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Despite the fact they won’t be featuring in the Australian Ice Hockey League playoffs, the Sydney Bears still have plenty to play for in their last game of the season against cross-town rivals the Sydney Ice Dogs on Sunday afternoon.
Like any sport where local rivals go head to head, there will be plenty of fire and the Bears will want to finish their season on a positive note.
The teams have virtually swapped positions this season. The Bears had a terrific season last year; they made the semi-final but were knocked out of the championship race by the Melbourne Ice. Their Sydney counterparts the Ice Dogs were the complete opposite, languishing at the bottom of the table.
This season, it is the Bears who remain at the bottom of the table, while the Ice Dogs have climbed their way up to third position and are ready for the playoffs.
The Bears failed to record a win during the first five matches of this season; injuries to crucial players and imports with external commitments left their roster at half strength from day one and from there it was an uphill battle for the club.
But as Bears forward Brett Nelson-Bond explains, the absence of key players such as Tony Demelinne opened the door for the club’s younger brigade to gain more ice time and the improvements are showing.
“A real surprise has been Jayden Ryan; he really has stepped up and is showing huge improvements with the extra ice time…we still have a good core of one to two rookies [Joel McFadden, Daniel Shaw and Lucien Hackett] who have been logging huge minutes over the past six games.”
Despite the poor season, Nelson-Bond believes that the team can still extract some positives that they can build on for next year.
“We have been a competitive team for most of our games, we came close to beating Melbourne Ice twice in their home barn which is no easy task. Our main downfall this season has been the ability to put together a consistent three periods.”
The gun forward, who has recorded his best ever season in the AIHL this year with 14 points, believes a win against the Ice Dogs on Sunday would be the perfect way to finish off the season but acknowledged it was going to be a difficult task.
“It’s going to take some time to rebuild the team…our main focus at the moment is building for the start of next season…The Ice Dogs play a very physical game which traditionally hasn’t been the style of the Bears. Having a good group of young players, we need to match them with our speed.”
He urged all fans to attend the club’s last game of the season as the team look to continue developing their younger group of talented players “Being the last game of the season we want to thank our fans for their support and we want to continue showcase some of the talent that is coming through for next season.”
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