eric Brook
Additional reporting by Courtney Laura
Photo: Pic by Wulos