Bears @ Ice [4-3 SO Win]

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Sydney Bears traveled to Melbourne to face the Melbourne Ice for the Canada Day Classic on Saturday 25 June 2016 at the O'Brien Group Arena, Melbourne. It has now become a yearly event with the Bears winning the corresponding game for the last 2 years. 


Bears opened the scoring late in the first period with 2 goals in under a minute. Ryan Annesley nailed the first goal while a diving Michael Schlamp scored the second. This prompted the Ice bench to call a timeout relatively early in the game. 


Ice scored a goal early in the second period. The Bears' repsonding goal took some time however Annesley again scored towards the end of the period, this time on a powerplay.


Ice scored again midway through period 3 however the Bears were still leading by a goal at this stage (3-2). After this goal, Bears spent a lot of time on the penalty kill. Ice levelled the scores with 4.27 remaining. The deadlock was not broken and for the 7th time in 13 games, Bears were off to a shootout with the score locked 3-3 at the end of regulation time. 


Nic Kawasaki was the first shooter for the Bears and was the only player from either team to beat the goalie in the shootout. The Kawasaki game winner means that the Bears retain the Air Canada Cup and the second piece of silverware for the season along with the pre-season Wilson Cup.


The following day, Bears played the Melbourne Mustangs to conclude their first Melbourne road trip of the year. 
 

Story: Eric Brook
Photo: Matt Wragg Photography