The last time the Bears and the North Stars faced off, the North Stars won in a penalty shootout 7-6.

The Bears were no doubt pleased with their win, but none more so than their coach Vlad Rubes, who believed the game result was due to their concerted efforts in training, “All our goals were what we practiced at training, we had a bit of luck for the second goal, but we worked hard and deserved our chances.”

 “Today we only had 13 players, yesterday we had 11, but we didn’t give them any room.” added Coach Rubes.

It took seven minutes for the scoring to be opened when the North Stars Brian Bales scored high glove side after the  first 8 minutes of the game was dominated by the North Stars.  The goal was a wake-up call for the Bears, who began showing more urgency, skating well and fighting for possession in the end to end play which resumed with intensity.

With four minutes to go in the first period, defence man Eric Begin scored from the blue line, firing a bullet high blocker side on a screened Newcastle goalie.

The Bears gained a two man advantage from a quick succession of penalties but failed to capitalise on this chance. Shortly after the two penalties expired, Brett Nelson-Bond scored on a wrap around shot to cap off an exciting first period.

The second period was another back and forth battle, with both the North Stars and the Bears carving out exquisite opportunities one on one but failing to finish. That is until,with only forty seconds to go in the period, Newcastle defence man Rob Starke scored on a powerplay after Roberto Francini was sent off for slashing.

The start of the third saw the North Stars have a goal disallowed which the Newcastle player claimed had crossed the line.  Referee Ivan Manco said  “I was about two metres away but I didn’t see it”.

The North Stars had Blair Tassone sent off for four minutes following a double minor high-sticking penalty, cutting open Valdemar Peliovsky's nose.

The Bears scored on the man advantage with Valdemar Peliovsky, finishing a beautiful passing play on the power play, firing the shot behind goalie Matt Ezzy.

The North Stars pulled their goalie but the Bears held on to record back to back wins despite missing key first line players.

The Bears bucked an early season trend of penalties by only conceding 2 minor penalties in the whole game. This was in direct contrast to the North Stars who took 5 penalties, including a 4 minute penalty to Blair Tassone which resulted in the game winner being scored.

Coach Rubes commented on the discipline play of his team “On the road last weekend in Adelaide and Melbourne we conceded a lot of key penalties, that’s why they scored so many goals, and that’s why we blew it. Today we only had a couple of penalties, so there was less pressure.”

The Bears also held the North Stars to only 19 shots on the night.

“We really put our bodies on the line, we blocked important shots and we did anything to stop those shots.” said Coach Rubes.

The Habitat Furniture Man of the Match went to defence man Eric Begin, finishing the game with 1 goal and 1 assist.

The Bears will be pushing for their next win at the Penrith Ice Palace, versus The Canberra Knights, 5 pm, on Saturday the 22nd of May.

Article contributors - Patrick Angel and Christian Roach