2016 CBR Brave season

The 2016 CBR Brave season was the Brave's 3rd season in the Australian Ice Hockey League since being founded and entering the league in 2014. The season ran from 23 April 2016 to 28 August 2016 for the Brave. CBR finished fourth in the regular season behind the Melbourne Ice, Perth Thunder and Newcastle North Stars.^[1] The Brave qualified for the AIHL Finals in Melbourne and played in semi-final one. Canberra defeated the Ice 4–3 in overtime to qualify for the Goodall Cup Final for the first time in franchise history.^[2][3] The Brave were defeated in the final by the North Stars 1–2.^[4]

2016 CBR Brave
League	4th AIHL
2016 record	15–2–2–9
Home record	9–0–1–4
Road record	6–2–1–5
Goals for	129
Goals against	117
Team information
Coach	Josh Unice Art Bidlevskii (Interim head coach)
Assistant coach	David Rogina
Captain	Jordan Gavin
Alternate captains	Ryan Johnson Kai Miettinen
Arena	Phillip Ice Skating Centre
Team leaders
Goals	Stephen Blunden (20) Geordie Wudrick
Assists	Casey Kubara (33)
Points	Geordie Wudrick (50)
Penalty minutes	Harrison Byers (108)
Goals against average	Alex Tetreault (4.72)
← 2015 season 2017 season →

News

In March 2016, Josh Unice was named as Brave head coach for the 2016 AIHL season. The inexperienced former goaltender was joined by experienced assistant coach Dave Rogina and strength and conditioning trainer Stuart Philps.^[5]

In April 2016, The Brave announced their playing roster for the season. The bulk of the roster returned from 2015 but the team confirmed six imported players from overseas including the inter-league transfer of AIHL MVP Geordie Wudrick from the Newcastle North Stars.^[6] The Brave also announced two new partnerships in the month of April. Firstly, a new marketing and supporter partnership with Canberra's national baseball team, the Canberra Cavalry.^[7] And secondly, a promotional partnership with Australian Defence Force hockey team the Navy Tigersharks with the goal to help promote the sport in the ADF.^[8]

Six matches into the 2016 season, import Canadian defenceman, Art Bidlevskii, was hospitalised after a freak accident in an ugly AIHL match in Newcastle between rivals the North Stars and Brave. Art's voice box was shattered, he lost his voice for a period of time, he was almost placed in a coma and he was told he could die if he played ice hockey again. The accident ended the twenty five year old's playing career.^[9][10] Art took up a role as assistant coach with the team following his release from hospital.

In August, one week before the end of the regular season, the CBR Brave management announced the sudden departure of Josh Unice from the team due to personal reasons. Art Bidlevskii was named as replacement head coach on an interim basis for the final match of the regular season and the finals series.^[11] The CBR Brave finished the season in fourth place after a surprise 6–4 loss to last placed Sydney Ice Dogs in Liverpool, Sydney. The team qualified for the finals weekend in Melbourne where they would face league premiers, the Melbourne Ice in the first semi-final match.^[12]

In September, post-finals, CBR Brave players took out a hat-trick of AIHL player awards for the 2016 season.^[13] Czech import, Jan Safar, was named AIHL Defenceman of the season for the second straight year while Casey Kubara was awarded both the Local Player of the year as well as Rookie of the year awards.^[14][15]

Roster

Team roster for the 2016 AIHL season^[16]

2016 AIHL CBR Brave Roster

#	Nat	Name	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
4		Art Bidlevskii	D	R	25	2016	Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
73		Stephen Blunden	LW	L	27	2014	Gloucester, Ontario, Canada
10		Zachary Boyle	D	L	20	2016	Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
8		Nicola Brandi	LW	R	22	2016	Wetzikon, Hinwil, Switzerland
21		Jordan Brunt	F	L	16	2015	Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
22		Harrison Byers	C	R	23	2014	Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
17		James Byers	D	R	22	2014	Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
23		Timothy Cox	D	R	28–29	2016	Australia
38		Nickolas Eckhardt	G	L	26	2014	Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
19		Jordan Gavin (C)	F	R	33–34	2014	Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
14		Matt Gilpin	F	R	20	2016	Queensland, Australia
2		Mathieu Guertin	LW	L	24	2016	Repentigny, Quebec, Canada
86		Matthew Harvey	D	R	30	2014	Calgary, Alberta, Canada
18		Mitchell Henning	F	R	18	2016	Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
3		Ryan Johnson (A)	F	R	41–42	2014	Amesbury, Massachusetts, United States
15		Casey Kubara	RW	R	20	2016	Wombarra, New South Wales, Australia
16		Tyler Kubara	F	R	21	2015	Wombarra, New South Wales, Australia
77		Tom Letki	F	R	27	2014	Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
28		Matti Louma	RW	R	36	2016	Helsinki, Finland
64		Kai Miettinen (A)	F	L	20	2014	Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
27		Luke Moore	D	R	20	2016	Belfast, United Kingdom
13		Luke Philps	F	R	33	2016	Australia
9		Neal Prokop	C	L	26	2016	Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
12		Mark Rummukainen	D	R	34	2014	Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
24		Jan Safar	D	R	29	2016	Praha, Czech Republic
20		Alexandre Tetreault	G	L	18	2015	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
5		Aleksi Toivonen	G	L	20	2015	Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
88		Geordie Wudrick	LW	L	26	2016	Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada

Transfers

All the player transfers in and out by the CBR Brave for the 2016 AIHL season.

In

Pos	Player	Transferred From	Local / Import
D	Art Bidlevskii	Kallinge-Ronneby IF	Import
D	Zachary Boyle	Adelaide Adrenaline	Local
W	Nicola Brandi	SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers	Import
D	Timothy Cox	No team	Local
F	Matt Gilpin	No team	Local
W	Mathieu Guertin	Trois-Rivières Blizzard	Import
F	Mitchell Henning	No team	Local
W	Casey Kubara	Atlanta Jr. Knights	Local
W	Matti Luoma	No team	Local
D	Luke Moore	No team]	Local
F	Luke Philps	No team	Local
C	Neal Prokop	No team	Import
D	Jan Safar	Newcastle North Stars	Import
W	Geordie Wudrick	Newcastle North Stars	Import

Out

Pos	Player	Transferred To	Local / Import
D	Aaron Clayworth	No team	Local
D/F	David Dunwoodie	Sydney Ice Dogs	Local
W	Kelly Geoffrey	Aigles de La Roche sur Yon	Import
D/F	Mike Giorgi	No team	Import
F	David Lewis	No team	Local
F	Jayden Lewis	No team	Local
D	Tomas Manco	Sydney Ice Dogs	Local
D	Kyle Mariani	Bouquetins de Val Vanoise	Import
D	Ben Pagett	No team	Local
C	Jordan Peddle	Terrace River Kings	Import
C	Scott Pitt	Braehead Clan	Import
F	Alain Riesen	No team	Local
D/F	Peter Taylor	No team	Local
G	Josh Unice	CBR Brave (head coach)	Import
G	Stuart Woodall	No team	Local

Staff

Staff Roster for 2016 AIHL season^[17]

2016 AIHL CBR Brave Staff

Role	Staff
Head coach	Josh Unice
Assistant coach	David Rogina
Assistant coach	Art Bidlevskii
Strength and conditioning coach	Stuart Philps
Physiotherapist	Sportstec
Equipment manager	Adrian Miller
Bench official	Darren Sault
Bench official	Kelly Sault

Standings

Regular season

Summary

Season	Overall										Home								Away
	P	W	L	OW	OL	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Finish	P	W	L	OW	OL	GF	GA	GD	P	W	L	OW	OL	GF	GA	GD
2016	28	15	9	2	2	129	117	+12	51	4th	14	9	4	0	1	70	56	+14	14	6	5	2	1	59	61	-2

Position by round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17
Position	1	1	2	4	4	4	4	3	4	4	4	4	3	4	4	3	4

Updated to match(es) played on Completed. Source: www.icehockeynewsaustralia.com

League table

Team	GP	W	SOW	SOL	L	GF	GA	GDF	PTS
Melbourne Ice	28	19	3	3	3	127	71	+56	66
Perth Thunder	28	16	4	1	7	96	73	+23	57
Newcastle North Stars	28	15	1	5	7	105	74	+31	52
CBR Brave	28	15	2	2	9	129	117	+12	51
Melbourne Mustangs	28	11	2	0	15	89	102	−13	37
Sydney Bears	28	5	5	3	15	77	95	−18	28
Sydney Ice Dogs	28	7	1	1	19	92	139	−47	24
Adelaide Adrenaline	28	5	1	4	18	83	127	−44	21

Qualified for the Goodall Cup playoffs

H Newman Reid Trophy winners

Finals

Summary

Season	Finals weekend
	P	W	L	GF	GA	Result	Semi-final	Goodall Cup final
2016	2	1	1	5	5	Runners-up	Won 4-3 (OT) (Ice)	Lost 1-2 (North Stars)

Bracket

	Semifinals					Final
	1	Melbourne Ice	3
	4	CBR Brave	4*
						CBR Brave		1
						Newcastle North Stars		2
	3	Newcastle North Stars	3*
	2	Perth Thunder	2

* denotes number of overtime periods

Schedule & results

Regular season

Matchday	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28
Arena	H	A	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	H	A	A	A	H	H	H	A	H	H	A	A	A
Result	W	W	W	L	L	W	L	L	L	W	W	L	L	W	W	L	W	L	W	W	W	W	W	L	W	W	W	L

Updated to match(es) played on Completed. Source: AIHL
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; L = Loss

2016 fixtures and results
Date	Time	Away	Score	Home	Location	Recap
23 April	17:00	Sydney Ice Dogs	2–5	CBR Brave	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	[1]
24 April	17:00	CBR Brave	6–3	Sydney Bears	Penrith Ice Palace	[2]
30 April	17:00	CBR Brave	4–2	Melbourne Mustangs	O'Brien Group Arena	[3]
1 May	16:00	CBR Brave	1–7	Melbourne Mustangs	O'Brien Group Arena	[4]
7 May	17:00	Sydney Bears	3 – 2 (SO)	CBR Brave	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	[5]
8 May	17:00	CBR Brave	4 – 3 (SO)	Newcastle North Stars	Hunter Ice Skating Stadium	[6]
14 May	17:30	Perth Thunder	6–2	CBR Brave	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	[7]
15 May	17:00	Perth Thunder	7–6	CBR Brave	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	[8]
22 May	17:00	CBR Brave	2–7	Newcastle North Stars	Hunter Ice Skating Stadium	[9]
28 May	17:30	Newcastle North Stars	3–5	CBR Brave	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	[10]
29 May	17:00	Sydney Bears	4–6	CBR Brave	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	[11]
4 June	17:00	CBR Brave	5–7	Melbourne Ice	O'Brien Group Arena	[12]
5 June	16:00	CBR Brave	3–6	Melbourne Ice	O'Brien Group Arena	[13]
18 June	17:30	Melbourne Mustangs	2–5	CBR Brave	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	[14]
19 June	17:00	Melbourne Mustangs	1–4	CBR Brave	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	[15]
2 July	17:30	Newcastle North Stars	3–1	CBR Brave	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	[16]
3 July	17:00	CBR Brave	6–1	Sydney Ice Dogs	Liverpool Catholic Club Ice Rink	[17]
9 July	16:30	CBR Brave	3 – 4 (SO)	Perth Thunder	Perth Ice Arena	[18]
10 July	16:30	CBR Brave	4–2	Perth Thunder	Perth Ice Arena	[19]
16 July	17:30	Sydney Ice Dogs	5–6	CBR Brave	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	[20]
23 July	17:30	Adelaide Adrenaline	2–7	CBR Brave	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	[21]
24 July	17:00	Adelaide Adrenaline	5–8	CBR Brave	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	[22]
31 July	17:00	CBR Brave	6–4	Sydney Bears	Penrith Ice Palace
6 August	17:30	Melbourne Ice	10–9	CBR Brave	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	[24]
7 August	17:00	Melbourne Ice	3–4	CBR Brave	Phillip Ice Skating Centre	[25]
13 August	16:30	CBR Brave	5 – 4 (SO)	Adelaide Adrenaline	Adelaide Ice Arena	[26]
14 August	16:00	CBR Brave	6–5	Adelaide Adrenaline	Adelaide Ice Arena	[27]
20 August	17:00	CBR Brave	4–6	Sydney Ice Dogs	Liverpool Catholic Club Ice Rink	[28]

Finals

Goodall Cup semi-final All times are UTC+10:00

27 August 2016 15:00

CBR Brave

4 – 3 OT (1–1, 1–1, 1–1, 1–0)

Melbourne Ice

O'Brien Group Arena

Game reference
	Aleksi Toivonen	Goalies	Troy Davenport	Referee: Jeff Scott Linesmen: Fraser Ohlson Casper Russell-Huber
	2:43 – Safar (PP) (T. Kubara, Miettinen) 1 – 0 1 – 1 13:27 – Lassen (PP) (Graham, Armstrong) 1 – 2 26:01 – Hughes (Baclig, Yule) 29:47 – Wudrick (PP) (Safar, Brandi) 2 – 2 44:31 – Wudrick (PP) (Prokop, Kubara) 3 – 2 3 – 3 48:35 – Lassen 58:47 – Safar (Wudrick and Rummukainen) 4 – 3
	12 min	Penalties	35 min
	34	Shots	35

Goodall Cup final

28 August 2016 15:00

CBR Brave

1–2 (0–1, 0–1, 1–0)

Newcastle North Stars

O'Brien Group Arena

Game reference
	Aleksi Toivonen	Goalies	Dayne Davis	Referee: Cory Ross Linesmen: Fraser Ohlson Casper Russell-Huber
	0 – 1 13:02 – McLaughlin (Nadin) 0 – 2 19:44 – Harris (Taylor) 32.51 – Wudrick (Safar, Blunden) 1 – 2
	8 min	Penalties	8 min
	29	Shots	31

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular season Nat Player Pos M G A P PIM   Artem Bidlevskii D 6 0 3 3 2   Stephen Blunden F 14 20 17 37 99   Zach Boyle D 27 1 8 9 10   Nicola Brandi F 10 8 6 14 14   Jordon Brunt F 6 0 0 0 0   Harrison Byers F 19 1 2 3 108   James Byers D 28 1 4 5 36   Timothy Cox D 4 0 0 0 0   Jordie Gavin F 13 0 1 1 20   Matthew Gilpin F 4 0 0 0 0   Mathieu Guertin F 20 18 31 49 86   Matthew Harvey D 15 0 9 9 18   Mitchell Henning F 26 1 3 4 6   Ryan Johnson F 19 1 1 2 70   Casey Kubara F 27 16 33 49 24   Tyler Kubara F 22 8 14 22 14   Thomas Letki F 10 0 0 0 0   Matti Luoma F 10 2 5 7 2   Kai Miettinen F 28 5 6 11 32   Luke Moore D 20 0 0 0 0   Luke Philps F 17 0 0 0 0   Neal Prokop F 20 16 14 30 8   Mark Rummukainen D 25 2 6 8 18   Jan Safar D 17 7 25 32 61   Geordie Wudrick F 20 20 30 50 34

Finals Nat Player Pos M G A P PIM   Artem Bidlevskii D 0 0 0 0 0   Stephen Blunden F 1 0 1 1 2   Zach Boyle D 2 0 0 0 0   Nicola Brandi F 2 0 1 1 0   Jordon Brunt F 0 0 0 0 0   Harrison Byers F 2 0 0 0 0   James Byers D 2 0 0 0 4   Timothy Cox D 0 0 0 0 0   Jordie Gavin F 2 0 0 0 2   Matthew Gilpin F 0 0 0 0 0   Mathieu Guertin F 0 0 0 0 0   Matthew Harvey D 2 0 0 0 2   Mitchell Henning F 0 0 0 0 0   Ryan Johnson F 0 0 0 0 0   Casey Kubara F 2 0 1 1 2   Tyler Kubara F 2 0 1 1 0   Thomas Letki F 0 0 0 0 0   Matti Luoma F 2 0 0 0 0   Kai Miettinen F 2 0 1 1 0   Luke Moore D 0 0 0 0 0   Luke Philps F 0 0 0 0 0   Neal Prokop F 1 0 1 1 0   Mark Rummukainen D 2 0 1 1 0   Jan Safar D 2 2 2 4 2   Geordie Wudrick F 2 3 1 4 6

Goaltenders

Regular season Nat Player Pos M SO MP GA GAA SA SV SV% G A PIM   Nickolas Eckhardt G 0 - - - - - - - - - -   Alex Tetreault G 9 0 280 22 4.72 178 156 0.876 0 2 0   Aleksi Toivonen G 24 0 1111 93 5.02 754 661 0.877 0 2 2

Finals Nat Player Pos M SO MP GA GAA SA SV SV% G A PIM   Nickolas Eckhardt G 0 - - - - - - - - - -   Alex Tetreault G 0 - - - - - - - - - -   Aleksi Toivonen G 2 0 108 5 2.79 66 61 0.924 0 0 0

Awards

Team awards for 2016 season^[18] 2016 Brave awards Award Recipient Bravest of the Brave   Jan Safar   Mathieu Guertin Best Forward   Mathieu Guertin Best Defenceman   Jan Safar Fans Choice   James Byers Player's Choice   Kai Miettinen Coach's Award *Not awarded Emerging Brave   Casey Kubara John Lewis Memorial Award   Andrew Deans   Judy Deans

AIHL awards for 2016 season^[19] 2016 AIHL awards Award Recipient Rookie of the Year   Casey Kubara Local Player of the Year   Casey Kubara Defenseman of the Year   Jan Safar

References

1. "2016 AIHL season: Round 17". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. August 20, 2016. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
2. Corrigan, Tom (August 27, 2016). "Canberra Brave into Australian Ice Hockey League with overtime win". The Canberra Times. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
3. Scardetta, Jordan (August 27, 2016). "CBR Brave first to advance to Goodall Cup Final". theaihl.com. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
4. Francis, Adrienne (August 29, 2016). "Australian Ice Hockey League grand final: 'Heartbreaking' loss for Canberra Brave against Newcastle North Stars". ABC News (Australia). Retrieved January 2, 2017.
5. "2016 Coaching Team Announcement". CBR Brave. March 9, 2016. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
6. "Brave Release 2016 Roster". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. April 14, 2016. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
7. "Canberra Cavalry and CBR Brave partnership to offer fans extended benefits". brave.theaihl.com. April 18, 2016. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
8. "CBR Brave and Navy Tigersharks Announce new Partnership". brave.theaihl.com. April 22, 2016. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
9. Dutton, Chris (July 29, 2016). "Canberra Brave boss urges players to use blood and heartbreak as AHL motivation". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
10. Kroiter, Jon (August 10, 2016). "Canberra Brave's Art Bidlevskii breaks throat, almost placed in a coma". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
11. Helmers, Caden (August 17, 2016). "Ice Hockey: CBR Brave coach Josh Unice stands down on the eve of the AIHL finals". The Canberra Times. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
12. Helmers, Caden (August 20, 2016). "AIHL: CBR Brave's Goodall Cup ambitions take another hit against Sydney Ice Dogs". The Canberra Times. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
13. "The AIHL's best recognised in Annual AIHL Awards". theaihl.com. September 12, 2016. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
14. McNamara, Bernard (September 13, 2016). "Safar takes out second straight D-man honour". theaihl.com. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
15. McNamara, Bernard (September 13, 2016). "Kubara takes out Rookie and Local Player of the Year". theaihl.com. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
16. "2016 CBR Brave Team Roster". Elite Prospects. Retrieved April 13, 2016.
17. "CBR Brave Coaching Staff". www.theaihl.com. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
18. "CBR Brave 2016 Player Awards". www.icehockeynewsaustralia.com. August 19, 2016. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
19. "The AIHL's best recognised in Annual AIHL Awards". www.theaihl.com. September 12, 2016. Retrieved November 18, 2020.