Game Report: CBR Brave versus Brisbane Lighning - 1 April 2023

On Saturday April 1, the Brisbane Lightning made the trip down to Canberra to face the CBR Brave in a final Exhibition Game hit-out prior to the start of the AIHL Regular Season in two weeks.

With both teams missing key players and neither side’s Imports having yet arrived, the game was set to become a battle of the Locals - and it did not disappoint.

It was the Home team who were the first on the scoresheet - with Forward Jackson Gallagher hitting the back of the net in the sixth minute of the game.
Barely a minute later, the Brave doubled their lead - with new signing Canadian Chris Stoikos finding the back of the net in his first game for the Brave.
With the Brave looking to have weathered the Brisbane attacks, the home team looked likely to head to the First Intermission with a two-goal lead - but two late penalties saw the Lightning with a 5-on-3 man advantage, and they capitalised to hit the scoresheet off the stick of Julian Fordor.

The Second Period was a hard-fought affair, with no quarter given and Penalties for both teams. With both teams having scoring opportunities the Visitors were the only team to hit the scoreboard - tying the scores at 2 goals apiece on a second strike from Julian Fordor.

With scoring being at a premium for the first two Periods, there was nothing to indicate the score-fest that would be the feature of the Third Period.
The Brave began it on a Penalty Kill, and the Brisbane team looked to press their man-advantage. However, it was the Brave who scored - with a Short-Handed strike by Mitch Henning in the first minute of the Period.

After eight minutes of back-and-forth Hockey, the Lightning struck back to tie the score at 3-all - with Julian Fordor completing his Hat Trick through an unassisted shot into the net.
Barely two minutes later, the Brave struck back to re-take the lead - with Jackson Gallagher netting his second for the Game, and re-establishing the Brave’s one goal lead.
After the Brave went down a man due to a Penalty, the Lightning again levelled the scores with an unassisted goal to Christian Fuschini.
The Brave went ahead 5 goals to 4 in the thirteenth minute on a Tyler Kubara Goal - but the Goal Advantage was again erased by a score from Brisbane’s Lachlan Clifford.
The Brave re-gained their lead with just under 5 minutes remaining - when Jackson Gallagher hit the back of the net to complete his Hat Trick and make the score 6 goals to 5.

The final 5 minutes were played at a frenetic pace. A late Penalty to the Brave raised heart-rates in the Crowd, with the Lightning pulling their Goaltender and sending out an extra Skater - but they were unable to capitalise on their advantage.

The final siren saw the Brave take a 6-goals-to-5 win.

The game was a tale of two Hat Tricks - with the Brave’s Jackson Gallagher and the Lightning’s Julian Fordor both netting three goals for their teams. For the Brave, Casey Kubara and Kai Miettinen each had two Assists - while the Lightning’s Harley Anderson also had two.

In what was a tough hit out for both teams, they will now look forward to the start of AIHL Regular Season 2023.
The CBR Brave play their first game Away against the Central Coast Rhinos on Sunday April 16 - before their first Home game the next Saturday against the Sydney Ice Dogs.
The Brisbane Lightning also play their first game Away against the Central Coast the day before the Brave - which will be the first Regular Season encounter between the newest teams in the League. After a stop in Sydney to take on the Ice Dogs, they will then host the Rhinos for two games over the next weekend.

 
CBR Brave 6 - Brisbane Lightning 5
Goal Scorers:


CBR Brave:  Jackson Gallagher (3), Chris Stoikos, Mitch Henning, Tyler Kubara
Brisbane Lightning:  Julian Fordor (3), Christian Fuschini, Lachlan Clifford