Sydney Bears regulars would have noticed the gaping hole in import presence within the team toward the end of the season, with Tony Demelinne resuming his sterling career back home, but Saskatchewan local Kurtis Dulle also departing home to, as he says, “work his white Canadian ass off”.

Following the league's introduction of a 2 conference system, Bears management has given its support to the changes. "The AIHL has made the right decision with the expansion of the league" says assistant captain Brett Nelson-Bond.
 
To accommodate the Perth Thunder in the competition, the league has split into 2 conferences. Joining the Sydney Bears in the Eastern Conference will be Canberra, Sydney Ice-dogs, Gold Coast, and Newcastle. The Western Conference will be made up of the 2 Melbourne teams, Adelaide, and newcomers Perth.

Despite mounting a comeback in the final period, the Bears’ lack of depth was evident without their two star imports, Dutchman Tony Demelinne and Canadian Kurtis Dulle.

Adelaide opened the scoring early through forward Cass Delsar, who found enough space inside a packed Bears goalmouth to finish, and doubled their lead soon after, thanks to a brilliant individual effort from forward Josef Rezek.

The name of the game for The Bears this year was leadership, with a young and inexperienced team line up, strength and knowledge were needed to guide the up and coming Bears to take on the AIHL opposition.

Enter Tony Demelinne, who after some well-earned success in Europe, joined The Bears in the fourth game against The Ice, his presence was immediately felt remarkably scoring four goals. Losing key import Jordan Hale to a sudden season ending injury, it was up to Tony and fellow import Kurtis Dulle to lead the way, while Canadian import Sheldon Baerg held the net.