Melbourne dominated puck control for most of the game, but bodies on the line the Bears finished with the 4-3 win.The Ice outshot the Bears 34-16 but a stella performance by Bears net minder Gabriel Robledo shut the door on the Ice.

The game did not start well for the Bears with the Ice buzzing in the Bears zone for the first 2 minutes, but the game quickly changed with a slashing penalty called against Melbourne forward Liam Webster at the four minute mark.

The Bears seized their opportunity to take the lead and scored only 37 seconds into the man advantage. The goal was scored by Bears import Michal Lauko when he was sent in all alone on a breakaway, scoring on the backhand deke.

Dylan Moore for Melbourne was sent off for elbowing only 10 seconds after resume of play, sending the Bears back onto the powerplay. The Bears capitalized again, with Eric Begin scoring from the point through a screened Melbourne goalie. 

The Bears ran into penalty trouble with Nick Cleland and Vlad Rubes off for high sticking and hooking respectively, sending the Ice to a 5-3 advantage. The Bears luckily killed off both penalties and were back skating at full strength.

The Ice dominated early on the second period but the Bears defenseman Valdemar Pelikovsky scored off a rebound at the 4 minute marker.

Two goals in two minutes by Melbourne’s forward Baclig gave the Ice some momentum and made the score 3-2.  

The start of the third period saw Lauko score his second goal of the night on another breakaway, putting the Bears in front 4-2.

The Bears ran into penalty trouble again with Zvonicek (slashing) and Lauko (high-sticking) sending the Ice to their second 5-3 advantage of the night. Melbourne piled on the pressure with Matt Armstrong scoring in front with seven minutes remaining.

Melbourne continued to dominate for the remainder of the game, passing brilliantly and firing shots on net from everywhere.  The Bears defended courageously, blocking shots and putting their bodies on the line.

With 47 seconds to go, Melbourne pulled their goalie, giving them the six on five advantage, but the Bears held, ran out the clock, recorded their first home win of the season and handed the Ice their second loss in 2 nights.

Canadian import Eric Begin spoke about the final minutes of the game, “Yeah they were all over us, we were short of gas maybe, they were rolling four lines on the other side and we were 2 lines and maybe that was the reason but I guess our goalie held us in there, so it was pretty good."

Bears Coach Vlad Rubes praised his new imports “Our imports are playing really well, scoring goals and mixing with the rest of the team really well. We defended brilliantly when we were short-handed, in these situations you can get tired really quickly but we held together well...”

“...today we had a lot of key impact players missing but we played well defensively, we conceded 34 shots to our 16 but we got the four goals...”

“...last night we played well, but we let in those easy goals, tonight it wasn’t the same, I’m very proud of the boys today...”

“...our Aussie guys are really stepping up as well, playing really well and creating chances”

The Bears next home game is against the Newcastle Northstars this Saturday night 5pm at the Penrith Ice Arena.