Adrenaline fall short vs. Bears

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The Adelaide Adrenaline, presented by Hards Transport, fell to the Sydney Bears 4-3 in OT in a valiant, but heartbreaking effort at the IceArena on Sunday night.

"I thought the intensity level was up but it doesn't really matter if we don't get the win," said Cole MacMillan after the game.

"The effort was there but we still have to figure out a way to put up a full game," he added. "It's frustrating."
 
Pressure and defence was the order of the day as Adelaide’s Peter King and Sydney’s Anthony Kimlin provided a goalie’s duel, proving to be much needed brick walls for both teams, with both teams denied strong scoring oppotunities. Other standouts included
 
The Adrenaline were able to control the tempo of the 1st period, with clean, crisp passing and an agressiveness towards the puck that did not give the Bears much time for decision making.
 
Sydney had speed down the wings and were able to use it effectively to get odd-man opportunities past their blue line.
 
The end-to-end continued until Adelaide’s Cole McMillan broke the deadlock, slipping a wrist shot past Kimlin to take a 1-0 lead. Sydney’s Cameron Todd continued his red-hot form, replying with a goal of his own to even the game at 1-1.

"I'm really starting to find my own feet here in Australia. I'm a lot more comfortable," said MacMillan.
 
Locked at 1-1 to start the 2nd period, the Adrenaline were unable to capitalise on two powerplay opportunities early on, but their pressure from the point finally paid off with a tip-in goal by Wehebe Darge with 4.4 seconds left to give the Adrenaline a 2-1 buffer going into the final period.
 
The defensive play gave way to offense in the third with both teams coming into the period firing, with Sydney pushing the Adrenaline with shots on goaL Both teams traded goals in the third, with neither able to create a comfortable cushion. With 12:11 left in the final period, the Bears’ William Cliff tied the game 2-2 with a backhand shot directly in front of goal.
 
Looking for answers, Adelaide’s Wehebe Darge forced the issue with a beautiful pad side goal that put new life into the home side.
 
With the game on the line, Sydney would not be denied and pushed through to tie the game with six minutes left.
 
With time running down, King and Kimlin’s exceptional goalkeeping continued, with both denying genuine chances to seal the game.
 
Unfortunately for the Adrenaline, they were unable to score on any of their shootout chances and Sydney’s Nic Kawasaki played the spoiler to Adelaide’s weekend, dekeing past King for the game winner.
 
Following the loss, the Adrenaline fall to 2-5-0-3. The Adrenaline’s next challenge will be the Thunder in Perth where Adelaide will hope to rebound from their current run of form.