In this week’s Q&A, we catch up with one quarter of the feared Kubara line, Toby Kubara..

Congratulations on your play this year! How do see the team’s performances so far?
The team has come together really well this year - even with the later arrival of the second import, Garret, we have all immediately gelled and been playing some great hockey.
We’ve been challenged a number of times so far this season but have managed to struggle through that together to come up with some wins to get back on top.

You have spent a few years away from the Brave - last playing with the team in the 2017 season. What has brought you back to the team?
I needed a shoulder surgery from an old injury in 2018/19 so I took that season off and then 2020 brought in the pandemic, so with the uncertainty of a national league I opted to play ECSL.
I always wanted to come back to the Brave. It’s such a good team culture with a great core group of players and staff. Playing with my brothers is a priority for me because we were separated for so many years, only seeing each other briefly maybe once a year - first by my Army career, then their junior and college hockey overseas.
We all had so much fun playing in the Brave v Knights exhibition game last year so that really cemented my ambition to return.

What has changed in the time you’ve been away?
Obviously a few faces have changed; players, management and coaching staff. However, the overall attitude and drive behind the organisation remains the same. Everyone from the top down wants to have fun and play to win. There’s still a large group of players in the team from 2017, and a few new additions from all around the country too. I think that is the best thing about the Brave. One season with this team and no matter where individuals may go, they always want to come back and play hockey with these guys.

How did you get your start in Ice Hockey? Why choose Hockey over other sports?
Growing up on the coast, whenever there was no surf we would go to the skatepark. One of our local indoor skateparks had inline hockey, so I started playing that when I was around 10 or 11 years old.
Then when I was 15, an ice rink opened in Liverpool which was about an hour away. My brothers and I went ice skating once, saw a poster for hockey and that was it! No more footy or basketball, just hockey.  We all loved the Mighty Ducks movies as well so I’m sure that played a part. We would play some increasingly violent games of street hockey against each other out the front of our house whenever we weren’t at the rink!

You’ve had quite a few numbers this year (including wearing your brother Bayley’s for a few games!) - but have settled on 85. Does that number have any significance that you’d like to share?
Bayley wasn’t thrilled about that, but the new jerseys hadn’t arrived yet and he was injured! A lot of people had some fun giving him a hard time “That’s the best I’ve ever seen number 7 play!” - which was very amusing and obviously far from the truth.
85 has been my number since my first ever proper season of inline hockey. I chose when I was maybe 12 years old and have just stuck with it ever since.

Do you have any message you’d like to give to the Brave Fans?
Yes, a big thank you!
Everyone knows that we have the best fans in the league which makes for the best atmosphere at home games and even a solid fan base on the road. You can’t get that experience as a player anywhere else in this country.

This weekend is a top-of-the-table double-header against the Newcastle Northstars.  Puck drop on Saturday is 5pm. and on Sunday is 4:30pm.
Saturday’s game is our Anytime Fitness Hockey Fights Cancer game. The CBR Brave have a special jersey which Players will be wearing - and these will be auctioned after the game to raise money for this very worthy cause.

Tickets for both games are still available through the Brave Website -  https://shop.cbrbrave.com.au/tickets/
 

Go Brave!