Game Recap: CBR Brave 7 def Ice Dogs 3

The CBR Brave defeated the Sydney Ice Dogs 7-3 in a hard fought contest at Macquarie Ice Rink on Saturday evening.

The Brave scored first through Joey Hughes six and a half minutes into the contest with a perfectly placed shot from the hash marks beating Ice Dogs goaltender Connor Dowell blocker side.

It could have been easy for the Ice Dogs to lose focus after going down to the league leaders, but they showed tremendous resolve and were rewarded quickly.

Jeremy Vasquez picked up the puck on the forecheck, passed to Cameron Todd, who fired a perfect pass across the goal crease to Strat Allen who made no mistake in restoring parity.

Late in the period, with Brave player Toby Kubara in the box for tripping, the Ice Dogs took the lead. Cameron Todd crashed the net, the rebound went to Lukas Vaic who faked a shot, passed to Marcus Hosen, and Hosen's wrister beat Brave goaltender Alex Tetreault short-side from the left circle.

The first intermission punctuated the first Brave powerplay of the game. Although the Ice Dogs killed off the first minute of the penalty to end the first period, the Brave scored quickly through Andy Camenzind at the start of the second on the man advantage.

The Ice Dogs applied pressure quickly and came close to re-taking the lead. Jeremy Vasquez created a turnover behind the net on the forecheck and passed to a wide-open Cameron Todd in the slot. Tetreault made a huge save to deny the Ice Dogs the lead.

30 seconds later the Brave scored again through Joey Hughes, who was able to skate in front and shoot it five-hole for the 3-2 lead.

The Ice Dogs took a timeout to settle things down, and again applied pressure after the faceoff, but the Brave were able to score just 22 seconds later on the counterattack, Wehebe Darge fired blocker side on the partial breakaway for the 4-2 lead.

Some back-and-forth hockey followed, Dowell was sharp to keep the Ice Dogs in the game, and Tetreault frustrated the Ice Dogs shooters at the other end of the ice.

The Brave would take a three-goal lead late in the period through captain Kai Miettinen who stickhandled through the offensive zone before firing past Dowell.

The start of the third period saw the Ice Dogs cut the deficit in style just 34 seconds in. Strat Allen skated the puck from the defensive zone, gained the offensive zone entry and passed the puck to Vasquez.

Vasquez passed to Todd whose initial shot was saved by Tetreault, but Allen batted the puck out of mid-air and into the net to cut the lead to 5-3. It was Allen's fourth goal of the weekend after scoring both Ice Dogs goals against the Bears Friday night.

The Brave showed why they are the league leaders, responding with goals by Bayley Kubara and Casey Kubara to extend the lead to 7-3 with 15 minutes left in the third.

Despite the Brave being the fresher team as the Ice Dogs played the previous night, the Ice Dogs continued to fight, and Dowell made some huge saves as the Brave peppered the net with 45 shots.

However, they couldn't find a way past Tetreault and the CBR Brave's staunch defence. The score-line would remain 7-3 at the final buzzer.

Despite the loss, there are a lot of positives to take from the match. Connor Dowell, who had a tough AIHL debut start against the Sydney Bears Friday night, looked much more comfortable, and the team looked more confident as a result.

The Ice Dogs will also be pleased that they remained disciplined, committing just two penalties throughout the match.

Reinforcements are on their way for the Ice Dogs, starting goaltender Jakob Doornbos and superstar forward Grant Toulmin return before the games next weekend as the Ice Dogs host the Melbourne Ice Saturday, and the Melbourne Mustangs Sunday.

Make sure you get your tickets at icedogsshop.com.au, and head down to the rink to support this exciting team!