Brisbane Lightning News: June 24, Week 11

The Brisbane Lightning started a prolonged homestand against some of the top teams in the AIHL with a single game on Saturday of the June 24/25th weekend versus the Sydney Bears at IceWorld Boondall.

There was a bit of hype surrounding this game, as some in the media were branding it a grudge rematch. This was related to the physicality of the last game in Brisbane between the two teams during the Lightning’s 2022 exhibition season that ended in the Bears abandoning the match prior to the end with the Lightning leading on the scoreboard. That game resulted in Lightning player suspensions and social media stirring from each team’s supporters. In the end however, it turned out to be much ado about nothing! The game was fast paced and physical, yet none of the shenanigans spoken of in the media or concerned about by the League and game officials came to fruition – in the end it was just a good game of hockey!

The first period was a back-and-forth affair with good scoring chances at both ends of the ice and the goalies standing tall in their respective nets. The only goal of the first frame was an even strength snipe from Arum Rapchuk (his 7th of the season) with helpers to Eric Speedie and Kasey Kulczycki. Steve Harris was a standout in the Lightning net as he turned aside all 16 shots from the Sydney Bears, and at the other end Anthony Kimlin’s glove hand foiled numerous attempts from the Lightning to pull further ahead. The Brisbane penalty kill was exceptional in the first period, stopping the Bears from scoring on five penalties handed out to the home team. The penalty killing forward pairings of Eric Speedie with Aaron Wanat and Patrik Popovics with either Sacha Rapchuk or Kasey Kulczycki really kept the Bears to the outside. The Lightning defenders on the penalty kill stood tall as well and foiled the down-low plan of the Bears to put a big man in front of Steve Harris to create havoc – with more than one physical battle outside the paint occurring between the Bears’ Brian Funes and the Lightning’s Alexis Girard or Neil Pretorius.

“The Bears put some very good puck handlers out on the powerplay,” said Eric Speedie. “With some of their imports like Ace Cowans and Josh Lammon we had to play with a lot of poise. We just tried to stay in the shooting lanes and forced them to take outside shots or try low percentage passes through the traffic in the middle.”

After a strong first, the Lightning came out quite positive in the second period that they could skate with the Bears for the rest of the game. The middle frame was a relatively penalty-free affair compared to the first and the third periods with the majority of play at even strength. The Sydneysiders came out stronger in the second and produced almost twice as many shots on Steve Harris than the Lightning were able to manage towards Kimlin. The first half of the period saw the teams trade goals, with Landa scoring for the Bears and Sacha Rapchuk scoring off a nifty behind the net feed from Aaron Wanat to reply for the Lightning. The second half of this period saw the class of the Bears’ imports step up for two short bursts leading to two goals from the same duo – Cowans with assist from Lammon – to end the period with the Bears taking a 3-2 lead into the sheds.

The third period saw only one goal scored, and unfortunately that was from Moncrieff of the Bears to see the game finish in a 4-2 scoreline in favouring the visitors. The Lightning had their chances, as the Bears were punished for some loose play with 4 straight penalties called by the referees. However, despite moving the puck around and controlling play on the powerplay, the Lightning were unable to cause any major drama in front of the Bears net and came away from the game with an unfavourable 0-from-8 effort with the man advantage.

It was a strong effort from both teams, and the Lightning did show much better in overall play than in a few of the previous high scoring games they have been involved in. The defensive structure, defensive effort and penalty kill were much improved, and this will be essential in the next run of games that includes bouts with perennial powerhouses Canberra, Newcastle and the Melbourne Mustangs.

Words by Ivan Rapchuk 
Image by Slippery Pixel Photography