The CBR Brave have withheld the Adelaide Adrenaline comeback with a 5:3 win at the Phillip Swimming and Ice Centre on Saturday.

With a vocal crowd behind the boys in blue and gold, two quick goals late in the 3^rd period were enough to extinguish Adelaide momentum and remain undefeated at the Brave Cave.

The Brave Cave was standing room only, which also applied to the penalty box. Both sides were penalised on numerous occasions - much to the delight of the capacity crowd – making the first period seem like an eternity.

The Brave opened the scoring in the first with a pair of goals from Blunden in quick succession. The score remained 2:0 at the first intermission with Hunt describing it as, “very chippy and cheap and a bit dirty” and said that, “we talked on the bench and basically said ‘we got them a bit rattled after our second goal and just play disciplined’, and we did.”

Both goaltenders were busy in the second withstanding barrages but didn’t allow any scoring in the period. “Goaltending was outstanding from both ends tonight. King battles hard. He’s a real competitor. He wins those one-on-one battles,” said Adrenaline coach Ryan O’Handley of his goaltender. “He wins them more than he loses them”.

It was the Brave’s Scott Pitt who scored early in the third period, which appeared to have swung momentum in favour of the home team.

Adelaide struck back through Wehebe Darge in the first half of the period and again soon after through a contentious Jonathan Boxill goal that left the Brave fans echoing their disapproval of the goal decision.

Was the play frozen? Goalie interference? The hecklers of the Brave Cave let the officials know it was all of the above and more. “I’m not going to second guess the referee. He’s got a tough job. He’s got a horrible job and I wouldn’t want to do it.” said Hunt.

The Brave had to dig deep to get their fourth goal via Jordan Gavin for a 2 goal lead, which was quickly increased to a 3 goal lead when Ryan Johnson scored soon after.

Adelaide’s Tyler Grove, who was a menace all night, pulled one back with less than two minutes left. With the difference back to two goals, King was pulled out of net. But the score line remained 5:3 at full time after an exciting third period.

Despite the fight back, Hunt was happy with the win but wanted to continue working a full game. “We wanted to get a jump on them straight off the hop because we haven’t started well in the first two games.”

O’Handley said post-match, “We were creating chances and the guys stuck to the game plan and they kept the composure. We started to claw ourselves back in and that’s the type of team we are. We need to get out to a better start. That’s what we need start doing. So tomorrow we need to start better so we don’t get ourselves in a hole early.”

Adelaide will continue the road trip to play the Sydney Bears again in Penrith on Sunday, 3 May.

The CBR Brave have the rest of the weekend off before flying to Perth to play the Thunder on Saturday, May 9^th.