In front of a large home crowd, the Bears took on defending AIHL champions Newcastle North Stars on Saturday 21 May at Penrith Ice Palace.
The North Stars opened the scoring with a powerplay goal in the first 5 minutes of play. Bears replied quickly with a long range shot from Brian Funes to tie the scores 1-1. With 5 minutes to go in the first period, the North Stars again scored on the powerplay, leading 2-1 at the first intermission.
Bears were showing more in attack this week with 3 goals in the second period to captain Michael Schlamp, Brent Vandenberg (an early contention for the goal celebration of the year while on the powerplay) & Geoff Irwin. With 9 seconds to go in the period, the North Stars narrowed the gap to give the Bears a 4-3 lead with a period to play.
Despite a lot of pressure by the Bears throughout the period, 3 unanswered goals in the last period to the North Stars saw the visitors take the win home to Newcastle 6-4. There were promising signs again for the Bears but they are still winless in regulation time during the regular season.
Sydney Bears hit the road for an extended period with the 3rd Battle Of Sydney against the Ice Dogs at Liverpool next Saturday then CBR Brave in Canberra on Sunday. The following weekend, the Bears head to Adelaide which was the start of the Bears wins in 2015.