Sydney Bears

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Sydney Bears
2016 AIHL season
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City Jamisontown, New South Wales
League Australian Ice Hockey League
Founded 1982
Home arena Penrith Ice Palace
Colours                    
General manager Wayne Hellyer
Head coach Australia Ron Kuprowsky
Captain Australia Michael Schlamp
Website Bearsden.com.au
Franchise history
1982–1997 Macquarie Bears
1997–2007 Sydney Bears
2007–2009 AIHL Bears
2010– Sydney Bears
Championships
Regular season titles 2 (2002, 2008)
Conference Championships 0
Goodall Cups 2 (2002, 2007)

The Sydney Bears are a semi-professional ice hockey team based in Penrith, New South Wales, who are members of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). They have won two Goodall Cup championships since their founding in 2000, most recently in 2007. The Bears are one of the original three teams that founded the AIHL in 2000, along with the Adelaide Avalanche, and Canberra Knights. The Bears play out of the Penrith Ice Palace, having previously played at the Sydney Ice Arena.

Team history

The Bears were founded in 1982 and were originally known as the Macquarie Bears.[1] Due to the upcoming formation of a national league the team changed its name to the Sydney Bears in 1997.[1] In 2007 the team separated away from its junior club operations and were renamed the AIHL Bears. After the split the team remained affiliated with the junior club, which kept the name of the Sydney Bears Ice Hockey Club.[1] In 2010 the AIHL Bears were reverted to their old name, Sydney Bears.

The Bears are two-time winners of the Goodall Cup and won the AIHL championship in 2002 and 2007. The Bears were one of three teams that founded the AIHL in 2000, along with the Adelaide Avalanche and Canberra Knights. Although the Bears did not win the championship in either year, they won the Goodall Cup tournament in 2001 in Newcastle, the last time the Cup was awarded independently of the AIHL.

File:Sydney Bears team logo.jpg
Logo worn from 2000-2007. Changed when the Bears moved to Penrith

In 2002, the Bears defeated the Avalanche in the Goodall Cup final for their second consecutive Cup and their first and only AIHL championship to date. Four members of the Bears - Tyler Lovering, Brett Nelson-Bond, Vladimir Rubes and Murray Wand - were named to the Mighty Roos roster for the 2006 Division II World Championships in New Zealand. In 2007 the team announced they would move to Penrith for the 2007 AIHL season at which time, dropping "Sydney" to become The Bears, or AIHL Bears. For the start of the 2010 season the Bears reverted to their previous name of Sydney Bears.[2]

2011 Season

The Bears commenced the 2011 season on 16 April with a home opener against the newest addition to the AIHL, The Mustangs. Bears rookie forward Lucian Hackett scored the first goal of the season on his debut. Other Bears players making their debut were Laurie Mock, and import Kurtis Dulle.[3] The Bears struggled to record a win in their first five games, however their roster was not yet at full strength. The Bears were missing goaltender Sheldon Baerg, forward Tony Demelinne who was representing Netherlands at the IIHF World Championship Division I,[4] and defenceman Jordan Hale who was competing in the Royal Bank Cup with the Camrose Kodiaks.[5]

With the 2011 Roster finally at full strength with the arrival and clearance of their import players, the Bears made their way to Melbourne. The Bears showed signs of improvement in their game against the Melbourne Ice, losing 3-4 to them in the shootout.[6] The Bears also lost import Jordan Hale to a season ending lower body injury. The Bears then went on to record their first win of the season against the The Mustangs in a thrilling 5-3 victory, with newly acquired import Tony Demelinne displaying some of his puck handling skills and recording 4 points during the game.[7]

However The Bears game seemingly unravelled, experiencing huge losses to the Knights, BlueTongues and Ice. However bouncing back in June recording a win against the Newcastle North Stars, ending their winning streak and starting a 3-game win streak of their own. The month of June saw the Bears 3-2-0, and they reached a peak position of 7th in the standings.

2012 season to current

In February 2012 the Sydney Bears announced that they were leaving the Penrith Ice Palace as their home arena and were returning to play their games at the Sydney Ice Arena in Baulkham Hills where they had previously played from 2003 to 2006.[8] In January 2015 the Bears announced that they were moving back to the Penrith Ice Palace for the upcoming 2015 AIHL season.[9][10] The move comes after the Sydney Ice Arena's land was approved for redevelopment.[9]

Season-by-season record

Season GP W T1 SOW SOL L GF GA PTS Finish Playoffs
2001 16 7 1 - - 8 70 74 15 2nd Lost Goodall Cup final, 7–10 (Adelaide Avalanche)
2002 15 12 1 - - 2 90 54 25 1st Won Goodall Cup final vs. Adelaide Avalanche
2003 6 1 0 - - 5 23 34 2 5th Did not qualify
2004 29 8 6 1 4 10 68 71 31 3rd Lost in Semifinals, 4-5 (West Sydney Ice Dogs)
2005 26 11 0 2 1 12 96 100 38 4th Lost in Semifinals, (Adelaide Avalanche)
2006 28 15 - 1 1 11 133 101 48 5th Did not qualify
2007 28 14 - 4 2 8 112 84 49* 4th Won Semifinals 4-5 (Adelaide Avalanche)
Won Goodall Cup, 4-3 in OT (Newcastle North Stars)
2008 28 20 - 0 1 7 134 118 61 1st Lost in Semifinal, 7-5 (Newcastle North Stars)
2009 24 1 - 3 0 20 66 140 9 7th Did not qualify
2010 24 12 - 8 1 3 41 83 92 3rd Lost Semifinal, 1-2 (Melbourne Ice)
2011 28 2 - 2 3 21 83 151 13 8th Did not qualify
2012 24 9 - 2 1 12 92 93 32 3rd, Bauer Did not qualify
2013 28 7 - 0 1 20 73 120 22 7th Did not qualify
2014 28 6 1 1 1 19 68 125 22 8th Did not qualify
2015 28 11 - 1 2 14 110 110 37 7th Did not qualify
2016 6 0 - 1 2 3 14 24 4 8th Season in progress
1 As of the 2006 AIHL season, all games will have a winner. In 2014 due to the cancellation of a game the AIHL declared the result a tie.
* The Bears were penalised 3 competition points for icing players that had not been officially cleared to play by the IIHF and IHA.

Championships

Goodall Cup: 2002, 2007
V.I.P. Cup: 2008

Players

Roster

Team roster for the 2016 AIHL season[11][12]

# Nat Name Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
3 Australia Steven Adams D R 44 2009 Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
91 Australia Saxon Air F R 29 2011 Central Coast, New South Wales, Australia
16 Canada Ryan Annesley D L 38 2016 Ajax, Ontario, Canada
32 Australia Luke Read G L 39 2013 Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
47 Australia Spencer Austin D L 32 2011 Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
7 Australia Dylan Burgess G L 29 2015 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
97 Australia Tyerell Clare D R 26 2015
10 Australia Billy Cliff F R 31 2016 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
8 Australia Tommy Cooney F R 29 2015 West Grove, Pennsylvania, United States
30 Australia James Downie G L 23 2015 Kellyville, New South Wales, Australia
84 Australia Adrian Esposito F R 39 2013
48 Australia Charlie Frazer D R 28 2015 Gosford, New South Wales, Australia
2 Australia Brian Funes D R 33 2016 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
19 Canada Geoff Irwin F L 38 2016 Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
1 Australia Anthony Kimlin G L 34 2016 Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
24 Czech Republic Tomas Landa F L 40 2015 Czech Republic
13 Australia Lachlan McKenzie F L 27 2015 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
94 Australia Joel Rhodes D R 38 2016 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
11 Australia Michael Schlamp (C) F R 43 2009 Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
12 Australia Cam Smith F 31 2016 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
55 Australia Richard Tesarik F L 38 2015
4 Australia Cameron Todd F R 29 2013 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
90 Australia Lee Turner F R 33 2013 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
37 Canada Brent Vandenberg F R 34 2016 Burlington, Ontario, Canada
43 Australia Patrick Ward D R 40 2015 Kirkcaldy, Scotland
72 Australia Luke Zvonicek F R 27 2015 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Notable players

Franchise scoring leaders

Top 10 franchise All-Time points scorers [13]

Note: GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; TP = Points; * = current Bears player

Name GP G A TP
Vladimir Rubes 239 154 245 399
Vladan Stransky 137 100 149 249
Michael Schlamp* 182 93 123 216
Tomas Landa* 93 61 116 177
Murray Wand 170 70 75 145
Brett Nelson-Bond 254 51 60 111
Roberto Franchini 85 42 53 95
Andy Luhovy 46 31 40 71
Adrian Esposito* 207 31 29 63
Paul Shumak 170 32 29 61

Top 5 franchise All-time Points Per Game

Note: GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; TP = Points; PPG= Point-Per Game * = current Bears player

Name GP G A TP PPG
Vit Stransky 15 22 18 40 2.667
Tony Demelinne 16 19 22 41 2.563
Tomas Landa* 93 61 116 177 1.903
Joseph Harcharik 28 27 25 52 1.857
Vladan Stransky 137 100 149 249 1.818

Current Staff

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  • Head Coach – Ron Kuprowsky
  • Assistant Coach – Steve Austin
  • Goaltending Coach – Colin Downie
  • General Manager – Wayne Hellyer
  • Vice President – Matthew Burrell
  • Team Manager – Neil McFadden

Arena

Home games are played at the Penrith Ice Palace in Penrith, on the western outskirts of Sydney, New South Wales. The team previously played at the Sydney Ice Arena in Baulkham Hills, but announced they would move to Penrith for the 2007 AIHL season.

References

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External links

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