Brave cause Adelaide blues

The CBR Brave stole the show on a record-breaking night of firsts at the Ice ArenA, edging out the Adelaide Adrenaline 5-4 in a shootout to claim the Beyond Blue Cup.

It looked like it was going to be party time at the Ice ArenA when the Adrenaline sprung out to a 3-1 lead in the first period but the visitors had other ideas, slowly working back in to the contest.

Brave assistant coach Art Bidlevsky said the team were able to regroup after a tough first period and trusted their systems to get them back into the contest.

“The guys really came together after somewhat of a slow start but they came together as a group and they knew what we had to do,” Bidlevsky said.

“It was about executing, working hard every shift and back-checking more than positional play.”

The hard work really paid off for the Brave, who finally took the lead with udner five minutes to play, thanks to Nicola Brandi’s second goal of the game.

It looked as though the visitors were on track to hand the Adrenaline yet another one-goal loss, but the home side lifted and with 30 seconds to play, TJ Battani scored to force the shootout.

However, victory in the shootout means the Brave hold on to the Beyond Blue Cup after winning it in 2015 – the first time it was awarded.

The result moves the Brave to equal-second on the AIHL ladder and Bidlevsky described the win as an important confidence boost heading into the finals.

“We’re glad we came out of that with two points, we really are in a race for second place,” Bidlevsky said.

“It’s going to be tight down the stretch and we’re trying to go into finals with some momentum so that was a big character win for us.”

Despite the tough result, the night was not without result for the Adrenaline, with a number of individual milestones achieved.

TJ Battani scored his first hat-trick for the club, and the big American’s late equaliser was the first time the Adrenaline have been involved in a shootout on home ice this year.

However, the biggest point of interest was Wehebe Darge, who scored his 20^th goal of the season, making him the first Australian-born player to score 20 goals in consecutive season.

His first period tally was also his 98^th AIHL, and if Darge manages to score two more goals before the conclusion of the season, he will become the youngest player to score 100 goals in the league.

The Adrenaline return tomorrow to face the Brave yet again and the puck drops at 4PM at the Ice ArenA.

A small number of tickets are still available online: http://www.trybooking.com/LCOZ