The CBR Brave claimed victory in an emotional 7-2 win over the Adelaide Adrenaline at the Phillip Swimming & Ice Skating Centre on Saturday night.

The CBR Brave came out with plenty to play for, fuelled by their dedication to a close friend of many of the Brave organisation, Robbie McMullen, marking the one-year anniversary of his passing.

It didn’t take long for the Brave to assert their dominance on the scoreboard, with Tyler Kubara scoring off a juicy rebound after a pad save from Adrenaline goalie, Peter King.

Shortly after the goal, CBR Brave goalie Aleksi Toivonen had his helmet removed after a laser of a shot from the Adrenaline.

While Toivonen made the save, he seemed to have taken a stick to the mouth and had to be replaced by Alex Tetreault, but not before the officials removed the blood from the ice.

Tetreault wouldn’t see too much action, as he was replaced by Toivonen at the next stoppage.

A power play goal from Stephen Blunden would see the home side take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission after the period was stopped due to a nasty incident with Adrenaline defender Sean Greer suffering a deep laceration after taking a hard shot from Jan Safar to his face with just over two minutes remaining in the period.

After the intermission the final minutes of the first period were played before the sides changed ends and the second period began.

It didn’t take long for the Brave to extend their lead, through another huge rebound that saw Tyler Kubara calmly slot home his second to give the home side a 3-0 advantage.

Stephen Blunden would extend the home sides lead mere minutes later with a huge slap shot from the face-off circle to beat Peter King, who could do nothing but pick the puck out of the net.

A goal to Adelaide Adrenaline danger man Wehebe Darge got the visitors on the board late in the second period, but there was plenty of work to do if they were to reign in the rampant Brave offence.

The CBR Brave went into the final break with a comfortable 4-1 lead, but the Adrenaline are a team that you can never count out.

After the break it was the CBR Brave that would strike first through Kai Miettinen who pounced on another rebound from Adrenaline goalie Peter King.

King was left stranded after making the initial save, only for Miettinen to slot home into an almost empty net.

The never say die attitude of the Adrenaline was well and truly on display as they took the game to the Brave and were rewarded late in the second. Brave defender Jimmy Byers put his body on the line to block a shot, only to see T.J. Battani slot the loose puck past Aleksi Toivonen from close range.

However, the Brave were quick to respond with Casey Kubara feeding Stephen Blunden and completing his hat trick for the night and extending the lead to 6-2 in favour of the home side.

Casey Kubara and Stephen Blunden would again link up to score a short-handed goal with just over a minute to go in the final stanza.

Adelaide Adrenaline club president, Eric Balnar, noted the toll that injury took on his team.

“We had to win this game and we didn’t get it done,” Balner said. “We were obviously affected by two defencemen going down. We already had a short bench going and then two of our best defencemen get hurt for most of the game. So once that happens it makes it hard to really get any kind of positive forward momentum going”

CBR Brave coach, Josh Unice, touched on the emotional toll of the week.

“A lot of people on the team, myself included, have been going through some personal things this week,” Unice said. “Obviously with the memorial of Robbie, I think was a contributing factor. It was nice to see everybody come together and play as a unit.”

Next weekend, the Adrenaline head home for an all-important double header against the Melbourne Mustangs at the IceArena in Adelaide while the Brave travel north to face the Sydney Bears at the Penrith Ice Palace next Sunday.