Kimlin holding strong between the pipes for the Bears. Photo: Paul Furness.

The Sydney Bears have taken 5 points from a possible 6 in Melbourne at the weekend, after downing the Melbourne Ice 3-2 at the O’Brien Group Arena on Sunday night.

It was arguably a far more energetic and focused Sydney Bears that started the game against the Ice, not giving the defending Goodall Cup Champions an inch in the first period.

The first frame was an arm wrestle with neither team able to establish the upper hand.

The Bears were unable to capitalise on a delay of game penalty to Cass Delsar early in the period, despite getting plenty of traffic in front of Michael James. The early advantage was cancelled out due to coincidental minors to Tyrell Clare and Dillon Lawrence.

Michael Burns had two good chances for the Bears only to be kept out both times by James, who stopped all 7 Bears’ shots to end the 1^st.

It opened up in the 2^nd period.

The Ice piled on 16 shots to 9 and had 3 chances on the power play including a 5-on-3. However, Kimlin and the Sydney Bears penalty kill stood firm.

That was only momentary. Dillon Lawrence found Cass Delsar for a give-and-go which enabled Lawrence to escape Charlie Adams and slot the return feed from Delsar over the blocker of Anthony Kimlin, putting the Ice up 1-0 with 9:15 remaining. It was Lawrence’s league leading 8^th goal of the season and he is riding a 7-game point streak.

He would add an assist on the Melbourne Ice’s 2^nd goal just before the 2^nd intermission. Lawrence took a pass from Dylan Anderson at the left face-off circle and slung a hard wrist shot on Kimlin, which was deftly tipped in by Nate Fleming for his 2^nd goal of the season and the Ice’s 2^nd of the night. It was 2-0 going into the 2^nd intermission and one would have thought the Ice had the game sewn up.

It wasn’t to be.

The Bears turned the tables on the Ice and just as they did against the Mustangs the evening before, staged an impressive third period comeback.

Bears celebrate win over Ice. Photo: Paul Furness.
Charles Adams broke the shutout bid of James 5:33 into the 3^rd. After Tyrell Clare was ruled off for interference, the Bears found some space in the neutral through Ryan Annesley. He exchanged passes with Burns before dishing off to Adams at the back post, who found the twine and a short-handed marker to make it 2-1.

The physicality stepped up in the 3^rd period which peaked with Delsar levelling Etienne Du Toit at the blue line moments later.

However, Adams struck again for his 4^th goal of the season 6 minutes later at even strength, when he undressed the Melbourne Ice defence and sniped truly high on the glove side of Michael James to tie the game.

It was fitting that Bears’ workhorse Annesley would silence the Melbourne Ice home crowd with 2:24 left in the game. Adams broke into the Ice defensive zone and managed to lure Matt Armstrong across the slot, leaving Annesley unattended in front of James and able to bury the return pass from Adams, to get the Bears in front in the dying stages of regulation.

The Ice pulled James for the final 90 seconds but were unable to penetrate the zone or Kimlin’s net, and the Sydney Bears skated away with a 3-2 win and a vital 3 points to keep pace with a congested AIHL ladder.

It also marks the first time that the Melbourne Ice have dropped 3 games in a row at the O’Brien Group Arena since 2013 - dropping decisions to the Ice Dogs (17/8/13), the North Stars (31/8/13) and then the Ice Dogs again in the Goodall Cup Semi-Final (7/9/13).

Kimlin stopped 30 of 32 shots in picking up the win for the Bears. James made 26 saves on 29 shots faced.

The Bears will face the Ice Dogs in the 2^nd Battle of Sydney for 2018 on Saturday May 26^th, followed by the Melbourne Mustangs on Sunday May 27th.

The Ice roll into Canberra for a crucial double header with the first-placed CBR Brave, in their last games before the AIHL All-Star Weekend.

Bears take win over Ice. Photo: Andrew McNamara.