On 18/05/2024 the Adelaide Adrenaline hosted the Canberra Brave in front of a large raucous crowd at the Ice Arena for the first of the AIHL games that weekend.  Traditionally these two teams were known for high scoring games.  The Brave had Austin Cangelosi, a pocket rocket with phenomenal speed and skill who had played a lot of hockey in Norway.   Rumour has it that his height may have stopped him from being picked up by a NHL team.  They also had a plenthora of Kubaras, being Casey, Bayley and Tyler.  In goals for the Adrenaline was import Rylan Toth and for the Brave Alexandre Tetreault.  The two teams went at it right from the start with a fast paced game play and plenty of hits into the boards.  The Brave’s Jake Ratcliffe would open the scoring at 12:13 after assists from Cangelosi and Mitchell Henning.  At 7:04 Adrenaline’s Daniel Chen would tie the scores.  The assists came from Daniel O’Handley and NZ/Canadian Ty Wright.  Right on 2mins to play Cangelosi scored to put the Brave ahead.  Assists were given to Bayley Kubara and Nicholas Christensen.  Shots on goal had been totally dominated by the Brave 20-2!  Oddly, there had been no penalties.

Twenty seven seconds into the second period the score was levelled as O’Handley got the Adrenaline back in the race.  Daniel Chen was the assist.  Their joy was shortlived though as Brave’s Ratcliffe scored his 2nd goal at 17:39 on a powerplay as Adrenaline’s Joey MacDougall had been sent to the box for hooking.  Captain Kai Miettinen and Cangelosi were the assists.  At 16:25 the Adrenaline were given the man advantage as Brave’s Tyler Kubara got 2mins for interference.  However it would be the Brave that scored shorthanded at 15:00 through Cangelosi from Ratcliffe to give the Brave some breathing room with the score now at 4-2.  The Adrenaline would need to put some shots on goal!!  At 13:32 Adrenaline’s Josh Adkins and Kaden Elder would combine to peg the difference back by one.  With 8:07 on the clock Adrenaline’s Sean Greer and MacDougall and Brave’s Cangelosi decided some roughing was required in front of the timing booth.  All three went to the sinbin for 2mins plus Cangelosi for an extra 2mins for unsportsmanlike conduct.  Both teams returned to the ice 5-on-5.  Brave’s Casey Kubara put his team back in front by 2 at 7:15 with assists coming from Miettinen and Thomas Steven.  Unperturbed, Adrenaline’s Elder combined with Adkins and O’Handley a short time later at 6:36 to now be behind by one goal going into the 2nd break and more importantly still close enough.  Shots on goal were only a mere 5 to 3 in favour of the Brave.

The 3rd period was tight, with neither team able to find a way through to score, not at least until 9mins remained in regulation.  Adrenaline’s Elder scored to level the scores.  Assists came from Adkins and former CBR Brave player Matt Price.  But as had been the case in this game, the Brave would strike back straight away to restore their one-goal lead.  Miettinen was the goal scorer at 8:22 with assists from Casey Kubara and Jordan Brunt.  However this time the Adrenaline came back swinging straight away themselves at 7:39 as Adkins scored with assists from Elder and Greer.  There had been no penalties for the period.  Shots on goal were again in favour of the Brave 7-2.  This game was going to overtime!

Overtime played as 3-on-3 resulted in no change to the score so the game would need to be decided on shootout.  Brave’s Casey Kubara would score twice against the Adrenaline’s only scored Elder to take win.