The 2015 CBR Brave season was the Brave's 2nd season in the Australian Ice Hockey League since being founded and entering the league in 2014. The season ran from 25 April 2015 to 29 August 2015 for the Brave. CBR finished fourth in the regular season behind the Newcastle North Stars, Melbourne Ice and Perth Thunder.[1] The Brave qualified for the AIHL Finals in Melbourne and played in semi-final one. Canberra were defeated by league premiers, the Newcastle North Stars, 3–4 in their semi-final match and were knocked out of the finals weekend, ending their season.[2][3]

2015 CBR Brave
League4th AIHL
2015 record13–3–2–10
Home record9–1–1–3
Road record4–2–1–7
Goals for125
Goals against104
Team information
CoachAustralia Brad Hunt
United States Josh Unice (Interim head coach)
Assistant coachUnited States David Rogina
Australia Aaron Clayworth
CaptainAustralia Mark Rummukainen
Alternate captainsAustralia Peter Taylor
Australia Aaron Clayworth
Australia Jimmy Byers
ArenaPhillip Ice Skating Centre
Team leaders
GoalsCanada Stephen Blunden (28)
Canada Kelly Geoffrey
AssistsCanada Stephen Blunden (51)
PointsCanada Stephen Blunden (79)
Penalty minutesAustralia David Dunwoodie (120)
Goals against averageUnited States Josh Unice (3.71)

News

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In January 2015, the Brave announced the appointment of Brad Hunt as the new head coach of the team for the 2015 AIHL season. Brad was originally going to take on the assistant coach role for 2015 after hanging up the skates at the end of the 2014 season but with former head coach Matti Louma leaving the club to take on a development coaching position in Perth, Hunt was promoted to head coach instead.[4]

In February 2015, the league commission announced scheduling changes for the 2015 season that saw the Sydney Ice Dogs and Sydney Bears move three home matches from Sydney to Canberra.[5]

In March 2015, the CBR Brave in conjunction with Ice Hockey ACT announced the formation of the Junior Brave team to compete in the 2015 NSW Midget League. The junior program was coached by former AIHL player and Australian representative Andrew Brunt and finished their first season by finishing second in the league and losing the grand final to defending champions, the Liverpool Saints, 3–1. Three of the Junior Brave players made their debut with the senior CBR Brave team in the AIHL during 2015, including: goalie Alexandre Tetrault and forwards Jayden Lewis and Jordan Brunt. Alexandre Tetrault was also selected to represent Australia in the Under 20 World Championships in Serbia in 2016.[6]

In July 2015, the CBR Brave and head coach Brad Hunt parted ways by mutual consent. On ice performances during the first half of the regular season and future planning were cited as the main reasons for the decision. Import goaltender, Josh Unice, was appointed interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Alternative captain, Aaron Clayworth, retired from playing and stepped in to take over as assistant coach for the remainder of the season.[7]

Roster

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Team roster for the 2015 AIHL season[8]

2015 AIHL CBR Brave Roster
# Nat Name Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace
73   Stephen Blunden W L 26 2014 Gloucester, Ontario, Canada
92   Jordan Brunt F L 15 2015 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
22   Harrison Byers C R 22 2014 Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
17   James Byers D R 21 2014 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
6   Aaron Clayworth D R 30 2014 Perth, Western Australia, Australia
14   David Dunwoodie D R 29 2015 Hamilton, New Zealand
38   Nickolas Eckhardt G L 25 2014 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
19   Jordan Gavin F R 32–33 2014 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
39   Kelly Geoffrey W L 25 2015 Newmarket, Ontario, Canada
27   Mike Giorgi D L 27 2014 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
65   Matthew Harvey D R 29 2014 Calgary, Alberta, Canada
3   Ryan Johnson F R 40–41 2014 Amesbury, Massachusetts, United States
16   Tyler Kubara F R 20 2015 Wombarra, New South Wales, Australia
77   Tom Letki F R 26 2014 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
11   David Lewis F L 37 2014 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
93   Jayden Lewis F L 16–17 2015 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
8   Tomas Manco D L 27 2015 Brezno, Slovakia
4   Kyle Mariani D R 26 2015 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
64   Kai Miettinen F L 19 2014 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
24   Ben Pagett D 0 30 2015 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
77   Jordan Peddle C L 24 2015 Elbow, Saskatchewan, Canada
61   Scott Pitt C L 27 2015 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
32   Alain Riesen F L 24–25 2014 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
12   Mark Rummukainen D R 33 2014 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
91   Peter Taylor F R 27 2014 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
92   Alex Tetreault G L 17 2015 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
69   Aleksi Toivonen G L 19 2015 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
30   Josh Unice G L 26 2015 Holland, Ohio, United States
29   Stuart Woodall G L 32 2014 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

Transfers

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All the player transfers in and out by the CBR Brave for the 2015 AIHL season.

Pos Player Transferred From Local / Import
F   Jordan Brunt No Team Local
D   David Dunwoodie   Sydney Ice Dogs Local
W   Kelly Geoffrey No Team Import
F   Tyler Kubara   Sydney Ice Dogs Local
F   Jayden Lewis   Meaford Knights Local
D   Tomas Manco No Team Local
D   Kyle Mariani   Laval Prédateurs Import
D   Ben Pagett No Team Local
C   Jordan Peddle   Mississippi Surge Import
C   Scott Pitt Braehead Clan Import
G   Alexandre Tetreault No Team Local
G   Aleksi Toivonen   HCIK Local
G   Josh Unice Sheffield Steelers Import
Pos Player Transferred To Local / Import
D   David Bell No Team Local
F   Darren Cope No Team Local
F   Jeff Harvey No Team Import
G   Brad Hunt   CBR Brave head coach Local
C   Anton Kokkonen   TuTo Import
F   Matthew Lehoczky No Team Local
F   Christopher McPhail No Team Local
W   Mathieu Ouellette No Team Import
G   Petri Pitkänen   KeuPa HT Import
F   Shai Rabinowitz No Team Local
D   Darren Taylor No Team Local
F   Derek Walker No Team Import
F   Corey Wilkie   Ste. Anne Aces Import

Staff

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Staff Roster for 2015 AIHL season[9]

2015 AIHL CBR Brave Staff
Role Staff
Head coach   Josh Unice
  Brad Hunt
Assistant coach   David Rogina
Assistant coach   Aaron Clayworth
Physiotherapist   Carolyn Smith
Equipment manager   Adrian Miller
Bench official   Darren Sault
Bench official   Kelly Sault

Standings

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Regular season

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Summary

Season Overall Home Away
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
2015 28 13 10 3 2 125 104 +21 47 4th 14 9 3 1 1 62 45 +17 14 4 7 2 1 63 59 +4

Position by round

Round123456789101112131415161718
Position545554356666444444
Updated to match(es) played on Completed. Source: www.icehockeynewsaustralia.com

League table

Team GP W SOW SOL L GF GA GDF PTS
Newcastle North Stars 28 19 1 4 4 152 83 +69 63
Melbourne Ice 28 15 5 1 7 121 83 +38 56
Perth Thunder 28 14 1 4 9 103 93 +10 48
CBR Brave 28 13 3 2 10 125 104 +21 47
Adelaide Adrenaline 28 11 3 3 11 109 111 −2 42
Melbourne Mustangs 28 11 3 2 12 139 105 +34 41
Sydney Bears 28 11 1 2 14 110 110 0 37
Sydney Ice Dogs 28 0 1 0 27 39 209 −170 01
Qualified for the Goodall Cup playoffs H Newman Reid Trophy winners

1The Ice Dogs were fined three competition points for multiple breaches by-law 4 which requires teams to travel with at least 15 players unless an exemption has been granted.[10]

Source

Finals

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Summary

Season Finals weekend
P W L GF GA Result Semi-final Goodall Cup final
2015 1 0 1 3 4 Semi-finalists Lost 3-4 (North Stars)

Bracket

Semifinals Final
      
1 Newcastle North Stars 4
4 CBR Brave 3
Newcastle North Stars 3
Melbourne Ice 2
3 Perth Thunder 0
2 Melbourne Ice 1

Schedule & results

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Regular season

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Matchday12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728
ArenaHAHAAHHHAHHHAAAHHAAAAHAAHHHA
ResultWLWLLWLWWWLWLLLWLLWLWWWWLWWW
Updated to match(es) played on Completed. Source: AIHL
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; L = Loss
2015 fixtures and results
Date Time Away Score Home Location Recap
25 April 17:30 Sydney Bears 2–4 CBR Brave Canberra [1]
26 April 17:00 CBR Brave 4–7 Newcastle North Stars Newcastle [2]
2 May 17:30 Adelaide Adrenaline 3–5 CBR Brave Canberra [3]
9 May 16:30 CBR Brave 3–4 Perth Thunder Perth [4]
10 May 16:30 CBR Brave 1–4 Perth Thunder Perth [5]
16 May 17:30 Melbourne Mustangs 4–5 CBR Brave Canberra [6]
17 May 17:00 Melbourne Mustangs 4 – 3 (SO) CBR Brave Canberra [7]
23 May 17:30 Adelaide Adrenaline 2–8 CBR Brave Canberra [8]
24 May 17:00 CBR Brave 5 – 4 (SO) Newcastle North Stars Newcastle [9]
30 May 17:30 Melbourne Ice 1–3 CBR Brave Canberra [10]
31 May 17:00 Melbourne Ice 4–2 CBR Brave Canberra [11]
6 June 17:30 Sydney Ice Dogs 1–4 CBR Brave Canberra [12]
13 June 17:00 CBR Brave 1–3 Melbourne Ice Melbourne [13]
14 June 16:00 CBR Brave 2–3 Melbourne Ice Melbourne [14]
20 June 17:00 CBR Brave 3–4 Sydney Bears Canberra [15]
27 June 17:30 Sydney Ice Dogs 4–6 CBR Brave Canberra [16]
28 June 17:30 Newcastle North Stars 5–1 CBR Brave Canberra [17]
4 July 17:00 CBR Brave 2 – 3 (SO) Melbourne Mustangs Melbourne [18]
5 July 16:00 CBR Brave 5–4 Melbourne Mustangs Melbourne [19]
11 July 16:30 CBR Brave 7–11 Adelaide Adrenaline Adelaide [20]
12 July 15:30 CBR Brave 6 – 5 (SO) Adelaide Adrenaline Adelaide [21]
18 July 17:00 Sydney Bears 3–6 CBR Brave Canberra [22]
25 July 17:30 CBR Brave 7–3 Sydney Bears Penrith [23]
1 August 17:00 CBR Brave 10–2 Sydney Ice Dogs Canberra [24]
8 August 17:30 Perth Thunder 4–3 CBR Brave Canberra [25]
9 August 17:00 Perth Thunder 3–6 CBR Brave Canberra [26]
15 August 17:30 Newcastle North Stars 5 – 6 (SO) CBR Brave Canberra [27]
22 August 17:00 CBR Brave 7–2 Sydney Ice Dogs Canberra [28]

Finals

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

29 August 2015
15:00
CBR Brave3–4
(2–0, 1–1, 0–3)
Newcastle North StarsMelbourne Icehouse
Attendance: 1200
Game reference
Aleksi ToivonenGoaliesDayne DavisReferee:
Cory Ross
Linesmen:
Casper Russell-Huber
Fraser Ohlson
Geoffrey (SH) (Mariani, Blunden) – 1:081 – 0
Blunden (SH) (Geoffrey, Rummukainen) – 7:142 – 0
Blunden (Peddle, Geoffrey) – 18:593 – 0
3 – 122:47 – Malloy (PP) (Wudrick)
3 – 238:45 – Wudrick (Starke)
3 – 344:09 – Wudrick
3 – 448:49 – Wudrick
47 minPenalties18 min
20Shots38

Player statistics

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Skaters

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Regular season
Nat Player Pos M G A P PIM
  Stephen Blunden D 24 28 51 79 46
  Jordan Brunt F 1 0 0 0 0
  Harrison Byers D 25 4 2 6 102
  James Byers F 26 1 9 10 10
  Aaron Clayworth F 17 0 1 1 10
  David Dunwoodie F 20 4 18 22 120
  Jordan Gavin D 21 5 2 7 18
  Kelly Geoffrey D 21 28 33 61 40
  Mike Giorgi F 2 0 1 1 2
  Matthew Harvey F 11 7 5 12 2
  Ryan Johnson F 24 3 4 7 55
  Tyler Kubara D 27 5 10 15 4
  Tom Letki F 2 0 0 0 0
  David Lewis F 23 1 1 2 2
  Jayden Lewis F 1 0 1 1 0
  Tomas Manco F 23 0 6 6 20
  Kyle Mariani F 24 10 18 28 46
  Kai Miettinen F 28 2 4 6 38
  Ben Pagett F 5 0 0 0 2
  Jordan Peddle D 7 2 8 10 24
  Scott Pitt F 19 18 24 42 18
  Alain Riesen F 17 0 2 2 8
  Mark Rummukainen D 26 3 10 13 49
  Peter Taylor D 24 1 2 3 18
Finals
Nat Player Pos M G A P PIM
  Stephen Blunden D 1 2 1 3 25
  Jordan Brunt F 0 0 0 0 0
  Harrison Byers D 0 0 0 0 0
  James Byers F 1 0 0 0 0
  Aaron Clayworth F 0 0 0 0 0
  David Dunwoodie F 1 0 0 0 4
  Jordan Gavin D 1 0 0 0 0
  Kelly Geoffrey D 1 1 2 3 0
  Mike Giorgi F 0 0 0 0 0
  Matthew Harvey F 1 0 0 0 0
  Ryan Johnson F 0 0 0 0 0
  Tyler Kubara D 0 0 0 0 0
  Tom Letki F 0 0 0 0 0
  David Lewis F 1 0 0 0 0
  Jayden Lewis F 0 0 0 0 0
  Tomas Manco F 1 0 0 0 0
  Kyle Mariani F 1 0 1 1 16
  Kai Miettinen F 1 0 0 0 0
  Ben Pagett F 0 0 0 0 0
  Jordan Peddle D 1 0 1 1 2
  Scott Pitt F 0 0 0 0 0
  Alain Riesen F 1 0 0 0 0
  Mark Rummukainen D 1 0 1 1 0
  Peter Taylor D 0 0 0 0 0

Goaltenders

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Regular season
Nat Player Pos M SO MP GA GAA SA SV SV% G A PIM
  Nickolas Eckhardt G 0 - - - - - - - - - -
  Alex Tetreault G 1 0 50 2 2.40 20 18 0.900 0 0 0
  Aleksi Toivonen G 10 0 463 36 4.66 311 275 0.884 0 1 0
  Josh Unice G 14 0 679 42 3.71 533 491 0.921 0 1 2
  Stuart Woodall G 6 0 198 19 5.76 120 101 0.842 0 0 0
Finals
Nat Player Pos M SO MP GA GAA SA SV SV% G A PIM
  Nickolas Eckhardt G - - - - - - - - - - -
  Alex Tetreault G - - - - - - - - - - -
  Aleksi Toivonen G 1 0 49 4 4.88 38 34 0.895 0 0 0
  Josh Unice G - - - - - - - - - - -
  Stuart Woodall G - - - - - - - - - - -

Awards

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Team awards for 2015 season[11]

2015 Brave awards
Award Recipient
Bravest of the Brave   Stephen Blunden
Best Forward   Stephen Blunden
Best Defenceman   Kyle Mariani
Fans Choice   Jimmy Byers
Player's Choice   Mark Rummukainen
Coach's Award   Kai Miettinen
  Peter Taylor
Emerging Brave   Jimmy Byers
John Lewis Memorial Award   Ryan Johnson

AIHL awards for 2015 season[12]

2015 AIHL awards
Award Recipient
* No Brave players won any AIHL Awards in 2015

References

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  1. ^ "2015 AIHL season: Round 18". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. August 21, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  2. ^ "CBR Brave vs Newcastle North Stars - 2015 Semi-Final". theaihl.com. August 29, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  3. ^ Gibson, Bianca (August 29, 2015). "North Stars edge Brave in instant classic". theaihl.com. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  4. ^ Gaskin, Lee (February 5, 2015). "New Canberra Brave coach Brad Hunt aims to improve on fairytale season in Australian Ice Hockey League". The Canberra Times. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  5. ^ "Schedule changes for the Bears and Ice Dogs". Ice Hockey News Australia. February 10, 2015. Archived from the original on February 10, 2015. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  6. ^ "Junior Brave to play in NSW Midget League". icehockeynewsaustralia.com. March 31, 2015. Retrieved April 14, 2015.
  7. ^ "Brave Move: Unice appointed interim Head Coach for remainder of 2015 season". CBR Brave ltd. Archived from the original on July 14, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
  8. ^ "2015 CBR Brave Team Roster". Elite Prospects. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
  9. ^ "CBR Brave Coaching Staff". www.theaihl.com. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  10. ^ "Ice Dogs docked points for by-law breach". Australian Ice Hockey League. July 28, 2015. Archived from the original on March 14, 2016. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
  11. ^ Gaskin, Lee (August 23, 2015). "Canberra Brave forward Stephen Blunden named most valuable player after outstanding season". The Canberra Times. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  12. ^ "2015 AIHL Award Winners". Australian Ice Hockey League. September 1, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2021.