The 2016 CBR Brave season was the Brave's 3rd season in the Australian Ice Hockey League since being founded and entering the league in 2014. The season ran from 23 April 2016 to 28 August 2016 for the Brave. CBR finished fourth in the regular season behind the Melbourne Ice, Perth Thunder and Newcastle North Stars. The Brave qualified for the AIHL Finals in Melbourne and played in semi-final one. Canberra defeated the Ice 4–3 in overtime to qualify for the Goodall Cup Final for the first time in franchise history. The Brave were defeated in the final by the North Stars 1–2.

News

In March 2016, Josh Unice was named as Brave head coach for the 2016 AIHL season. The inexperienced former goaltender was joined by experienced assistant coach Dave Rogina and strength and conditioning trainer Stuart Philps.

In April 2016, The Brave announced their playing roster for the season. The bulk of the roster returned from 2015 but the team confirmed six imported players from overseas including the inter-league transfer of AIHL MVP Geordie Wudrick from the Newcastle North Stars. The Brave also announced two new partnerships in the month of April. Firstly, a new marketing and supporter partnership with Canberra's national baseball team, the Canberra Cavalry. And secondly, a promotional partnership with Australian Defence Force hockey team the Navy Tigersharks with the goal to help promote the sport in the ADF.

Six matches into the 2016 season, import Canadian defenceman, Art Bidlevskii, was hospitalised after a freak accident in an ugly AIHL match in Newcastle between rivals the North Stars and Brave. Art's voice box was shattered, he lost his voice for a period of time, he was almost placed in a coma and he was told he could die if he played ice hockey again. The accident ended the twenty five year old's playing career. Art took up a role as assistant coach with the team following his release from hospital.

In August, one week before the end of the regular season, the CBR Brave management announced the sudden departure of Josh Unice from the team for personal reasons. Art Bidlevskii was named as replacement head coach on an interim basis for the final match of the regular season and the finals series. The CBR Brave finished the season in fourth place after a surprise 6–4 loss to last placed Sydney Ice Dogs in Liverpool, Sydney. The team qualified for the finals weekend in Melbourne where they would face league premiers, the Melbourne Ice in the first semi-final match.

In September, post-finals, CBR Brave players took out a hat-trick of AIHL player awards for the 2016 season. Czech import, Jan Safar, was named AIHL Defenceman of the season for the second straight year while Casey Kubara was awarded both the Local Player of the year as well as Rookie of the year awards.

Roster

Team roster for the 2016 AIHL season

2016 AIHL CBR Brave Roster# Nat Name Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace4 D R 2016 Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada73 LW L 2014 Gloucester, Ontario, Canada10 D L 2016 Adelaide, South Australia, Australia8 LW R 2016 Wetzikon, Hinwil, Switzerland21 F L 2015 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia22 C R 2014 Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada17 D R 2014 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia23 D R 2016 Australia38 G L 2014 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia19 (C) F R 2014 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia14 F R 2016 Queensland, Australia2 LW L 2016 Repentigny, Quebec, Canada86 D R 2014 Calgary, Alberta, Canada18 F R 2016 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia3 (A) F R 2014 Amesbury, Massachusetts, United States15 RW R 2016 Wombarra, New South Wales, Australia16 F R 2015 Wombarra, New South Wales, Australia77 F R 2014 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia28 RW R 2016 Helsinki, Finland64 (A) F L 2014 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia27 D R 2016 Belfast, United Kingdom13 F R 2016 Australia9 C L 2016 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada12 D R 2014 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia24 D R 2016 Praha, Czech Republic20 G L 2015 Montreal, Quebec, Canada5 G L 2015 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia88 LW L 2016 Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada

Transfers

All the player transfers in and out by the CBR Brave for the 2016 AIHL season.

In

PlayerTransferred From Local / Import D Kallinge-Ronneby IF Import D Adelaide Adrenaline Local W SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers Import D No team Local F No team Local W Trois-Rivières Blizzard Import F No team Local W Atlanta Jr. Knights Local W No team Local D No team] Local F No team Local C No team Import D Newcastle North Stars Import W Newcastle North Stars Import

Out

PlayerTransferred To Local / Import D No team Local D/F Sydney Ice Dogs Local W Aigles de La Roche sur Yon Import D/F No team Import F No team Local F No team Local D Sydney Ice Dogs Local D Bouquetins de Val Vanoise Import D No team Local C Terrace River Kings Import C Braehead Clan Import F No team Local D/F No team Local G CBR Brave (head coach) Import G No team Local

Staff

Staff Roster for 2016 AIHL season 2016 AIHL CBR Brave StaffRole Staff Head coach Josh Unice Assistant coach David Rogina Assistant coach Art Bidlevskii Strength and conditioning coach Stuart Philps Physiotherapist Sportstec Equipment manager Adrian Miller Bench official Darren Sault Bench official Kelly Sault

Standings

Regular season

Summary SeasonOverall HomeAway2016 28 15 9 2 2 129 117 +12 51 4th 14 9 4 0 1 70 56 +14 14 6 5 2 1 59 61 -2

Position by round

League table Team Melbourne Ice 28 19 3 3 3 127 71 +56 66 Perth Thunder 28 16 4 1 7 96 73 +23 57 Newcastle North Stars 28 15 1 5 7 105 74 +31 52 CBR Brave 28 15 2 2 9 129 117 +12 51 Melbourne Mustangs 28 11 2 0 15 89 102 −13 37 Sydney Bears 28 5 5 3 15 77 95 −18 28 Sydney Ice Dogs 28 7 1 1 19 92 139 −47 24 Adelaide Adrenaline 28 5 1 4 18 83 127 −44 21 Qualified for the Goodall Cup playoffsH Newman Reid Trophy winners Source

Finals

Summary SeasonFinals weekend2016 2 1 1 5 5 Runners-up Won 4-3 (OT) (Ice) Lost 1-2 (North Stars)

Bracket

Schedule & results

Regular season

2016 fixtures and results Date Time Away Score Home Location Recap 23 April 17:00 Sydney Ice Dogs 2–5 CBR Brave Phillip Ice Skating Centre 24 April 17:00 CBR Brave 6–3 Sydney Bears Penrith Ice Palace 30 April 17:00 CBR Brave 4–2 Melbourne Mustangs O'Brien Group Arena 1 May 16:00 CBR Brave 1–7 Melbourne Mustangs O'Brien Group Arena 7 May 17:00 Sydney Bears 3 – 2 (SO) CBR Brave Phillip Ice Skating Centre 8 May 17:00 CBR Brave 4 – 3 (SO) Newcastle North Stars Hunter Ice Skating Stadium 14 May 17:30 Perth Thunder 6–2 CBR Brave Phillip Ice Skating Centre 15 May 17:00 Perth Thunder 7–6 CBR Brave Phillip Ice Skating Centre 22 May 17:00 CBR Brave 2–7 Newcastle North Stars Hunter Ice Skating Stadium 28 May 17:30 Newcastle North Stars 3–5 CBR Brave Phillip Ice Skating Centre 29 May 17:00 Sydney Bears 4–6 CBR Brave Phillip Ice Skating Centre 4 June 17:00 CBR Brave 5–7 Melbourne Ice O'Brien Group Arena 5 June 16:00 CBR Brave 3–6 Melbourne Ice O'Brien Group Arena 18 June 17:30 Melbourne Mustangs 2–5 CBR Brave Phillip Ice Skating Centre 19 June 17:00 Melbourne Mustangs 1–4 CBR Brave Phillip Ice Skating Centre 2 July 17:30 Newcastle North Stars 3–1 CBR Brave Phillip Ice Skating Centre 3 July 17:00 CBR Brave 6–1 Sydney Ice Dogs Liverpool Catholic Club Ice Rink 9 July 16:30 CBR Brave 3 – 4 (SO) Perth Thunder Perth Ice Arena 10 July 16:30 CBR Brave 4–2 Perth Thunder Perth Ice Arena 16 July 17:30 Sydney Ice Dogs 5–6 CBR Brave Phillip Ice Skating Centre 23 July 17:30 Adelaide Adrenaline 2–7 CBR Brave Phillip Ice Skating Centre 24 July 17:00 Adelaide Adrenaline 5–8 CBR Brave Phillip Ice Skating Centre 31 July 17:00 CBR Brave 6–4 Sydney Bears Penrith Ice Palace 6 August 17:30 Melbourne Ice 10–9 CBR Brave Phillip Ice Skating Centre 7 August 17:00 Melbourne Ice 3–4 CBR Brave Phillip Ice Skating Centre 13 August 16:30 CBR Brave 5 – 4 (SO) Adelaide Adrenaline Adelaide Ice Arena 14 August 16:00 CBR Brave 6–5 Adelaide Adrenaline Adelaide Ice Arena 20 August 17:00 CBR Brave 4–6 Sydney Ice Dogs Liverpool Catholic Club Ice Rink

Finals Goodall Cup semi-final All times are UTC+10:00

Goodall Cup final

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular season Player D 6 0 3 3 2 F 14 20 17 37 99 D 27 1 8 9 10 F 10 8 6 14 14 F 6 0 0 0 0 F 19 1 2 3 108 D 28 1 4 5 36 D 4 0 0 0 0 F 13 0 1 1 20 F 4 0 0 0 0 F 20 18 31 49 86 D 15 0 9 9 18 F 26 1 3 4 6 F 19 1 1 2 70 F 27 16 33 49 24 F 22 8 14 22 14 F 10 0 0 0 0 F 10 2 5 7 2 F 28 5 6 11 32 D 20 0 0 0 0 F 17 0 0 0 0 F 20 16 14 30 8 D 25 2 6 8 18 D 17 7 25 32 61 F 20 20 30 50 34 Finals Player D 0 0 0 0 0 F 1 0 1 1 2 D 2 0 0 0 0 F 2 0 1 1 0 F 0 0 0 0 0 F 2 0 0 0 0 D 2 0 0 0 4 D 0 0 0 0 0 F 2 0 0 0 2 F 0 0 0 0 0 F 0 0 0 0 0 D 2 0 0 0 2 F 0 0 0 0 0 F 0 0 0 0 0 F 2 0 1 1 2 F 2 0 1 1 0 F 0 0 0 0 0 F 2 0 0 0 0 F 2 0 1 1 0 D 0 0 0 0 0 F 0 0 0 0 0 F 1 0 1 1 0 D 2 0 1 1 0 D 2 2 2 4 2 F 2 3 1 4 6

Goaltenders

Regular season Player G 0 - - - - - - - - - - G 9 0 280 22 4.72 178 156 0.876 0 2 0 G 24 0 1111 93 5.02 754 661 0.877 0 2 2 Finals Player G 0 - - - - - - - - - - G 0 - - - - - - - - - - G 2 0 108 5 2.79 66 61 0.924 0 0 0

Awards

Team awards for 2016 season 2016 Brave awardsAward Recipient Jan Safar Mathieu Guertin Best Forward Mathieu Guertin Best Defenceman Jan Safar Fans Choice James Byers Player's Choice Kai Miettinen Coach's Award *Not awarded Casey Kubara Andrew Deans Judy DeansAIHL awards for 2016 season 2016 AIHL awardsAward Recipient Rookie of the Year Casey Kubara Local Player of the Year Casey Kubara Defenseman of the Year Jan Safar

References