On 14 & 15 of May, Sydney Bears and Melbourne Ice head to sunny Brisbane for the return of AIHL to Queensland since the demise of the Blue Tongues in 2012. Saturday's game will be played at Iceworld, Boondall at 4pm. Sunday's game will be played at Ice World, Acacia Ridge at 3pm. Limited tickets are available for both games.
The Bears enter the Sunshine State with 2 shootouts the previous weekend. Saturday's game against CBR Brave in Canberra resulted in a 3-2 shootout win to the Bears. Sunday's second Battle Of Sydney resulted in a 4-3 shootout loss against the Ice Dogs in Liverpool. Bears have not won in regulation time in their 4 matches to date with last weekend's games being the source of their 3 points.
Meanwhile, the Melbourne Ice have not been defeated so far in 2016. Last weekend, they hosted Adelaide Adrenaline who were playing their first games of the season. Ice won 5-4 after a shootout on Saturday and won 6-2 on Sunday. Before the weekend, the Ice have played 5 games. They have won 3 in regulation time and 2 in a shootout.
The weekend's games are Bears home games however are being played on neutral ice. Bears goaltender Anthony Kimlin returns home having been raised in Brisbane. Additionally, Bears forward Cameron Smith played in Brisbane before joining the Bears after being spotted at the 2015 ADF Ice Hockey Assocication's Tri-Services tournament. Both teams have players with experience in a wide range of arenas within Australia and overseas.
Saturday's game is the Fox Sports Game Of The Week which will be broadcast on Thursday May 19 (Fox Sports 4, 4pm). Sunday's game will be livestreamed via Bears Live (audio) at 3pm
[Bears Live]
MUSTANGS
BRAVE
ICE
THUNDER
RHINOS
NORTHSTARS
ADRENALINE
LIGHTNING
