Brave 7 @ Bears 3

 

 

The game started with a presentation to Adrian Esposito who was celebrating his 200th AIHL game. As he would discuss after the game, he was reminded of the milestone by his mother during the week. A veteran of the team, Esposito was a member of the 2007 championship winning team along with current Captain Michael Schlamp and current Head Coach Vlad Rubes.

 

 

Many fans from both teams contributed to a great atmosphere at the Bearsden. Many fans had travelled up the Federal and Hume Highways to see the Brave on their final roadtrip for the year while the Bears fans were also in fine voice. The Esposito-based celebration did not last long as the Brave opened the scoring after 43 seconds, giving the away team an early 1-0 lead. This was not a good start for the Bears. After a period of end to end hockey, the Bears scored twice in 13 seconds in the 8th minute of play. A goal to Tomas Landa levelled the score 1-1 and then Adrian Esposito celebrated his 200th game in style with a goal to give the Bears the lead. 

 

 

The lead did not last long for the Bears, however. 28 seconds later, the Brave levelled the score again with another goal. Another minute later, Bears forward Cameron Todd and Brave player David Dunwoodie locked horns in front of the Bears bench. Both players skated off the ice with a double minor penalty (4 minutes) and a 10 minute misconduct. Apart from an interference penalty against Bears defenceman Spencer Austin, there were no further entries on the scoresheet for the period. 

 

 

The game in the second period was tight for the majority of the period with no penalties awarded, often to the chagrin of both sets of fans. Scott Pitt nailed the puck in the back of the Bears net twice in a 90 second time span towards the end of the period, giving the Brave a 4-2 lead with the 3rd period remaining. The Bears had chances in both periods, outshooting the Brave in both periods. Luck, the iron and a good performance from Brave goaltender Aleksi Toivonen kept the Bears scoreless in period 2.

 

 

 

Period 3 started badly for the Bears with an early interference penalty against import forward Tomas Landa within the first minute of play. More concerning was seeing Adrian Esposito face down on the ice a couple of minutes later. Staying down for what seemed a long period of time, he was assisted to his feet by team mates and skated off the ice for running repairs to a facial wound on his left cheek. Patched up, Esposito was able to return to the game a few minutes later. In his absence, though, the Brave increased their lead with almost 3 minutes of game time but a little longer in actual time due to the Esposito injury.

 

 

With the score now 5-2 in favour of the visitors, the Bears diehard fans were wondering what the Bears had to do to score and chances continued to go anywhere but in the back of the Brave's net. A few minutes later, Tomas Landa had combined with Michael Schlamp & Ales Padelek for a repeat of the Bears' first goal. Despite a long period with at least a man advantage, the Bears were unable to add to their score for the remainder of the game while the Brave added 2 further goals (8.26 & 3.53) to seal a frustrating loss for the Bears, 7-3. The 6th Brave goal took some time to be confirmed on the ice and on the scoreboard after a consultation with both benches. The goal was confirmed and play continued.

 

 

 

After the game, Head Coach Vlad Rubes was disappointed and frustrated that the team did not win a game that was important for the Bears to win. He was, however, looking forward to the remaining 7 games of the Bears' regular season. He lamented the 2 late goals in the second period scored against his team and the goal in the first minute of play. Forward Adrian Esposito was pleased that he scored in his milestone 200th game and was talking normally after his earlier injury. He noted that both teams started the game hard. He also observed that the Bears are playing a complicated game and that a return to a simpler game might be in order in the upcoming weeks. Blue line turnovers were also costly which lead to goals for the Brave. 

 

 

 

The Bears remain in 6th position on 30 points. They are currently 2 points behind the 5th place Adelaide Adrenaline and 6 points behind the 4th place Brave. The task for the Bears does not get any easier on August 1 as they host the 1st place Newcastle North Stars. Hoping to leave a 1-2-0-0 July behind them, the Bears need to start winning if they want to make the 2015 AIHL Finals. 

 

 

 

Story by Eric Brook

Photo by Rev William A Stewart