Sydney Bears

The Sydney Bears (formally Macquarie Bears) is an Australian amateur ice hockey team from Sydney, New South Wales. Established in 1982, the Bears are the only remaining founding member of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) still operating. The Bears are based at Macquarie Ice Rink, within the Macquarie Centre, in the northern suburbs of Sydney. The Sydney Bears have claimed three Goodall Cups in 2002, 2003 and 2019.

Sydney Bears
2020 AIHL season
City	Macquarie Park, NSW
League	Australian Ice Hockey League
Founded	1982 (1982)
Home arena	Macquarie Ice Rink
Colours	Red, black, silver and white
General manager	Wayne Hellyer
Head coach	Ron Kuprowsky
Captain	Michael Schlamp
Affiliates	Sydney Bears IHC (IHNSW) Penrith Raptors (ECSL) Sydney Sting (ECSL) Blueline Bombers (ECSL) Reach Rebels (ECSL)
Website	Bearsden.com.au
Franchise history
1982–1997	Macquarie Bears
1997–2007	Sydney Bears
2007–2009	AIHL Bears
2010–present	Sydney Bears
Championships
H Newman Reid Trophies	3 (2000, 2002, 2008)
Goodall Cups	3 (2002, 2007, 2019)

History

Prior to AIHL

The Sydney Bears was founded on 1 July 1982 as the Macquarie Bears Ice Hockey Club Incorporated. The team was formed concurrently to the non-incorporated local ice hockey club sharing the same name.[1] The Bears were based out of the Macquarie Ice Rink. The club competed in the NSW Super League (NSWSL) and then the East Coast Super League (ECSL).[2] In 1989 the Bears claimed the NSWSL championship with star defenceman Glen Foll claiming top points scorer for the season.[3] In 1997 the club decided to change its name to the Sydney Bears Ice Hockey Club in preparation for a new national competition.[4]

AIHL era

2000-10

Logo used from 2000–2007. Changed when the Bears moved to Penrith

In 2000, the Australian Ice Hockey league (AIHL) was established.[5] The league adopted a franchise arrangement for competing teams so the Sydney Bears set up their incorporation as The Bears AIHL Inc. and were granted an AIHL licence.[6]

The Sydney Bears claimed the inaugural AIHL season premiership by finishing top of the round-robin season involving the Bears, Adelaide Avalanche and Canberra Knights. The Bears were defeated by the Avalanche, 6–5 in a shootout in the single match championship final.[7]

The Sydney Bears backed up this performance and made the championship final in 2001. They were again defeated by the Adelaide Avalanche, 10–7.[8] The Bears did find success in the Goodall Cup tournament in 2001. Held in Newcastle, it was the last Goodall Cup tournament held independently to the AIHL.[6]

In 2002, the Bear's had a breakout AIHL season. The team left Macquarie and moved to the new Sydney Ice Arena in Baulkham Hills. The league doubled in size to six teams and the Bears finished the season first in the table to claim their second premiership. They faced a familiar foe, Adelaide Avalanche, in the first Goodall Cup Final for the AIHL.[5] In Blacktown Ice Arena, the Bears defeated Adelaide 5–4 in a shootout to clinch the Goodall Cup and claim their first AIHL Championship.[9]

In 2003, the AIHL adopted a new finals format that involved the top four teams from the regular season.[5] The Sydney Bears were involved in and won the one and only third place play-off in an AIHL finals weekend. The Bears continued their rivalry with Adelaide and defeated them 10–5 in the match to claim third. From 2004 the AIHL tweaked the finals format to remove this match.[10]

The Bears next found success in 2007 and 2008. In 2007, the Sydney Bears changed their name to the AIHL Bears (or simply the Bears) as the team left Sydney for Penrith.[11] The team played out of the Penrith Ice Palace. The Bears won their second championship and Goodall Cup by defeating the Newcastle North Stars 3–2 in overtime in the final.[12] The Bears also won the inaugural Wilson Cup in 2007.[13] In 2008, the Bears claimed the H Newman Reid Trophy for the first time by finishing top of the league table ahead of the Western Sydney Ice Dogs.[14] The Bears also claimed back-to-back Wilson Cup's after defeating the Ice Dogs in the pre-season tournament's final 6–4.[13]

2010-20

To start the new decade, in 2010, the team rebranded and renamed back to the Sydney Bears.[11] The team switched between Penrith and Sydney ice Arena over the course of seven seasons.[15][16] In 2017, Macquarie Ice rink, at a cost of $3 million, had been upgraded to AIHL standards providing the Bears the opportunity to return to their spiritual home.[1] The Bears, along with the Ice Dogs, moved into the newly renovated arena located within the Macquarie Centre.[17] The upgrade of Macquarie Ice Rink also brought back the Sydney Bears (IHNSW) club to Macquarie. Since the move in 2017, the AIHL team and the IHNSW club have increased cooperation and support between the two clubs. Ex AIHL Bear's players have been taking up coaching roles within the IHNSW club while the IHNSW Bears provides the AIHL team a pathway for local players.[18] In 2018, prior to the season starting, the Bears unveiled a new team logo to signify their return home to Macquarie.[19]

On the ice, the Bears struggled to find form. The team spent seven consecutive seasons failing to reach the AIHL finals weekend between 2011 and 2017. In 2018 the team's fortunes began to improve. The Bears finished second in the league and made their first appearance in the Goodall Cup final in eleven years.[20] They were defeated 4–3 in overtime by the CBR Brave but their display and spirit was praised.[21] In 2019, the Sydney Bears surprised many and went one better and clinched their third Goodall Cup. It was their second Cup success after finishing the regular season in fourth place. The Bears defeated the Perth Thunder, 5–2 in the final.[22]

Season-by-season results

Champions

Runners-up

Third Place

Sydney Bears all-time record

Season	Regular season											Finals weekend								Wilson Cup	Top points scorer
	P	W	T	L	SW	SL	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Finish	P	W	L	GF	GA	Result	Semi-final	Goodall Cup final		Name	Points
2000	Information not available											1	0	1	5	6	Runner-up	–	Lost 5-6 (SO) (Avalanche)	–	Information not available
2001	16	7	1	8	–	–	70	74	-4	15	2nd	1	1	–	10	7	Runner-up	–	Lost 7-10 (Avalanche)	–	Information not available
2002	20	16	1	3	–	–	126	69	+57	33	1st	1	1	–	1	0	Champion	–	Won 5-4 (SO) (Avalanche)	–	Murray Wand	27
2003[lower-alpha 1]	6	1	–	5	–	–	23	34	-11	2	3rd[lower-alpha 2]	2	1	1	14	12	Third[lower-alpha 3]	Lost 4-7 (North Stars)	–	–	Vladimir Rubes	14
2004	20	8	1	6	1	4	68	71	-3	31	3rd	1	–	1	4	5	Semi-finalist	Lost 4-5 (Ice Dogs)	–	–	Trent Ulmer	24
2005	26	11	–	12	2	1	96	100	-4	38	4th	1	–	1	3	6	Semi-finalist	Lost 3-6 (Avalanche)	–	–	Andy Luhovy	33
2006	28	15	–	11	1	1	133	101	+32	48	5th	–								–	Vladan Stransky	57
2007	28	14	–	8	4	2	112	84	+28	49[lower-alpha 4]	4th	2	2	–	7	3	Champion	Won 4-1 (Avalanche)	Won 3-2 (OT) (North Stars)	Winner	Tomas Landa	62
2008	28	20	–	7	–	1	134	118	+16	61	1st	1	–	1	5	7	Semi-finalist	Lost 5-7 (North Stars)	–	Winner	Vladan Stransky	63
2009	24	1	–	20	3	–	66	140	-74	9	7th	–								Group	Vladimir Rubes	36
2010	24	12	–	8	1	3	82	90	-8	41	3rd	1	–	1	1	2	Semi-finalist	Lost 1-2 (Ice)	–	–	Vladimir Rubes	34
2011	28	2	–	21	2	3	83	151	-68	13	8th	–								–	Michael Schlamp	45
2012	24	9	–	12	2	1	92	93	-1	32	3rd, Bauer	–								–	Tomas Landa	58
2013	28	7	–	20	0	1	73	120	-47	22	7th	–								–	Tomas Landa	33
2014	28	6	1[lower-alpha 5]	19	1	1	88	125	-57	22	8th	–								Group	Hamilton Steen	31
2015	28	11	–	14	1	2	110	110	+0	37	7th	–								Runner-up	Joe Harcharik	52
2016	28	5	–	15	5	3	77	95	-18	28	6th	–								Winner	Tomas Landa	33
2017	28	6	–	14	3	3	101	121	-20	33	6th	–								Winner	Jackson Brewer	45
2018	28	15	–	7	3	3	104	72	+32	54	2nd	2	1	1	6	4	Runner-up	Won 3-0 (Thunder)	Lost 3-4 (OT) (Brave)	Runner-up	Charlie Adams	54
2019	28	15	–	11	2	0	121	102	+19	49	4th	2	2	0	11	6	Champion	Won 6-4 (Brave)	Won 5-2) (Thunder)	Winner	Danick Gauthier	53

Notes:

1. 2003 AIHL season statistics are incomplete. No one source has all the information and the AIHL has not published official statistics on www.theaihl.com.
2. Based on the most complete information available, the Sydney Bears finished the 2003 season in third place and qualified for the first four team finals weekend.
3. 2003 was the one and only season where a third place play-off was contested as part of the finals format for the AIHL. The Sydney Bears defeated the Adelaide Avalanche 10-5 in the third place play-off to clinch third.
4. The Bears were penalised 3 competition points for icing players that had not been officially cleared to play by the IIHF and IHA.
5. As of the 2006 AIHL season, all games have a winner, which eliminated the tie from the league. In 2014 due to the cancellation of a game against Adelaide Adrenaline, the AIHL declared the result a tie.

Notes References: [23] [24] [25] [26] [27]

Championships

• Goodall Cup

Champions (3): 2002, 2007, 2019

Runners-Up (1): 2001

• H Newman Reid Trophy (2008-Current)

Premiers (1): 2008

Runners-Up (1): 2018

• Wilson Cup

Winners (5): 2007, 2008, 2016, 2017, 2019

Runners-Up (2): 2015, 2018

• V.I.P. Cup (2004–07)¹

Premiers (1): 2002

Runners-Up (1): 2001

• NSW Super League

Champions (1): 1989

¹ This list includes Premierships prior to the first trophy for Premiers in 2004.

Players

Current roster

Team roster for the 2019 AIHL season [28][29]

2019 AIHL Sydney Bears Roster

#	Nat	Name	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
16		Ryan Annesley (A)	D	L	34	2016	Ajax, Ontario, Canada
31		Aston Brookes	G	L	27	2018	Queenstown, New Zealand
91		Jeremy Brücker	F		30	2017
97		Tyerell Clare	D	R	22	2015
18		Adam Dauda	F	L	25	2019	Bratislava, Slovakia
84		Adrian Esposito	F	R	35	2013	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2		Brian Funes	D	R	29	2016	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
78		Danick Gauthier	F	L	28	2019	Waterloo, Quebec, Canada
13		Joey Gunner	F	L	19	2018	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
19		Kyllian Guyenet	D	L	27	2019	Sierre, Switzerland
26		Justin Harrison	G			2017
68		Michael Haynes	F	L	34	2018	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
28		Anthony Kimlin	G	L	30	2016	Ipswich, Queensland, Australia
19		Jan Koubek	F	L	28	2019	Prague, Czechoslovakia
80		William Lameroux	D	R	25	2019	Trenton, Ontario, Canada
12		Ryan Lough	F	L	27	2018	Manotick, Ontario, Canada
8		Thomas Moncrieff	F	L	19	2017	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
19		Chris Moquin	F	R	25	2019	Hooksett, New Hampshire, United States
24		Tim Newmark	D	L	26	2019	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
9		Jacob Ratcliffe	F	R	22	2019	Canterbury, New Zealand
10		Taegan Rippon	D	R	19	2019	Battle, East Sussex, United Kingdom
55		Gabe Robledo	G	L	34	2016
20		Vladimir Rubes (A)	F	L	49	2017	Prague, Czechoslovakia
11		Michael Schlamp (C)	D	R	39	2009	Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
7		Thomas Steven	F	R	21	2018	Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
14		Daniel Taylor	F		17	2019
4		James Urweiss	F	R	20	2018	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
39		Justin Vienneau	D	L	34	2019	Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
89		Alexander Wardlaw	F	R	20	2017	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Player records

These are the top-ten all-time player records in franchise history for the following categories: Appearances,[30] Goals,[31] Assists,[32] Points,[33] Penalty minutes[34]
(Figures are updated after each completed AIHL regular season)

As of February 2020

All-time Apperiences # Name Pos MP 1 Vladimir Rubes F 299 2 Adrian Esposito F 287 3 Michael Schlamp D 270 4 Brett Nelson-Bond F 270 5 Paul Shumak F 187 6 Murray Wand D 180 7 Steven Adams D 151 8 Vladan Stransky F 145 9 Spencer Austin D 141 10 Tomas Landa F 134

All-time Goals # Name Pos G 1 Vladimir Rubes F 176 2 Michael Schlamp D 126 3 Vladan Stransky F 101 4 Tomas Landa F 86 5 Murray Wand D 77 6 Brett Nelson-Bond F 54 7 Roberto Franchini F 43 8 Cameron Todd F 36 9 Paul Shumak F 34 10 Adrian Esposito F 32

All-time Assists # Name Pos A 1 Vladimir Rubes F 270 2 Michael Schlamp D 182 3 Vladan Stransky F 154 4 Tomas Landa F 148 5 Murray Wand D 84 6 Ryan Annesley F 78 7 Brett Nelson-Bond F 63 8 Roberto Franchini F 53 9 Cameron Todd F 46 10 Andy Luhovy F 40

All-time Points # Name Pos Pts 1 Vladimir Rubes F 446 2 Michael Schlamp D 308 3 Vladan Stransky F 255 4 Tomas Landa F 234 5 Murray Wand D 161 6 Brett Nelson-Bond F 117 7 Roberto Franchini F 96 8 Ryan Annesley D 95 9 Cameron Todd F 82 10 Paul Shumak F 72

All-time PIM # Name Pos PIM 1 Spencer Austin D 578 2 Michael Schlamp D 505 3 Brett Nelson-Bond F 469 4 Vladimir Rubes F 351 5 Tyerell Clare D 338 6 Vladan Stransky F 304 7 Murray Wand D 263 8 Paul Shumak F 235 9 Adrian Esposito F 192 10 Ryan O'Keefe D 192

Staff

Current as of 21 April 2018 [35]

Technical Staff Position Name Head Coach Ron Kuprowsky Assistant Coach Ryan Annesley Assistant Coach Brent Vandenberg Assistant Coach Jeff Todd Goaltending Coach Colin Downie

Club Staff Position Name President Wayne Hellyer Vice President Matthew Burrell Team Manager Neil McFadden Team Physio Valerie Chan

Team facilities

The Sydney Bears current home venue is the Macquarie Ice Rink, located within the Macquarie Shopping Centre in Macquarie, Sydney. The Macquarie facility consists of an Olympic sized rink (60m x 30m) with seating for approximately 2,000 people.[36]

Macquarie is the spiritual home of the Bears as the team called Macquarie home from foundation in 1982 till 2002. In 2002 the team moved to the recently constructed Sydney Ice Arena in Baulkham Hills, Sydney. After five years the team moved out of Sydney and into the Penrith Ice Palace, Penrith, New South Wales, out west of the city.[37] In 2012 the Bears returned to Sydney and to the Sydney Ice Arena. In late 2013 / early 2014 it was announced that the ownership of the Sydney Ice Arena, Hillsong, had lodged a development application with the NSW Government to re-develop the site into a residential complex, removing the twelve year old ice rink.[38][39] The Bears moved back to Penrith for the 2015 and 2016 AIHL seasons.[40] In 2017 it was announced that the Bears would return home to Macquarie to play out of the newly upgraded Macquarie Ice Rink, which now met AIHL standards.[41][42]

Stadium history

Rink	Location	First	Last
Macquarie Ice Rink	Macquarie	1982	2001
Sydney Ice Arena	Baulkham Hills	2002	2006
Penrith Ice Palace	Penrith	2007	2011
Sydney Ice Arena	Baulkham Hills	2012	2014
Penrith Ice Palace	Penrith	2015	2016
Macquarie Ice Rink	Macquarie	2017	Present

Broadcasting

TV:
Fox Sports (2013–present) - Part of the entire AIHL TV deal with Fox Sports to show one game a round, normally on Thursday's at 4:30 pm or after NHL games during NHL season.[43]
Online audio streaming:
Self-broadcast (2015 - Current) - Since 2015 the Sydney Bears has self-broadcast all home matches with an online audio stream utilising the Mixlr platform.[44]

Eric Brook and Nicholas Kutnjak calls the play by play with various co commentators joining the team during the season.

References

1. "Our History". www.sydneybears.com.au. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
2. Carpenter, Ross. "Hellyer, Wayne(1963 - )". Legends of Australian Ice. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
3. Carpenter, Ross. "Foll, Glen(1962 - )". Legends of Australian Ice. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
4. Carpenter, Ross. "Hulme, Tim (1967 - )". Legends of Australian Ice. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
5. "History of the Australian Ice Hockey League". Australian Ice Hockey League. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
6. "About the Bears". Sydney Bears. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
7. "Adelaide Avalanche: The Franchise that changed Australian hockey forever". Adelaide Adrenaline. 3 August 2017. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
8. "Championnat d'Australie 2001" (in French). www.hockeyarchives.info. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
9. Meltzer, Bill (28 May 2008). "Australia celebrates hockey centennial with gold". National Hockey League. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
10. "Championnat d'Australie 2003" (in French). www.hockeyarchives.info. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
11. "Team History". Sydney Bears. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
12. "2007 AIHL Grand Final Boxscore". theaihl.com. 2 September 2007. Retrieved 25 September 2018.
13. "Hungry Bears have done it again!". AIHL Bears. Archived from the original on 9 April 2010. Retrieved 10 April 2010.
14. "Minor Premiership an ice hockey curse". www.theroar.com.au. 2 July 2009. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
15. Lambert, Peter (19 February 2012). "Bears in the Hills". Australian Ice Hockey League. Archived from the original on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
16. Brook, Eric (8 January 2015). "Sydney Bears Move To Penrith In 2015". Hewitt Sports. Archived from the original on 10 January 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
17. Musico, Bianca (17 January 2017). "#TheHomecoming: The Bears Finally Return Home to Macquarie Ice Rink". Sydney Bears. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
18. Darnley, Ryan (22 June 2017). "Bears Mentor Next Generation". Sydney Bears. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
19. "Bears unveil new logo". www.icehockeynewsaustralia.com. 26 December 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
20. "Australian Ice Hockey League 2018 Standings". www.eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
21. Tiernan, Eamonn (2 September 2018). "Canberra Brave win first Goodall Cup in overtime epic". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
22. Allen, Trevor (9 September 2019). "Bears shock rivals to claim Goodall Cup". International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
23. "2002 AIHL season: 2002 AIHL Grand Final - Unconfirmed". www.theaihl.com. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
24. "Championnat d'Australie 2003 (French)". www.hockeyarchives.info. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
25. "AIHL History". www.hockeywise.com.au. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
26. McIlroy, Tom (19 July 2014). "Adelaide Adrenaline team bus crashes forcing Canberra ice hockey game to be cancelled". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
27. Mooney, Harrison (1 August 2014). "Australian hockey's CBR Brave upset after game for first place canceled due to bus crash". www.yahoo.com. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
28. "Sydney Bears". Elite Prospects. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
29. "Sydney Bears". Australian Ice Hockey League. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
30. "Sydney Bears - All Time Regular Season Player Stats - Games Played". www.eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
31. "Sydney Bears - All Time Regular Season Player Stats - Goals". www.eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
32. "Sydney Bears - All Time Regular Season Player Stats - Assists". www.eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
33. "Sydney Bears - All Time Regular Season Player Stats - Points". www.eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
34. "Sydney Bears - All Time Regular Season Player Stats - Penalty minutes". www.eliteprospects.com. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
35. "Bears Off-Ice Staff". www.bears.theaihl.com. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
36. "About Macquarie Ice Rink". www.macquarieicerink.com.au. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
37. "Sydney Bears relocate to Penrith Ice Palace". www.icehockeynewsaustralia.com. 8 January 2015. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
38. Thomson, Warren (10 December 2013). "Sydney Ice Arena could make way for a 20-storey development". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
39. Brodie, Will (22 May 2014). "The Australian Ice Hockey League's recurring dilemma". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
40. Tarbert, Kristine (16 April 2015). "Only way is up for Ice Hockey's Sydney Bears who will play in Penrith this season". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
41. Stavrinos, Anthony (24 January 2017). "Ice Hockey returns to Macquarie Centre". www.weeklytimes.com.au. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
42. "#TheHomecoming: The Bears Finally Return Home to Macquarie Ice Rink". Sydney Bears. 18 January 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
43. Brodie, Will (17 April 2013). "Ice hockey gets pay TV boost". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
44. "Sydney Bears Game Day Live". mixlr.com/sydneybears/. Retrieved 11 June 2018.

External links

• Sydney Bears Official website
• Sydney Bears Official Twitter
• AIHL official website
• Elite Prospects Team Profile