Gordon Goodenough: Yes, we are the unofficial podcast of the Sydney Bears Australian Ice Hockey League team. It's great to have you with us. we are recording this late. It's Friday night. part of the reason has been due to sickness and unavailability. first of all, my name's Gordon Goodenough. I'm joined here by Matt Wiggins. First of all, Matt, you've got Betty and Artie in the background. how how are things with you, mate? Matt: Yeah, really good thanks mate. And in the absence of being able to do any meaningful interviews last weekend, I thought I'd interview the dogs this week. So they're primed and ready to go. Yes, I've managed to touch wood, avoid the illness that's going around or has been going around. So firing on all cylinders and delighted to see Nate the Great back in action after a week. of licking his wounds and recovery. Gordon Goodenough: Yes, so Nathan Nathan Graham here, the of course, the governor and director of hockey hockey operations for the Sydney Bears. it's good to see ya back in the land of the living, mate. Nathan: That's some endorsement. Thank you, gentlemen. I am not for one firing on all cylinders, but I'll definitely rattle my way to the line and do my very best. And apologies to all of those listeners that it appears we we have out there demanding the pod for this week. I was the reason for the delay. So apologies for that. And I'm still in a state of shock that people are actually demanding to hear my voice. Typically it's the complete opposite. So a big thanks and looking forward to writing with you guys again. Matt: So are we, Gordon Goodenough: Yep, should be a good one. Matt: Nathan. So are we. Gordon Goodenough: I'm just gonna crack open a Nathan: You don't look all that trustworthy, Matt, but we we don't have time to don't have time to dissect that. Gordon Goodenough: I've just cracked open a beer. I've I've realized that I'm the only one in in this group on a Friday night who is cracking open a beer. but there are pragmatic reasons for that. Nathan, we are gonna see how you go running through the scores from last week, it seems like a lifetime ago, but the non Sydney Bears scores take us through what happened. Matt: you Nathan: Yeah, so we had some Friday night hockey down in Melbourne. the Mustangs ran out six two winners over the ice. the Mustangs, their top guys delivered. Timmons had five points, Brody Crane, four points. Caron chipped in with three. and that included one on the power play and also a shorthanded goal. Giesbreck stopped forty of forty-two in net over to the Saturday. The North Stars beat the Adelaide Adrenaline seven three. North Stars scored three of those goals on the power play. Skatchikov had a hat trick and totaled five points through the game. Harala four points. Darge and Watsonabe with three and two respectfully. Matisse Trinker with the win in that game. at Macquarie, the Rhinos five-two winners over the dogs. Bastille and Bouchard, they they did what they typically do with five and four points respectively. Sangho Be chipped in with a couple of goals for the Rhinos there. Obrey had a f a nine-five-seven in net for the win. And for the dogs, Ivan Kulashov, he had a a goal and an assist and chipped in in typical fashion. on the Sunday, the Canberra Brave had a nine-five win in Brisbane. there was a huge spread of production across the Brave lineup in this game. They had 13 individual players with points, led by Bates, Henning, and Malin. Alex Tetro in net. he let in five on 15 shots, but still managed to record the win. That's not a stat line that you come across all that often. Zach Schenker had a hat-trick for Brisbane and Batu Gendonov had two goals and an assist. Dogs bounced back in a controversial one against the adrenaline at Macquarie. They were five three winners in that game. Four of the f dog's five goals came on the power play. Lakovic had two goals, Vertesh had four assists, Dunn had four points. Burroughs continued his strong form of late with sixty one saves. Again, some big shot totals, particularly on the dog's net recorded in that particular game. And that closed off the non bears games for the three day weekend. Gordon Goodenough: Excellent. anything catch your eye, Matt? in the on on the out of town school board. Matt: Yeah, Rino is bouncing back to be the dogs and on the five goals that the Rino scored, Tyler Cabara picked up one assist. All the other goals and assists in that game were courtesy of Mrs. Bouchard, Bastille and Bay. Gordon Goodenough: Yeah. Yeah, Sangho Bei had a had an excellent game in that one too. He's such a such a quick player. he's his his his speed on the puck is really impressive. but that's that was a really important result for us, the the ice dogs losing. we'll get into why that was a a big result for us with the Saturday game. We were in Melbourne of course for the doubleheader playing the Melbourne Ice on the Saturday and then the Mustangs on the Sunday and on the Saturday it was it was a tough one. it was eight three was the final score but we we scored the first goal of the game and just couldn't it was a close one through two periods and and and then the Melbourne Ice kinda ran away with it a bit in the third period. what were your thoughts on on this one guys? Nathan: I thought it was a a tight tight first period. Apologies. some really good end to end action. probably an early shout out to Kenny, a great great presence of mind to flip the puck out of play for a a delay of game minor. not not something that we normally celebrate here on the pod, but I'm sure that he had no doubt that the goose was gonna fly off the bench on a change from Herms and puck Jack Booth and and put it low low glove beyond a Sheeta to open to open the scoring. obviously obviously Berkey then put one through a a double screen on the power play to tie it up. But I I thought that that first period was actually quite an enjoyable one, particularly ringside Matt: Yeah, great. Nathan, I thought we started really, really well on Saturday. 2-2-1, when not in possession, the boys working super hard on the four-check. I saw Ruben throwing the body in the Ozone, which was lovely to see. And yeah, Goose got us first on the board, short-handed with 2-12 remaining. 13 seconds later, Jamie Burke replied on the power play goal. So one all at the first interval shots 13, 18 against. I felt it was a disappointing end to the period. thought, you know, if we'd have gone in one, one nil up, that would have been a really good position for us to have held. And I was quite disappointed that we went in level. The referees didn't call much. Game was physical, but I think we all called that out as something we expected to see from the ice in last week's Gordon Goodenough: Yeah, I th I thought it was a really s strong start for the for the Bears and then I think Kimlin was excellent and he he made some really important saves through through periods one and two. and yeah, as as you as you said Matt, like we were we were getting out shot, but it it felt like the chances were were kind of similar. And then in the the second period we got outshot sixteen to six. So af after two periods of play The the the Melbourne Ice had almost doubled up on us in on shots thirty four to nineteen. and it it just seemed like a a matter of time and and the Melbourne Ice they're you know, they've they've been absolutely flying for the last couple of months and you know, they've got their full roster, they've got ex NHL players on the roster and they've got a lot of depth with their local players as well, so it was always gonna be a tough game, but that third That third period really hurt. Matt: I think there were certainly some signs in the second period. Again, even though we ended the second period level, there were some signs that our structure wasn't quite there. And a lot of that may be down to the simple fact that we were so short-handed in that game and we were on the long change. And there were a couple of bad changes that led to bad changes in terms of us having the players that were going on the ice. sitting at the wrong end of the bench and not being able to join the play as quickly as they possibly could. yeah, I thought it was a bit more run and gun. We did exceptionally well to keep the game tight, but it really sort of opened up in the second. And as you say, Gordy, being outshot 16 to six, Kimmer was performing... know, Kimma-like miracles in the second as well. in at the second period, one, one, after a zero, zero second period. Nathan: Yeah, I definitely think, as you sort of alluded to there, Matt, throughout the second, I think we started to see the ice just slightly turn the screws. Then heading into the third, you know, we had, you know, that that seven or eight minutes of madness which really sort of dictated the outcome of the game. I think Schindle Schindle was left all alone in front Gordon Goodenough: Mm. Nathan: of the net. There actually it was quite strange. There was some you know think maybe three different sequences of goals that all looked very, very similar on quite strange plays. I think on the Schindle goal, Herms actually won the he won the faceoff and then there was a mismanagement of the puck in in front of Kimmer. I don't know if that was the Schindle goal jets. Don't know if I'm getting that if I'm getting that right or not. Gordon Goodenough: Yeah, I I think so. Yep. Nathan: Yeah, exactly. And then Karini had a really nice net drive, earn a power play, and we we won another another face off and it was Mac Carowana that jumped on sort of the loose puck and and put it past Kimmy. You just don't see those that that unique passage of play all that often, particularly in the same game. where you know you you're doing half the play right and then all of a sudden the the puck's in you know in the back of your net. And it was just such a strange period of play and Matt wro Matt and I were obviously there live and I'm I'm not sure I can recall such a such a collapse in such a short space of time for for a very long time. And again just the nature of the opportunities that we were giving up in the in the the slot, particularly the low slot through the first half of that period. It ended up just being you know really destructive on the scoreboard. Gordon Goodenough: Yeah, we we ended up giving up five goals in the first i in in within six minutes and three seconds of each other, so Nathan: Yeah, see, there you go. Gordon Goodenough: so we w immediately at at that stage you're down six to one and and the game's gone. The game's out of hand. I mean we ended up we got a power play goal through Dexton Moselle. then the Ice scored another two through David Booth and Colton Schindle and then Lucas Herman scored a probably a flattering goal for us on on the power play with with a minute left to make it eight three. it's one of those games, you know, you if if you give up fifty you know, ov over fifty shots in a game, there's there's probably not too many games that you're winning. or that it's not really sustained recipe for success in in the league. Nathan: I just want to correct myself. It was actually the it was the Ice's third goal that I was alluding to where we won the face off and it was Carowana that scored. Lake actually set up Schindle in front off a really nice play and Schindle was left all alone for for their second. But you know, I I really thought overall for the first for the first forty minutes with the exception of maybe two passages of play in the second, I thought the guys really battled well. we were well and truly into the you know in the game heading into the third period. And then, you know, all of a sudden, you know, let's reference two more themes that we've been, you know, harping on about, you know, over the last month. First period, we give away an advantage almost straight away. And then come the third period, we start slow, errors start creeping into our game, and unfortunately, again, those errors turnout hurting us on the scoreboard and all within a very quick succession that is j it's just so hard to break that momentum. Matt: Yeah, agreed. Nathan, you and I weren't in the same part of the building. on Saturday, but my notes say the same two goals off of sort of broken plays off of face-offs and two sort of bang bang plays back from behind the net right out into the slot, very high danger chance scoring position and there's just nothing Kim is ever going to be able to do about any of those four goals, you know, given where they were scored from and you know how quickly those plays materialised. So yeah, as you say, goals came in in a bunch, know, minute, minute and a half, two minutes in between those five goals at the start of the third period. So all of the hard work that the boys put in, you know, obviously felt super sorry for them. Some manful efforts going on out there with a rag and bone. line up in terms of the number of fit and healthy bodies that we had available. So did feel very sorry for the boys. They'd seen 40 minutes worth of hard work and good work disappear inside of the space of sort of five or six minutes of a third. Nathan: Yeah, and you could see the look of disappointment and I guess somewhat shock on the face of the guys as well. Just sort of this disbelief that, you know, th three or four individual errors, and very, very small pieces of detail have all ended up in the back of our net after working so hard for, you know, a good chunk of the game. And again, for the majority of that time, you know, more than skating with the ice. you could probably question some of our execution on on different plays, but yeah, that That third was was certainly you know really, really disappointing and you could you could just see even just the energy get sucked from our guys a little bit. I I do think there were probably some gased legs at that point in the game as well, you know, playing with a short bench, unfortunately. And, you know, conversely, you know, you'd look over the Melbourne Ice Bench and, you they're jumping around and all of their guys are you know, have have lifted a gear. and, you know, that's what can happen. and as you said, Gordy six minutes can can really change the complexion of a game. Gordon Goodenough: Yeah, and and and I think the Melbourne Ice and and we'll get into the Mustangs as well on the Sunday 'cause I think they're similar. It's they are a nightmare team to match up against. Like who are you who who are you gonna line match? Like they have three genuine genuinely high highly scoring, highly dangerous lines. It's it must be a a complete nightmare for other teams. to be able to go out there and say, Okay, how how do we handle this? you you're gonna get outmatched eventually. Nathan: Yeah, exactly right. And look I'm I'm even looking at some of the data that we collect you know, in internal. And, you know, that that first period, you know, w we generated over sixty five percent of the high danger chances. We just didn't have anything to to really show for it. and certainly the stats would indicate that, you know, probably midway through the second period, you know, the ice they started to ramp up their shot generation. Obviously neither team could convert in the second, but those numbers started to really blow out. in the third and that's probably highlighted, you know, by some of the moments that that we've already gone through. but that that high and low slot really became open in the third period. And like we said last week on the pod, the ice have got a lot of weapons. You look at the box score, all the weapons are there. Prominent and very similar to the game that we played them at Macquarie, it was the third period swing in the favour of the Ice and again some of their big guys coming up when it when it mattered most. So again, some some similarities between those two games. Matt: noticed a distinct change in their play as well the second late second period onwards Nathan they they were cycling the puck a lot more you know they were almost kind of dragging us into that physical matchup battle on the ice and you know almost It felt to me as though they had in their mind that there was another 20 minutes and they were going to try and gas us as quickly as possible. I noticed on a couple of the power plays that they had, were very patient and they moved the puck around and set very clever Gordon Goodenough: Mm. Matt: little picks as they move the pucks from side to side. So that was something that really, you we talked about the Canberra Braves power play the other day and how smartly they move it and the role that Peter Bates plays in that power play off the half wall. Melbourne Ice powerplay is very different. They move the puck around all four points of the rink, but they do use those bumper guys to set picks as the puck moves from east to west. So smart execution, good coaching there. And obviously it appeared to me that the Ice were playing the long game and setting us up for a really tough third period there, which seemed to be the case. we do need to say here guys is we went into that game with really only three full-time recognised defencemen in Tyrell, Gordon Goodenough: Mm. Matt: in Mack. and in Kev and obviously Kenny and Finn were filling in manfully. I did notice that Brian was playing right defence once on a penalty kill or shortly after a penalty kill so super back to the wall stuff for the guys and you know do take my hat off to them for you know for playing in positions that aren't natural to them or their first choice positions. So we can't be too hard on the boys, but I think a combination of us just running out of steam, getting a bit raggedy within our system. And obviously, as you get tired, you make physical mistakes and mental mistakes and good execution from the Melbourne Ice. Gordon Goodenough: Yeah, it it it felt like a game where we really missed goat. you know, Ale Alex Alex Gautier, the physical element, you know, that he kinda brings. And you could see, you know, some of the guys like, you know, Mac Caruana wrestling re Gustav Remler Jensen to the ground and you know, who's who who's who's able to match that and and discourage that and you know, the Melbourne Ice, you know, they've they play a particular brand of hockey. They They can outschool you but they can also be quite physical. that's a big big part of our physical presence on on the ice is, you know, what he's able to bring. Nathan: You know, I think now that the ice are fully built, you know, they have an ability to really hit you in waves. you know, where they're rolling multiple lines that have, you know, an ability to sort of hem you in your in your zone. And I think they really took command of of you know, their their ozone really throughout the the majority of that third period and probably even the the second half of the of the second period as well. And and you're right, Gordy, it makes it really tough when you've got you know, sort of a D group that's already been pieced together. and you've got you know, first change on on the road, it makes that matchup component really, really difficult. And that equation only gets more and more challenging as the game as the game unfolds, particularly when you start falling behind on the scoreboard. So yeah, a a bunch of things probably working against us there. really unfortunate. And look, I must say, you know, after the game talking to the guys, you know, no one wanted to make excuses. Sure. Short bench, you know, there's probably some physical fatigue, maybe some mental fatigue as well. But that's that's not an excuse. You know, you've got to battle through and full credit to the guys, I thought you know, really that whole game, they showed fight, they showed, you know, energy where they could. I don't think this was a work ethic problem. Gordon Goodenough: Mm. Nathan: but yeah, unfortunate nonetheless. Gordon Goodenough: So Sunday we went in to play the Mustangs who were fresh off their win in the on the Friday night against the Melbourne Ice and sitting in in that spot second well tied for second in the standings. and we ended up coming out, we scored the first goal and that was about as good as it got. af for for us after that, really. We ended the second period we were by no means out of it af after period one. but we did let in a a couple of goals, including a short handed goal by Brody Crane, who had himself an outstanding weekend. take us through what what you saw Matt in in that first period. Matt: Yeah, look, I was down at ice level and I loved our first period, if I'm completely honest. I was super delighted with the way the boys came out. We were on the body. The forecheck was great. It felt to me ice level and obviously the games always a bit quicker at ice level than it is high up in the stands. It felt like there was jump to our game and energy. You know, I thought we'd got our structure back in place again when we weren't in possession and the boys were playing to a plan. So I thought we were winning our fair share of loose puck battles. We had a very good chance. Ruben was denied on a one on one. Gordon Goodenough: Mm. Matt: I decked through two or three thunderous hits which you know I'm here for all the time. We ended up back behind on the shot clock 8 to 15 after the first. There was a boarding call. Brian got absolutely smished from behind and I you know I thought it was a you know an obvious candidate for a potential five minute but the officials didn't seem to you know, seemed to share my opinion on that. after a good start, know, Lucas got us ahead halfway through the period. Again, a bang, bang play. He took a feed from behind the net from Louis and finished off very sharply. But that sort of equaliser from Brodie Crane and then the shorty at the end of the period, you know, really, really hurt us. It looked as though they came out with a plan, I think, both the first two goals and maybe some of the later goals were all in the high part of the net. thought the first, it looked to me the first two goals were high glove on Hayden. But it seemed a high propensity of their shooting strategy was to go top part of the net, high glove, high blocker. But yeah, I didn't mind our first period at all, Gordie, I have to say. I thought the boys played really well with heart, spirit and again, back to the plan. Gordon Goodenough: Yep. Nathan. Nathan: Yeah, look, I I'd agree. I think you know, quick quick shout out. I thought the the goal that Herms scored was was pretty well put together. You know, Mac poked it around the back of the net. Louis made a really nice play to find Herms. and you know, I agree with you, Matt. I thought for the rest of the period I thought we were relatively strong. We certainly saw, you know, too much of Crane, Sasaki. that that shorthanded goal really took the wind out of our sails, I feel. And unfortunately we were going to see, you know, more of that as the game unfolded. way too many, you know, moments in time where we saw Crane, you know, taking it up the ice all alone, you know, winning winning stick battles and and forcing turnovers and and creating opportunities. and gee, you know, he he he really has a shot. You know, when when you see him play live, you can understand why he's been so clinical from a production perspective. He's got a really quick release. And the way that he he put his goals away were really impressive. You I don't think Plim's really had an opportunity on on those goals. Gordon Goodenough: Yeah, I I agree. I I think Brody Crane, ov over the last the last you know, certainly the last few weeks, he has been arguably the the best, the most productive player in the league. he's he's been absolutely on fire. You know, this was his second hat trick in in two weekends. shout out to to the Melbourne Mustang's graphic design team. they've come out with some beauties. They they came up with a beauty on the Crane train, but if you look at Brody Crane's kind of figures over the over the last couple of months, you know, four point game, four point game. he he's had in in his last six games, he's had twenty three points in his last six games. which is just obscene. so he's you know, it's certainly a case of facing a player in in quite fantastic form and Full credit to the Mustangs. They're they finished the weekend second in the standings. and they've been really good. They've been a a very good outfit. Nathan: Well Matt: goal actually came after a great play from Holmes in our defensive zone. He broke play up and sort of created a little bit of daylight between him and the defenders for the second time in one-on-one. the Mustangs called him back up and just lifted his stick and then turned the puck over and went straight back down the other end to score. So we went from a breakaway at one end to a two on one back the other way, which they converted. I thought we turned the puck over a lot at the blue lines, both our offensive and defensive blue line, but it felt almost... not a full repeat, but those signs were emerging again from the third period of the game the night before. It looked as though we were tired. It looked as though Mustangs had got gas in the tank. And we were just making those sort of small errors that they were able to capitalise on. But as we mentioned last week, they're a very good team, balanced score and again, match-up nightmare. Obviously we added Ox and Colby Schumacher to the squad on Sunday morning but the boys were again just really giving everything and almost running on empty. My reflection of the weekend is we conceded a lot of goals and didn't score many and took two heavy defeats but for mine I thought we were there or thereabouts for three of the six periods of hockey we played. So I thought we played two excellent first periods on both Saturday and Sunday. You know, we were there or thereabouts in the second period of the ice game, but in those late stages of the second and certainly the third periods of both games, know, both the Mustangs and the ice put us to the hammer. Gordon Goodenough: I think we we have started games really well. I th I think it's kind of interesting because the first eleven games of the season, right? We couldn't score the first goal to save our lives. We we scored three the the first goal three of those eleven games. In the past twelve games, we've scored the first goal of the game eleven times. So we've gotten out to a good start. We've been able to to get a lead. But in those eleven games, we we've only got like we're we're running at less than fifty percent, like we've got five wins in in those last eleven games and and league wide if you score the first goal of the game, you you have a seventy five percent chance of winning. So looking back at the last twelve, we we've scored, you know, el eleven times, you're looking at we should have another three wins there. You know, statistically. and you know that that obviously doesn't account for a lot of things and we are inj very much depleted personnel wise. and and we saw that on the on the weekend. But I think there are definitely good signs where we are prepared. We're we're getting out, we're starting games well. we we just need, you know, the legs to be able to to carry it through. Nathan: Yeah, and look, there's some things there, particularly in the third period, that I think the coaching staff would be particularly frustrated at. obviously we gave up that second short handed goal to Crane when we coughed it up. And then we had a sequence where we took a too many men, we had a a check to the head, you know, even though there wasn't a lot in it, and I say that with respect to a you know, a check to the head. it was the right call on the ice. Then we had you know roughing call and an interference minor. That absolutely killed that that sequence of ill discipline absolutely killed any possible chance that we had to find our way back into that game. And I'm sure, you know, there's probably a degree of of frustration creeping into our game at that point. You know, all of a sudden we're staring down the barrel of a really, really tough weekend. We've got a depleted group. You know, th there are probably some components there that you've got to respect. but that was probably another takeout for me. It's almost like we kind of shot ourselves in the foot. what once that shorthanded goal went in at the start of the third or a couple of minutes into the third period, then that was paired with, you know, a a a group of events that really called it game for us, unfortunately. you know, we're already down on the scoreboard and then What was in our control we we probably let slip and I'm I'm sure the guys acknowledge that. It was it was a really tough weekend at that point. Matt: Yeah, that too many men on the ice call Nathan was nine seconds after our power play had expired. Nathan: really tough shouldn't happen. Matt: yeah, from my position, we'd been too many men on the ice for quite a while. I do recall the official very flamboyantly. pointing and shouting out the numbers and we were certainly caught with our hand in the cookie jar there but yeah, nine seconds after our power play expired that one really really hurts. Nathan: Yeah. Two shorties in that fashion and then, you know, penalties like that, y y it it just can't happen. Gordon Goodenough: So that meant that for the first time in a while we were outside of the a final spot. got pushed down into seventh place after the Ice Dogs won their game against Adelaide on on the Sunday. puts puts us you know, we're within touching distance. We're on thirty four points. The Melbourne Ice in sixth, who have played an equal amount of games, are on thirty five. The Ice Dogs have two games in hand they're on thirty six points. The Brave two games in hand on thirty eight. So entering this weekend we play a two game weekend we're playing the Rhinos who are just below us on twenty nine points on Sunday. But first up on the Saturday we play the Ice Dogs who are in the fifth playoff spot on Saturday and this Sydney Derby this is a big one. this the Wilson Cup is obviously in in the balance. If we do not win by in by four goals or more, then the the Wilson Cup will go to the Sydney Ice Dogs for the first time since twenty eighteen. let's get into this one, guys. What what what are your thoughts heading in? Matt: First of all, you're full of cheery facts and figures, you? Gordon Goodenough: mate, I I could have shared shared more depressing ones, but let's let's keep it let's keep it how it is. Matt: For mine, I think I don't think we could have a better game in terms of motivation to try to bounce back from last weekend. If we can't get ourselves up for a game as crucial as the one you've just... couch there, Gordie, in terms of position on the ladder, in terms of us falling out of a playoff spot for the first time in a number of weeks, in terms of the relevance of the Wilson Cup and in terms of the boys, you know, really making a statement of... The last two weekends are in the rearview mirror and we're back to it. the Canberra Brave weekend and the Melbourne team's weekends. So for mine, I think we've got a great opportunity to restate a claim and move back up into those playoff spots on Saturday. Nathan: Massive game. We've said this for weeks, but you know, we're now getting to a point, what are we, seven games remaining. we're we're in a dog fight. pun intended. There's a lot of six point games here. I've also said this, it might sound arrogant, but this is winnable. There's just things that we need to do right that are in our control. I think discipline's a big one against the dogs. Their power play's been going along at a a really nice clip all season. I think you might find they're the perhaps the top, you'll know this Gordy, but I think they might be the top power player in the league. if not, they're definitely right up there. and it's been a huge part of their production over the last sort of three to four weeks. So I think that's that's one big element. looking for a really fast start to this game, I think we'll know a lot. you know, inside that first, you know, five to ten minutes. hopefully the boys can come out with a, you know, really you know strong level of jump and and you know get on the four check and and start really cementing and asserting them them themselves on the Ozone. I think, you know, all those other things that we know, you know, it's gonna be a packed house. This game's been sold out for a very long time. I think we've got almost every single partner attached to the club in in the house for this game as well. I would hope that we, you know, possibly have a a Nick Sites sighting. I'd also hope that perhaps we might see the return of Dumber 16, Ryan Annesley. Ryan did the the most he could to get back into the lineup in Melbourne, but it wasn't quite to be. Hopefully this weekend we'll see him out there. yeah, look, guys, it's a huge one. hopefully we can assert some dominance early and then roll roll with it. But the dogs, they're they're definitely a team that should be respected and they've got they've got enough guys to to do some damage. You know, Lakovic has has been a really good ad for them. Vertesh has been a a an amazing ad. I I don't know exactly what his production is, but I know that he's been going along at a really good rate. and he's a he's a pretty sharp, nifty skater as well. So he's a guy that we're really going to have to keep keep tabs on. Dun Dunn's been really solid since they brought him in on the blue line and Gordon Goodenough: Mm. Nathan: and Burroughs has had a huge season in net. You know, you can almost guarantee that he's gonna give a quality start or close to a quality start every time. So we're gonna have to put a lot of pressure on him and hopefully we can stay out of the box and really start moving through those rotations and and allow our our our forward depth to to you know put us on the right side of this. Gordon Goodenough: I know we mentioned it in one of our first episodes that the when we were previewing the Sydney Derby that it felt like, you know, that one was was gonna be the the biggest one that we had seen since two thousand and eight, which was when both the Bears and Ice Dogs were in finals. this one feels it feels like whoever wins this game has a has an inside track to the sixth spot. for for finals. I think it's gonna be a real dog fight coming in coming to the end of the season. And you look at the teams, you know, I know Melbourne Ice are in sixth, but they've been absolutely flying. You know the the Ice Dogs have lost a couple of their big you know, producers in Cal Costa, Grant Toulman's out long term. So they're kind of if you look at their their record o over the last ten games, they're kind of, you know Similar to us, it not their finest runner form of the season. but yeah, really really good opportunity for us. Nathan: I think certainly talking to you know people attached to both Melbourne teams on the weekend, looking at the sheer numbers, you can probably safely assume that you you're going to need to find a way to most likely get around that forty six point range, I would think, which I think for us would equate To four wins out of these seven games. It it's there or thereabouts, but then you also throw in you know, the fact of the nature of some of the teams that we're playing. We've got, you know, there's two games against the Rhinos, there's a game against the Dogs, there's also a game against Melbourne Ice on the road. Again, a lot of six point games here. Is that essentially how you guys see it? Is that How this equation is starting to look from your perspective? Gordon Goodenough: Pete Lambert has done he he does a lot of work during the season on this and he's been operating on around about like a forty four point kind of th Nathan: Forty four. Okay. Gordon Goodenough: th threshold, but I I I do think it's gonna be higher. and and the reason I say that is because if you look at the ice dogs and and I know that they are, most inspiring run of form at the moment. But if you look at the schedule that they have, so they have nine games left, right? So they're on they're on that thirty six point mark. So, you know, three wins essentially would get them over o over that kind of forty four point threshold, right? But have have a have a look at the schedule. So they play us, they play the Brave, they play the Melbourne Ice. Okay, so those are tough games. Then they Matt: Mm. Gordon Goodenough: play the adrenaline in Adelaide, that's winnable. They play the North Stars at Macquarie, that's a tough one. Play the North Stars away. Then they play Rhinos at Arena. That's winnable. And then they've got two games against the Brisbane Lightning, to to end the season. So that's their finish. So so their final three games are against teams outsi out of the playoff race, pretty much. And four four of of their remaining games are against teams out of the finals race. You know, like they've got a pretty decent schedule to be able to get another twelve points. So then suddenly you're looking at that and you're like, well where does that put the ice dogs if they get twelve points, that's forty eight. Suddenly fifty points? Y Nathan: Yeah. Gordon Goodenough: it's gonna be tight and You know, we've seen seasons before where teams have kind of scraped into that sixth spot with the two conference system and they haven't even had a winning record. this isn't one of those seasons. Nathan: Yeah, well f five regulation wins would get us to forty nine points. We're obviously just crunching some numbers here to give the listeners a rough understanding of what this looks like. five regulation wins gets us to forty nine. If my maths serves me correct, I think I can do those numbers. but again, we've got there's two games against Perth, tough, and we finish at home against the North Stars. So On paper at least our our run home is is is looking more difficult. but look in this league as well, I I don't know how much stock we we should be putting into what matchups look like on paper either. There's there's always surprises. So this is the bottom line here is this is still in our control, but our finals effectively start now. I think that's fair that's fair to say. And Great opportunity ahead. We said that last week. Wasn't to be. The stakes increase again. Big opportunity this weekend. Gordon Goodenough: even just the nature of our games, the final three weekends of the season are single game weekends for us. So Nathan: Yeah. Gordon Goodenough: if if we you know, say on August second, if we're if we've got a two point cushion for you know in in the sixth spot for finals, like w we things are out of our hands then. You know, these other teams will have five games left to play and and we'll be stuck there. you know, hoping out of town results, you know, go our way. which, you know, we'll do it. But it won't be comfy. Matt: Yeah, if you look at that 44, the initial 44 point benchmark Gordie, you look at the table as it stands, North Stars, Mustangs, Thunder already there. Brave have got games in hand, as many as four games in hand over the Mustangs. And you would imagine the form that we've seen them in in the last few weeks. You know, they'd comfortably make you know, a two, three or a four spot, even maybe the top spot. So to me, it feels like it's three teams fighting for two spots and that's us, the ice and the ice dogs. Unless of course the Rhinos go on as much of a winning run as they've had been on a losing run recently, albeit that they did upset the Apple Car against the dogs of all teams last weekend. So it does feel it's... three into two. And as I said in the previous episode, you know, all the hard work, all the adversity, man games lost, injuries, you know, wouldn't it be a huge pity if we were the team finishing in seventh looking in, you know, two points out of six spot. Nathan: We've so we've got five of our last seven at Macquarie. Another interesting angle here I just noticed looking at Melbourne Ice. So they've got Brisbane at home this weekend. Then they've got Ice Dogs at home. Huge game, you know, within this recipe. Then they've got us at home. They've got Two games against It's interesting. My notes here say that they've got Canberra three times, but maybe that's incorrect and they've only got no, they they do. They've got they've got Canberra three times, and then in the middle of that sandwich, they've got Adelaide at home once. So they've got Matt: tough. Gordon Goodenough: Mm. Nathan: they've got a pretty tough run home as well. Gordon Goodenough: Mm. Nathan: And two of those three against the Brave are in Canberra. So There's a lot to play out here. Th this is this is actually quite a fascinating finish. Gordon Goodenough: Yeah. Nathan: I'm trying to be optimistic, as I think we should be. but Gordon Goodenough: Yep. Mm-hmm. Nathan: th there's there's actually some really interesting threads attached to this this race of as you say Matt, you know, talking in real terms. This is three into two. That's what this looks like. Matt: The similar theme, Nathan, is we've got to win our games and we've got to find ways of accumulating points in games that we don't win. It's as simple as that. Nathan: Exactly. Let's just win games. Let's go and do that. let's go and win games. Gordon Goodenough: we do need that one. we we probably won't spend as much time covering it, but the the game on the Sunday at Arena, the the Rhiners you know, they had entering in that game against the Ice Dogs, they'd secured six of a possible thirty nine points in their previous thirteen games. Just a horrendous run of form and they they pulled out a a really good win against the ice dogs and Anand Oberoi was spectacular. So we're not we're not dismissing the the Rhinos by any means and they their power play I thought their power play is it's really, really good at at being able to drag that high forward out of position and then move around and find some seam passes to to take advantage and we I saw that the the last time that that that they played at McCaury just a a couple of weeks ago and it was very impressive. so we'll need to be on our game to get six points this this weekend, but it's definitely possible, I I think if if we you know play to our potential. Nathan: Agreed. Matt: Rhinos game in Errinna feels like a big old banana skin to me. Gordy, I think the boys have got to be as up for that game and I'm sure they will be as they are going to be for the Ice Dogs game. They're equally as big. We've just got the spice of it being the Sydney Derby on Saturday. But if we win that game and then we slip up on the Central Coast, we've achieved... half of the mandated requirement for the weekend. Nathan: And I think if we can use that that last game against the Rhinos, and in fact even the game the last time we played that played them at Erina, I think we've cited that before. We put in a really good performance in that game as well. in that in that last game, you know, Kimmer had a nine two six. We held the Rhinos to twenty-seven shots. Gordon Goodenough: Mm. Nathan: when we hold opposition teams to thirty or less shots Our our our win percentage goes through the roof, our save percentage, you know, creeps up into the 920, 9930 range. Again, it's a cheap stat. but there's there's definitely some some components out of that game that I'd love to see us take forward. The power play delivered in that game as well. We were three for five on the job. and really we didn't give up a lot on net in in in the way of dangerous opportunities. as well. It's not just about the the cumulative count, it's actually the nature of the shots and the quality of the shots that you're giving up. And we really contained the Rhinos to very little across both of those games. Matt: Yeah, it feels to me if you can keep Bashard Bastille quiet. That's a match-up that is much more comfortable for us than the ones that we've seen against the Ice and the Mustangs and the Brave in the last few weeks. So I think, you know, to me, the... the rhinos go as those three go. And obviously, as we've just discussed, we've got to keep Kuleshev, Vertez and Dunn, was it, the other chap, quiet this Saturday. Yeah. Yeah. Nathan: Done. Lakovich. Yep, exactly. I think there's quite a contrast in the matchup element of this weekend versus the previous weekend in Melbourne. Both Melbourne teams are very deep. They do come at you in waves. you know, they they can roll, you know, particularly the Mustangs, they can roll three really potent lines. When you look at the configuration of both the dogs and the rhinos, they're probably more top-heavy. They still have their their group of weapons, but they're not really spread throughout. And you could you could safely and respectfully argue that that neither of the teams that we're playing this weekend have the degree of depth and the pedigree that we came up against in Melbourne. so Again, two very dangerous teams, but certainly a little bit different in the way the teams match up. And it certainly helps tomorrow or today for listeners. we're obviously recording this Friday evening. you know, to have la last change at home is is a also a factor as well. it gives coaches a little bit more of an ability to to dictate, you know, who who's out there at any one time. So Gordon Goodenough: Yeah. All right. Well, gents, any final thoughts? Nathan: Let's just go and get some points. I'm tired of sitting here regurgitating the same commentary about these games being so big, etc. Let's just go and win some games. Let's do a mini reset here. Let's start our finals campaign early and start, you know, rolling rolling forward with some momentum. I know the guys are up for it. you know, we're we're certainly you know, a team that's seen you know, a lot of adversity. I think that really came to the fore last weekend. but hopefully we've got some bodies back over the course of this weekend. hopefully that should put us in good shape and let's hope it's a a a fiery crowd, a great product on the ice and three points in the Derby and then hopefully we can we can go back to back in in Erinor and and have a really good vibe on the pod next week. Matt: Great to have you back, Nathan. Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at Macquarie. Let's make it loud and proud and hostile on Saturday. Please say hi to us if you see us there. yeah, let's bring it and cause some trouble at Macquarie. Come on, boys, we've got this. Nathan: j just a quick shout out to the traveling fans that made their way to Melbourne as well. It was really nice to see some of the support down there and also a shout out to both Melbourne teams for their hospitality. both organizations down there, you know, run a run a really class game day. They've got some really good people wrapped around their organizations and always nice to spend some time down there with some really good people. so a a thanks there and it was also nice to have your your company in Melbourne as well, Matt. Matt: Thanks for having me along, mate. Gordon Goodenough: yes, and and it would be remiss of me if I didn't mention as well that Lucas Herman has continued his point streak. He has a twenty game active points streak, has scored forty one points during that that time span. is pretty impressive. so congrats to him and looking forward to a big weekend from everyone on the team, hopefully. Thank you very much for listening. Thank you for making us a part of your week as well. It was very lovely to see all the messages, checking in to see if everything was okay and it's great that we're all able to to have been able to get together and record albeit late. Give us a follow on socials. H have a search for a Bears and Bears podcast. And in the meantime, go Bears. Matt: Go Bears. Nathan: Go bears.