# 2017 CBR Brave season

The 2017 CBR Brave season was the Brave's 4th season in the Australian Ice Hockey League since being founded and entering the league in 2014. The season ran from 22 April 2017 to 3 September 2017 for the Brave. CBR finished third in the regular season behind the Melbourne Ice and Perth Thunder. The Brave qualified for the AIHL Finals in Melbourne and played in semi-final two. Canberra defeated the Thunder 6–2 to qualify for the Goodall Cup Final for the second time in franchise history. The Brave were defeated in the final by the Ice 1–4, Canberra's second championship final loss in a row.

## News

Canberra appointed a new head coach, Rob Starke, in January 2017 ahead of the 2017 AIHL season. The appointment was the Starke's first coaching role since his retirement from playing in 2016.
The day after the end of the season, Brave all-time leading point scorer, Stephen Blunden, announced his departure from the team and return to Canada.

## Roster

Team roster for the 2017 AIHL season
2017 AIHL CBR Brave Roster :
| # | Name | Pos | S/G | Age | Acquired | Birthplace |
| 42 | Brian Bales | C | L | 39 | 2017 | Anchorage, Alaska, United States |
| | Corey Banks | F | L | 27 | 2017 | Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia |
| 73 | Stephen Blunden | LW | L | 35 | 2014 | Gloucester, Ontario, Canada |
| 21 | Jordan Brunt | F | L | 25 | 2015 | Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia |
| 25 | Matt Buskas | D | R | 39–40 | 2017 | Edmonton, Alberta, Canada |
| 17 | James Byers | D | R | 30 | 2014 | Perth, Western Australia, Australia |
| 9 | Wehebe Darge | LW/RW | L | 32 | 2017 | Adelaide, South Australia, Australia |
| 38 | Nickolas Eckhardt | G | L | 34 | 2014 | Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia |
| 19 | Jordan Gavin (A) | F | R | 42 | 2014 | Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia |
| 81 | Matthew Harvey | D | R | 38 | 2014 | Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| 18 | Mitchell Henning | F | R | 26 | 2016 | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| 71 | Dominic Jalbert | D | L | 35 | 2017 | Hull, Québec, Canada |
| 7 | Bayley Kubara | D | R | 26 | 2017 | Wombarra, New South Wales, Australia |
| 15 | Casey Kubara | RW | R | 28 | 2016 | Wombarra, New South Wales, Australia |
| 85 | Toby Kubara | F | L | 33 | 2017 | Wombarra, New South Wales, Australia |
| 16 | Tyler Kubara | F | R | 29 | 2015 | Wombarra, New South Wales, Australia |
| 77 | Tom Letki | F | R | 35 | 2014 | Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia |
| 13 | Matti Luoma | F | R | 44 | 2016 | Helsinki, Finland |
| 14 | Christopher McPhail | D/F | L | 33 | 2017 | New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada |
| 64 | Kai Miettinen | F | L | 28 | 2014 | Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia |
| 13 | Luke Philps | F | R | 41 | 2016 | Australia |
| 12 | Mark Rummukainen (C) | D | R | 42 | 2014 | Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia |
| 24 | Jan Safar (A) | D | R | 37 | 2016 | Praha, Czech Republic |
| 35 | Alexandre Tetreault | G | L | 25–26 | 2015 | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| 20 | Aleksi Toivonen | G | L | 28 | 2015 | Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia |
| 88 | Geordie Wudrick | LW | L | 34 | 2016 | Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada |

## Transfers

All the player transfers in and out by the CBR Brave for the 2017 AIHL season.

### In

| Pos | Player | Transferred From | Local / Import |
| C | Brian Bales | No team | Local |
| F | Corey Banks | No team | Local |
| D | Matt Buskas | No team | Import |
| W | Wehebe Darge | Adelaide Adrenaline | Local |
| D | Dominic Jalbert | Pionniers De Chamonix-Morzine | Import |
| D | Bayley Kubara | Sydney Ice Dogs | Local |
| F | Toby Kubara | No team | Local |
| F | Christopher McPhail | No team | Local |

### Out

| Pos | Player | Transferred To | Local / Import |
| D | Art Bidlevskii | No team | Import |
| D | Zachary Boyle | Adelaide Adrenaline | Local |
| W | Nicola Brandi | SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers | Import |
| C | Harrison Byers | No team | Local |
| D | Timothy Cox | No team | Local |
| F | Matthew Gilpin | No team | Local |
| W | Mathieu Guertin | Trois-Rivières Blizzard | Import |
| F | Ryan Johnson | Retired | Local |
| D | Luke Moore | No team | Local |
| C | Neal Prokop | No team | Import |

## Staff

Staff Roster for 2017 AIHL season

## Standings
### Regular season

Summary
| Season | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
| Season | P | W | L | OW | OL | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Finish | P | W | L | OW | OL | GF | GA | GD | P | W | L | OW | OL | GF | GA | GD |
| 2017 | 28 | 13 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 130 | 101 | +29 | 46 | 3rd | 14 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 71 | 57 | +14 | 14 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 59 | 44 | +15 |
Position by round
| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| Position | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
League table
| Team | GP | W | SOW | SOL | L | GF | GA | GDF | PTS |
| Melbourne Ice | 28 | 22 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 132 | 75 | +57 | 71 |
| Perth Thunder | 28 | 16 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 110 | 75 | +35 | 57 |
| CBR Brave | 28 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 130 | 101 | +29 | 46 |
| Melbourne Mustangs | 28 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 104 | 113 | −9 | 40 |
| Sydney Ice Dogs | 28 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 73 | 81 | −8 | 36 |
| Sydney Bears | 28 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 101 | 121 | −20 | 33 |
| Newcastle Northstars | 28 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 15 | 97 | 124 | −27 | 30 |
| Adelaide Adrenaline | 28 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 85 | 142 | −57 | 23 |
| Qualified for the Goodall Cup playoffs | H Newman Reid Trophy winners |
Source

### Finals

Summary
| Season | Finals weekend | Finals weekend | Finals weekend | Finals weekend | Finals weekend | Finals weekend | Finals weekend | Finals weekend |
| Season | P | W | L | GF | GA | Result | Semi-final | Goodall Cup final |
| 2017 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 6 | Runners-up | Won 6-2 (Thunder) | Lost 1-4 (Ice) |
Bracket
| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final | Final |
| 1 | Melbourne Ice | 4 | | | |
| 4 | Melbourne Mustangs | 2 | | | |
| 4 | Melbourne Mustangs | 2 | Melbourne Ice | Melbourne Ice | 4 |
| | | | CBR Brave | CBR Brave | 1 |
| 3 | CBR Brave | 6 | CBR Brave | CBR Brave | 1 |
| 2 | Perth Thunder | 2 | | | |

## Schedule & results
### Regular season

| Matchday | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| Arena | A | A | A | A | H | H | A | H | H | H | H | H | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | A | H | H | H | A | A | A | A |
| Result | W | W | W | L | L | W | W | W | W | L | W | W | L | W | L | L | L | L | W | W | W | L | W | L | W | W | L | L |
2017 fixtures and results :
| Date | Time | Away | Score | Home | Location |
| 22 April | 17:00 | CBR Brave | 4–2 | Melbourne Mustangs | O'Brien Group Arena |
| 23 April | 16:00 | CBR Brave | 4–3 (SO) | Melbourne Mustangs | O'Brien Group Arena |
| 30 April | 17:00 | CBR Brave | 5–4 (SO) | Newcastle Northstars | Hunter Ice Skating Stadium |
| 6 May | 17:00 | CBR Brave | 1–3 | Sydney Bears | Macquarie Ice Rink |
| 7 May | 17:00 | Newcastle Northstars | 6–5 (SO) | CBR Brave | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 13 May | 17:30 | Newcastle Northstars | 3–4 | CBR Brave | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 27 May | 17:00 | CBR Brave | 4–1 | Sydney Ice Dogs | Macquarie Ice Rink |
| 28 May | 17:00 | Sydney Ice Dogs | 2–4 | CBR Brave | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 10 June | 17:30 | Adelaide Adrenaline | 3–8 | CBR Brave | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 11 June | 17:00 | Adelaide Adrenaline | 8–5 | CBR Brave | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 17 June | 17:30 | Sydney Bears | 3–13 | CBR Brave | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 24 June | 17:30 | Sydney Bears | 1–7 | CBR Brave | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 1 July | 17:30 | Melbourne Mustangs | 5–3 | CBR Brave | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 2 July | 17:00 | Melbourne Mustangs | 5–6 (SO) | CBR Brave | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 8 July | 16:30 | CBR Brave | 2–4 | Perth Thunder | Perth Ice Arena |
| 9 July | 16:30 | CBR Brave | 0–5 | Perth Thunder | Perth Ice Arena |
| 15 July | 17:30 | Perth Thunder | 3–2 | CBR Brave | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 16 July | 17:00 | Perth Thunder | 3–1 | CBR Brave | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 22 July | 16:30 | CBR Brave | 10–5 | Adelaide Adrenaline | Adelaide Ice Arena |
| 23 July | 16:30 | CBR Brave | 4–1 | Adelaide Adrenaline | Adelaide Ice Arena |
| 29 July | 17:00 | CBR Brave | 7–4 | Sydney Bears | Macquarie Ice Rink |
| 5 August | 17:30 | Sydney Ice Dogs | 4–2 | CBR Brave | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 12 August | 17:00 | Melbourne Ice | 5–8 | CBR Brave | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 13 August | 17:00 | Melbourne Ice | 6–3 | CBR Brave | Phillip Ice Skating Centre |
| 19 August | 17:00 | CBR Brave | 8–1 | Newcastle Northstars | Hunter Ice Skating Stadium |
| 20 August | 17:00 | CBR Brave | 6–1 | Sydney Ice Dogs | Macquarie Ice Rink |
| 26 August | 17:00 | CBR Brave | 2–5 | Melbourne Ice | O'Brien Group Arena |
| 27 August | 16:00 | CBR Brave | 2–5 | Melbourne Ice | O'Brien Group Arena |

### Finals

Goodall Cup semi-final
Goodall Cup final

## Player statistics
### Skaters

Regular season :
| Player | Pos | M | G | A | P | PIM |
| Brian Bales | F | 21 | 10 | 30 | 40 | 8 |
| Corey Banks | F | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Stephen Blunden | F | 16 | 24 | 22 | 46 | 16 |
| Jordan Brunt | F | 23 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Matt Buskas | D | 22 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 90 |
| James Byers | D | 27 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 24 |
| Wehebe Darge | F | 18 | 12 | 15 | 27 | 28 |
| Jordan Gavin | F | 16 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 10 |
| Matthew Harvey | D | 27 | 9 | 9 | 18 | 51 |
| Mitchell Henning | F | 16 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Dominic Jalbert | D | 28 | 16 | 37 | 53 | 72 |
| Bayley Kubara | D | 25 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 16 |
| Casey Kubara | F | 26 | 8 | 16 | 24 | 12 |
| Toby Kubara | F | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Tyler Kubara | F | 20 | 8 | 2 | 10 | 14 |
| Tom Letki | F | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Matti Luoma | F | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Christopher McPhail | D | 25 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
| Kai Miettinen | F | 28 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 38 |
| Luke Philps | F | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Mark Rummukainen | D | 24 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 10 |
| Jan Safar | D | 27 | 8 | 34 | 42 | 63 |
| Geordie Wudrick | F | 25 | 20 | 34 | 54 | 28 |
Finals :
| Player | Pos | M | G | A | P | PIM |
| Brian Bales | F | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Corey Banks | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Stephen Blunden | F | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Jordan Brunt | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Matt Buskas | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| James Byers | D | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wehebe Darge | F | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Jordan Gavin | F | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Matthew Harvey | D | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mitchell Henning | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dominic Jalbert | D | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 0 |
| Bayley Kubara | D | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Casey Kubara | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Toby Kubara | F | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tyler Kubara | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tom Letki | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Matti Luoma | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Christopher McPhail | D | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kai Miettinen | F | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Luke Philps | F | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mark Rummukainen | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jan Safar | D | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Geordie Wudrick | F | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 |

### Goaltenders

Regular season :
| Player | Pos | M | G | A | PIM | SO | MP | GA | GAA | SA | SV | SV% |
| Nickolas Eckhardt | G | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Alexandre Tetreault | G | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 235 | 19 | 4.85 | 125 | 106 | 0.848 |
| Aleksi Toivonen | G | 24 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1128 | 77 | 4.10 | 611 | 534 | 0.874 |
Finals :
| Player | Pos | M | G | A | PIM | SO | MP | GA | GAA | SA | SV | SV% |
| Nickolas Eckhardt | G | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Alexandre Tetreault | G | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Aleksi Toivonen | G | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 6 | 3.60 | 50 | 44 | 0.880 |

## Awards

2017 Brave awards :
| Team awards for 2017 season 2017 Brave awards AwardRecipient Bravest of the Brave Stephen Blunden Best Forward Stephen Blunden Best Defenceman Dominic Jalbert Fans Choice Jan Safar Player’s Choice Dominic Jalbert Coach’s Award Matt Harvey Emerging Brave Bayley Kubara John Lewis Memorial Award Krisy Maricic Bede Riley | AIHL awards for 2017 season 2017 AIHL awards AwardRecipient Rookie of the Year Bayley Kubara |