The Bears headed south on Saturday night to face the Canberra Knights in the Nations Capital.Bears forward Brett Nelson-Bond opened the scoring on the power play with only 1:48 into the game, firing the rebound over Knights goalie Ryan Lowe.

Both teams continued to pressure each other, with Bears forward Murray Wand having the best chance of the first period hitting the post then being robbed a sure goal by the glove of Ryan Lowe.  The Bears finished the first period in front 1-0. 

Canberra ran into penalty trouble in the second period with Knights defenseman Alistair Band finding himself in the penalty box for 2 minutes. The Bears scored their second power play goal of the night when Rob Franchini blasted a slap shot top shelf past a screened Knights goalie. The Bears were unfortunate not to increase their lead with Rob Franchini missing 2 empty nets sliding the puck right through the crease on each occasion. 

With only 1 minute to go in the second period the Knights finally solved Bears goalie Nick Boucher on their 20th shot of the game. Right after the goal was scored Jordan Gavin took a roughing penalty sending the Bears onto the power play for the remainder of the second period. Setting up in the Knights offensive zone, import Valda Pelikovsky scored the Bears 3rd power play goal of the game and restoring the Bears two goal lead. 

Trailing by only 2 goals heading into the third period, the Knights scored early to bring the score to 3-2.  The Knights continued to pressure and were rewarded for their hard work with Sean Scarbrough scoring his second of the night and leveling the score at 3-3 with 6 minutes to go. 

The Bears continued to hold on until Knights forward Garrett Delaquis took a hooking penalty with only 1.35 seconds to go sending the Bears to the power play for the rest of regulation time. With the clock ticking down Pelikovsky made a great move at the blue line to set up defense partner Eric Begin in the slot. Begin scored the game winner with only 30 seconds to go, firing a rocket over top shelf to seal the win for the Bears. 

With the wins the Bears take first position on the AIHL ladder with 20 points. 

"There is no team with better work ethic. We have got a decent streak going now too, thanks to the players who are constantly improving. And if we score a goal with 30 seconds left in the game... I guess it was meant to be. It's quite pleasant to check the AIHL standings these days." said Coach Rubes. 

The Habitat Furniture Man of the Match went to Brett Nelson-Bond. 

The Bears travel back up to Sydney to host the Adelaide Adrenaline on Sunday night at the Penrith Ice Palace.

Photo by Guido Rozdarz