Ice 4 @ Bears 6

The Bears' 16th game of the season was their first time playing their opponents, the Melbourne Ice, for the season. The Ice had travelled from the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium where the Newcastle North Stars handed out another lesson in goal scoring the previous day, winning 8-4.

 

Fresh from a successful relocated home game in Canberra against the CBR Brave, the Sydney Bears returned to their rightful home in the 2015 regular season, the Penrith Ice Palace on Sunday June 21.

 

Unlike the previous day's game in Canberra, the Bears were the first on the scoreboard thanks to a top shelf shot by Richard Tesarik with just under 4 minutes of play on the board. As has happened recently at Bears games, one team scored and the other team scored - almost. A goal was waved off against the Ice while Bears captain Michael Schlamp was serving a slashing penalty. The visitors made up for the waved off goal with a good powerplay goal moments later, evening up the score 1-1.

 

Moments after, the Bears quickly retook the lead after Richard Tesarik's second goal of the afternoon after assistance from Cameron Todd and Joe Harcharik. With 6 minutes gone in the first period, were we in for a 9 goal period like when the Melbourne Mustangs were in town?

 

An Ice interference penalty led to the Bears' third goal of the period which was awarded on the AIHL Box Score to Joe Harcharik, a powerplay goal. Several people were surprised that the goal was awarded to Harcharik, thinking that it was Cameron Todd's goal or Michael Schlamp's goal.

 

A further powerplay to either team late in the first period saw the Bears 3-1 lead remain unchanged after the Bears dominated the scoreboard.

 

 

 

There was no doubt about the first goal of the second period to Harcharik in the sixth minute of play, doing all the work himself. The Bears had a comfortable 4-1 lead at this point. One other Bears name was dominating the scoresheet but for the wrong reasons. Midway through the period, defenceman Tyerell Clare was called for interference. Soon after returning to the ice, he was given another penalty for an ugly check from behind into the boards. This resulted in a 2 minor checking from behind minor and an automatic 10 minute misconduct.

 

The Ice converted their second power play of the game 20 seconds after Clare's second penalty, cutting the Bears led to 4-2 at the end of the second period.

 

The Bears found the net again early in the third period with the Bears captain lighting the Schlamp in spectacular fashion..The skipper might need to re-enact that one at training during the week after he commented post-game that the goal was one of his favourites.

 

The Bears did not have their 5-2 lead for long. The Ice replied 19 seconds later to narrow the margin to 5-3, their first even strength goal of the game. If the patterns of previous games continued, the last 15 minutes would be thrilling.

 

A few minutes later, Joe Harcharik continued his good form in front of the net with a goal at point blank range. Many people at the rink and playing along at home would not have known at the time that the Bears' sixth goal of the afternoon would end up being Harcharik's second hat trick of the year

 

The final goal of the game would be another powerplay goal to the Ice, scored 5 seconds after a Tyerell Clare elbowing minor penalty. The Bears were able to protect their 2 goal lead for the remaining 8 minutes to pick up their second win of the weekend, winning 6-4.

 

Bears captain Schlamp was happy with the win post-game. “We had a bit of penalty trouble and [Melbourne] got a few off that, but other than that we played well,” Schlamp said. “Every time they came out with one, we seemed to have a response.”

  

Assistant Coach Ron Kuprowsky was happy with the return to form after the previous weekend's 2 losses. “We hope that teams want to play physical with us because we’ve got a lot of bigger guys out there,” Kuprowsky said. “The boys are starting to click and the confidence that comes from that is starting to pay off,”

 

Now in 5th place aided by 2 weekend wins, the Bears head to Melbourne to face the Ice and the Mustangs. With 2 recent high scoring wins against the Melbourne teams, the Bears are looking forward to another potential 6 point weekend on June 27/28. Following the Melbourne roadtrip, the Bears return home for the third Battle Of Sydney against the Sydney Ice Dogs on July 4.

  

Story by Eric Brook

Additional reporting by Ryan Darnley

Photo by Rev William Stewart