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AT A GLANCE the weekend

SATURDAY 12th & SUNDAY 13th OF APRIL - AT THE 'BRAVE CAVE'

Location: Phillip Ice Skating Centre (The 'Brave Cave')

Saturday warm up 17:00 - Puck Drop 17:15

Sunday warm up: 16:30 - Puck Drop 16:45

CAVE BRAVE welcome to the

WELCOME BRAVE FANS!!

With the recent announcement of the Canberra Brave moving to the AIS Arena at the end of May, there’s a lot happening this season, a new home, the loss of a few long-time team members, plenty of familiar faces and welcoming many new faces to the Brave playing group for the season.

There’s plenty to look forward to for the 2025 AIHL season, as this weekend sees the Brave at home in the “Cave’ for the first time in 2025 - and one of your final chances to see your faves in action at the Brave Cave.

This weekend’s double header promises to be an absolute belter after the Thunder took the first two games in a convincing home opening weekend against Newie, 7 - 4 and 6 -1.While the Brave headed North to Brisbane and almost did a Lazarus going down 6 - 5 in game 1 and taking the OT win in Game 2, 4 - 3.

There will be some extra spice in this game with Alexi (Toivonen) in net for Perth. It will be just as weird for him as it is for us, playing in front of his old home crowd, but in the red and blue of the Thunder. And all those former team mates and friends now wanting to score on this new foe and take a couple of home wins away from the weekend.

Perth will be out to revenge their loss to the Brave at last year finals, a loss in a game that was really worth being the final game of the weekend, but sadly it wasn’t.

Whatever the result, the hockey will be fast and furious as every Brave v Perth game is - and both teams won’t be holding back to take an early lead in the race to the 2025 Goodall Cup.

PLAYERS TO brave

CANBERRA BRAVE | BRANDON McNALLY

WATCH

The Italian international played at the 2022 IIHF World Championships in Tampere, Finland, going head to head with some of the best hockey players in the world. He finished the ‘top flight’ tournament with 3 points (1G 2A) in 7 games. Straight off the plane last weekend, Brandon now sits top of the Brave points ladder with 1 goal and 5 assists in his first two games.

CANBERRA BRAVE | ALEX TETREAULT

Tets in net did a great job in the 2024 AIHL Finals series and has carried that form into 2025, first of all in the Trans Tasman Cup and then to start the Ai season in Brisbane last weekend. This weekend he comes up against Alexi Toivonen in a battle for personal bragging right between good friends.

STATS CORNER sean o'connor

Brave v Thunder - 2025 AIHL Season | Round 2

Welcome to Season 2025 Brave fans. I can’t believe it is that time of year again…hockey time. In what could be our last double-header weekend in the Brave Cave, the boys face off against Round 1 heavyweights Perth Thunder.

Perth is top of the table and were the only team to sweep their opening weekend double-header. They, somewhat surprisingly, crushed the Newcastle Northstars twice, with the Novocastrians looking a distant second-best on both nights.

Canberra, in contrast, split our season-opening weekend in Brisbane with two very close games. The Brave sit 4th in the standings, ready to pounce into the top three.

The players to look out for on the Thunder are all familiar names. Yu Hikosaka lit up the scoring lamps last weekend with 7 goals, while Jordie Kyros and Tenosalmi both chipped in with 5 points each.

On the Brave side, new import Branon McNally proved his pre-season billing with a stellar start to his Canberra career, netting 6 points and Canberra captain Kai Miettinen was deadly in front of net, chipping in with 3 goals.

Historically, the Thunder are the only team in the league the Brave holds a negative win ratio with, it currently stands at 48%. But it is near enough to half that it suggests, if we stay on trend, we should see a split weekend in Phillip. However, our home win percentage is much higher, 72%, so who knows which way it will fall.

sean o'connor’s stats corner

The Brave normally outshoot and out score the Thunder (55%-45%), but we have run of the mill percentages on special teams compared to other teams and a low likelihood of going to OT (10%) so expect lots of 5 on 5 hockey and no nervous game endings.

The last thing we want to see is a repeat of our 2024 form when we split the opening weekend and then went on a 9-game cold streak. Instead, I hope to see the Brave take a big step towards securing a series win against the Thunder this year. We really want to level the scorecard at 4 series victories each. The Brave have the potential firepower needed, let’s bring it on!

Until the next home game, be sure to cheer on the Brave loudly and enjoy the fun times at the Brave Cave.

Sean O.

#ProtectWhatsOurs

TEAMROSTER

Mitch HENNING

Lachlan FAHMY

Bayley KUBARA (A)

Cameron MARKS (IM)

Scott CLEMIE

Charlie YORK

Tommy STEVEN

Matt BUSKAS

Brandon McNALLY (IM)

Jacob CAREY

Alex TETREAULT (G)

Victor SJODIN (G)

Nick CHRISTENSEN

Kai MIETTINEN (C)

Jordon BRUNT

Matt MARASCO

Henry YORK

Cameron TODD

Ricki MIETTINEN

HEAD COACH: ASSISTANT COACH: TEAM MANAGER: EQUIP. MANAGER: EQUIP. MANAGER:

PHYSIOTHERAPIST:

Tim Cox

Darryl Day

Tom Letki

SPORTS MASSAGE: TEAM DOCTOR: Stu Philps

Andrew Deans

Jono Carey

Brent Russ

Dr. Rob Reid

TEAMROSTER

Rob HASELHURST

David KUDLA

Yu HIKOSAKA

Kieren WEBSTER

Lynden LODGE

Yannic LODGE

Brayden MAYBEE

Ville TENOSALMI

Benjamin BERARD

Jordi KYROS

Alistair PUNLER

Zane JONES

James WOODMAN

Jakob RUCK

Alexi TOIVONEN (G)

Ben BREAULT

Dillon DEWAR (G)

Maxim LYASHENKO

Riley LANGILLE

Skyler LUO

GAME PREVIEW grizzly’s

Preview: Canberra Brave vs Perth Thunder

The Canberra Brave return to the Brave Cave in their 2025 home opener, and the start of the farewell tour for the Phillip Swimming and Ice-Skating Centre, which has become a formidable crucible for visiting teams over many years.

After a mixed bag of results away last weekend against the Brisbane Lightning, the Brave return home to face the league leading Perth Thunder. The Thunder come fresh off a dominating display against the Newcastle Northstars at home, putting up 13 goals and conceding just 5 across the weekend.

Brave fans are all too familiar with an early season rollercoaster that turns into a steamroller by the mid-season, in some ways it is a benefit of being a Brave fan!

The Thunder rolls into the Nation's Capital boasting a strong lineup including the like of Yu Hikosaka, Ville Tenosalmi, Zane Jones, Yannic and Lynden Lodge and Rob Haselhurst. Perhaps the biggest name entering the Cave for Perth, for Brave fans at least, will be that of Aleksi Toivonen. Toivonen once again enters the cauldron on the Brave Cave wearing the colours of another, but he will undoubtedly be welcomed warmly by the Brave faithful.

This weekend looms large as a battle of two of Australia’s best local netminders, and good mates. Will Toivonen have the number of the Brave offence, or will the familiarity prove to be a tactical advantage for the Brave? Regardless of the outcomes, these games are sure to have some incredible highlights between the pipes!

grizzly’s game preview

Brave fans who were unable to join the contingent in the north for the season opener will be treated to the addition, and offensive prowess, of Brandon McNally who currently sits tied for second in scoring after putting up a goal and five assists last weekend. The 33-year-old hailing from Saugus Massachusetts has joined the Brave from the Tohoku Free Blades in the Asia League where he put up 29 total points in 25 games, and 97 penalty minutes.

The Brave’s costly disciplinary issues were a key contributor to last weekend's results, which is surely a point that coach, Stu Philps, and the players themselves are certainly looking to improve on going forward.

Tickets are going fast, with the weekend likely to be a sellout, with Saturday’s availability limited to standing room only and Sunday’s going just as quickly, make sure you get on down to the Brave Cave and pack it out for the boys!