Preview: Bears V Adrenaline

The final game of the Sydney Bears' 2016 season is against Adelaide Adrenaline on Sunday 21 August at Penrith Ice Palace. It will be the final game of the 2016 season for both teams who are unable to qualify for the AIHL Finals the next weekend.

Regardless of the weekend results, Bears can not lose 6th position. At the start of the weekend prior to their game against Melbourne Mustangs, Bears have 25 points from 26 games (4-14-5-3). Adrenaline are battling Sydney Ice Dogs to stay away from the wooden spoon. Leaving Adelaide with 18 points from 26 games (4-17-1-4) in 8th place, Adrenaline have had 12 losses by the margin of 1 goal. Both teams have won 4 games in regulation time.

Last weekend, both teams took part in double header weekends with narrow losses on both days. Bears traveled to Perth to play Perth Thunder. Saturday's 2-0 loss and Sunday's 2-1 loss saw a lot of work in defence and in goal for the Bears who were playing with a short bench. Meanwhile, Adrenaline hosted CBR Brave in Adelaide for their last home games of the year. Saturday saw Brave win in a shootout (5-4 SO) while Sunday's 6-5 loss was equally intense.

The two teams have met 3 times this season. In June, Bears took 5 out of 6 points in Adelaide with a big regulation win on Saturday and a shootout win on Sunday. Shootouts continued with the two teams again tied at the end of regulation time at Penrith Ice Palace on July 10. Adrenaline picked up their only shootout win of the season at this game. 

Bears Live audio stream commences at 4.30pm Sydney time (4pm Adelaide time) with puck drop at 5pm Sydney time (4.30pm Adelaide time).

After this game, Bears will celebrate their season with their 2016 Presentation Night and dinner at the nearby Greygums Hotel at 8pm. 

Story: Eric Brook

Photo: Pic By Wulos