The Adelaide Adrenaline failed to find the net as the Sydney Bears scored three goals on Sunday night.

Bears forward Brett Nelson-Bond praised the teams defensive efforts.

 “We played a good simple game, there weren’t a lot of shots for us, but we scored when we had our
chances. It was good, simple, defensive hockey.”

“The Adrenaline played well, but we had three lines skating against their two and it showed in the third period.”

Despite only having 15 shots, the Bears produced a goal in each period to put them one win away from a guaranteed place in the play-offs in Melbourne.

The first period was highly charged, with both teams attacking and counter-attacking repeatedly.

The Bears took the lead in the opening minutes through Joel Rhodes after taking the puck from just inside the blue line to scoring his first AIHL goal from the slot.

The second period was a confident performance from the Adrenaline, closing down hard and having good possession in the offensive zone.

It was the Bears however, in the fourth minute  who doubled their lead through Jim Zvonicek, in the first of only two Bears shots in the period.

The Bears entered the final period two goals up, and scored off the second and final powerplay of the game. On the back of two precision passes from Michal Lauko and Vlad Stransky, Eric Begin deked the goaltender Oliver Martin and scored on the backhand.

The Bears need one win against the Canberra Knights next weekend to secure a place in the finals.  

The Habitat Furniture Man of the Match went to Nick Boucher for his amazing shut out performance, stopping all 27 shots he faced. 

The Bears final home game is next Sunday night 5pm against the Canberra Knights.