After the Bears dominating display last weekend versus the Ice, the Bears weren’t at their best on Sunday night against the Blue Tongues, losing their first game at home in regulation time all season. 

The Bears seemed sluggish in the first period, being out shot by the Blue Tongues 12 to 8. The Blue Tongues got on the board early after a great individual effort by Blue Tongues forward Dallas Costanzo, scoring high glove side with Pelikovsky in the box for interference.  

The Bears almost drew even with Vladan Stransky being robbed point blank by an outstretched Blue Tongues goalie Luke Fivesh. Dallas Costanzo scored shortly after to make the score 2-0 for the Blue Tongues after the Bears failed to clear the puck from the zone. The Bears managed to pull within 1 before the end of the first period when Lauko jumped on a lose puck in front, giving the Bears a much needed boost for the start of the second.

The Bears lack of urgency carried through to the second period and still unable to score on Blue Tongues goalie Luke Fivesh.  Each team had 2 power play opportunities but neither team could capitalise and change the 2-1 score.

It was a period of chances for the Bears in the third, after firing 17 shots on net and pushing hard to equalise the game.  Bears forward Vlad Stransky equalised the score at 2 all early on, but the Blue Tongues proved resilient and managed to score 2 more goals before the end of the period. Dallas Costanzo completed the hat trick on the night and Mike McRae sealed the game for the Blue Tongues scoring a shorthand goal with less than 4 minutes to go.

The Habitat Furniture Man of the Match went to Michal Lauko. Michal scored the first goal of the game and was an offensive threat all night for the Bears.

Bears Coach Vlad Rubes said it was a tough game but was humble in defeat, “It was a tough night for the Bears. Nothing really worked for us, our game was complicated without any surprise plays.  We controlled the puck but could not penetrate their defensive wall." 

"They were scoring goals as we made too many mistakes on both blue lines and offered way too many odd man rushes. From the amount of shots we had only 2 went in and that's not enough. In the third period when we tied the game and were getting on top, another 2 odd man rushes sealed the game for them."

"It was a hard learnt lesson tonight and congrats to the Blue Tongues on their good performance. We are still on the top of the AIHL pack and now we have couple trainings to get over this before we head to Gold Coast for the rematch double header." 

The Bears wont have to wait long to get some pay back, the Bears have a bye this weekend and then fly to the Gold Coast and play 2 games against the Blue Tongues.