Game Report: Caribou CBR Brave versus Central Coast Rhinos - 13 May 2023

In Australian Ice Hockey League action on Saturday, the Caribou CBR Brave travelled north to visit the Central Coast Rhinos at the Erina Ice Arena.

Fresh from their victory over the Newcastle Northstars last week, the Brave were confident - and they were facing the team at the bottom of the AIHL Standings.

The Brave were the first to open their account, when a Rhinos pass was intercepted in the Neutral zone. A cross-ice pass from Felix Plouffe found Casey Kubara in front of goal, and a tap-in made the score 1 goal to nil.

With just under 3 minutes to go in the Period, Brave defenceman Mike Giorgi was handed a penalty for Interference - giving the Rhinos the man-advantage.

With time on the penalty running down, Matt Harvey laid a challenge on a Rhinos player in the Neutral zone. Mitch Henning took possession of the puck, skated it into the Brave’s attacking zone and slotted a shot past the Goaltender from the Hash-marks for a Short-handed goal.

The Brave entered the First Intermission with a 2-goals-to-nil lead.

The Rhinos scored just over a minute into the Second period, when an odd bounce in the Neutral zone caused the Brave Defender to fall over. David-James Jeremy skated into a one-on-one with Brave Goaltender Aleksi Toivonen and calmly netted the goal.

The Rhino’s first goal seemed to flick a switch in the Brave. Barely a minute and a half later the Brave re-established their 2 goal lead, when a shot through traffic by a wheeling Bayley Kubara squeezed between the Goaltender and the post for the Brave’s third goal.

The Brave were applying sustained pressure to the Rhinos defence - keeping them locked in their Defensive zone. Without the saves of Rhinos Import Goaltender Andrew Masters, the score would surely have been higher.

The fourth goal for the Visitors came with just under 5 minutes left in the Period - when a shot from the corner took a bounce off a Defender into the net, giving Bayley Kubara his second goal of the evening.

With just 3 minutes remaining the Brave added a fifth, when an interception by recently-arrived Brave Import Forward Austin Albrecht found a charging Nick Christensen, who split two Defenders, cut into the the centre of the ice and beat the Goaltender from directly in front of the net.

The score at the end of the Second Period was 5 goals to 1 in favour of the visiting Brave.

The Third Period began and within a minute the Brave were on a Penalty Kill - with Import Felix Plouffe sent to the Penalty Box for High Sticking. He was followed forty seconds later by a second Brave player - Matt Harvey - who was penalised for Interference.

This gave the Rhinos a two-man advantage. They pressed hard to score, but the Brave defence held firm and both penalties were killed without addition to the score.

Shortly after the teams returned to even-strength, the Brave scored again - when Kai Miettinen took possession of the puck from a Face-off and strong-armed it into the net to make the score 6 goals to 1.

Barely a minute later, the Brave added a seventh - with Austin Albrecht charging out of the Neutral zone, beating the Rhinos defence and creating a 2-on-1 opportunity against the Goaltender. When the Goaltender committed to cut off Albrecht, a slick cross-ice pass found Felix Plouffe for a tap-in to goal.

The Brave were right on top of their game at this point, and an eighth goal came a minute and a half later. From an Offensive zone Face-off, a long-range shot from the Blue line rebounded from the Goaltender and was put into the net by Forward Tyler Kubara.

At this point, the Rhinos changed Goaltenders - replacing Andrew Masters with Jason Polglase.  The Brave netted their ninth goal minutes later - when slick passing in the Offensive zone found Felix Plouffe, who made no mistake from the Hash-marks.

Although the Brave pushed hard from this point, they were unable to add to their score - and the game ended in a 9-goals-to-1 victory to the visiting Brave.

The tale of the evening was told in the Shots on Goal, which the Brave dominated by an almost 2-to-1 margin 54 to 30. Although Rhinos Goaltender Masters stood firm for over two Periods, the Defence of the Rhinos could not hold out the Offensive firepower of the Brave.

At the other end, Brave Goaltender Aleksi Toivonen was stopping anything that was being sent at him - and many attacking opportunities were being launched from the Brave’s Defensive zone on the strength of his solid and dependable net-minding.

With the Brave’s full complement of Imports now having arrived and Players back from National duties, the Brave attack is looking very potent. 

With testing games against the Sydney Bears, Brisbane Lightning, Melbourne Mustangs and Newcastle Northstars in the coming weeks, the Brave look to be hitting their stride at the right time. 

The next game for the Brave is Saturday 20 May at the Macquarie Ice Rink, when they face the Sydney Ice Dogs. 

Caribou CBR Brave 9 - Central Coast Rhinos 1
Goal Scorers:
- Caribou CBR Brave:  Bayley Kubara, Felix Plouffe (2), Casey Kubara, Mitch Henning, Nick Christensen, Kai Miettinen, Tyler Kubara
- Central Coast Rhinos:  David-James Jeremy