Sydney Bears

Sydney Bears
City	Penrith, New South Wales
League	AIHL
Founded	2000 (2000)
Home arena	Penrith Ice Palace File:SydneyBearsUniform.jpg
Colours	Red, black, silver and white
General manager	Gabriel Robledo
Head coach	Vlad Rubes
Captain	Michael Schlamp
Franchise history
History	Sydney Bears 2000-2007 AIHL Bears 2007-2009 Sydney Bears 2010-present
Goodall Cup	2 (2002, 2007)
V.I.P cup	1 (2008)

The Sydney Bears are a semi-professional ice hockey team based in Penrith, New South Wales, who are members of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). They have won two Goodall Cup championships since their founding in 2000, most recently in 2007. The Bears are one of the original three teams that founded the AIHL in 2000, along with the Adelaide Avalanche, and Canberra Knights. The Bears played at the Sydney Ice Arena from the time of their inception through the end of the 2006 season. They moved into their new arena, Penrith Ice Palace, to begin the 2007 AIHL season.

Team history

The Bears are two-time winners of the Goodall Cup and won the AIHL championship in 2002 and 2007. The Bears were one of three teams that founded the AIHL in 2000, along with the Adelaide Avalanche and Canberra Knights. Although the Bears did not win the championship in either year, they won the Goodall Cup tournament in 2001 in Newcastle, the last time the Cup was awarded independently of the AIHL.

Logo worn from 2000-2007. Changed when the Bears moved to Penrith

In 2002, the Bears defeated the Avalanche in the Goodall Cup final for their second consecutive Cup and their first and only AIHL championship to date. Four members of the Bears - Tyler Lovering, Brett Nelson-Bond, Vladimir Rubes and Murray Wand - were named to the Mighty Roos roster for the 2006 Division II World Championships in New Zealand. In 2007 the team announced they would move to Penrith for the 2007 AIHL season and at the same time, dropping the "Sydney" part from the name to become The Bears, or AIHL Bears. For the start of the 2010 season the Bears reverted to their previous name of Sydney Bears.

Season-by-season record

Season	GP	W	T1	OTW	OTL	L	GF	GF	Pts	Finish	Playoffs
2002	15	12	1	-	-	2	90	54	25	1	Won Goodall Cup final vs. Adelaide Avalanche)
2003	6	1	0	-	-	5	23	34	2	5	Did not qualify
2004	29	8	6	1	4	10	68	71	31	3	Lost in Semifinals, 4-5 (West Sydney Ice Dogs)
2005	26	11	0	2	1	12	96	100	38	4	Lost in Semifinals, (Adelaide Avalanche)
2006	28	15	-	1	1	11	133	101	48	5	Did not qualify
2007	28	14	-	4	2	8	112	84	49*	4	Won Semifinals 4-5 (Adelaide Avalanche) Won Goodall Cup, 4-3 in OT (Newcastle North Stars
2008	28	20	-	0	1	7	134	118	61	1	Lost in Semifinal, 7-5 (Newcastle North Stars)
2009	24	1	-	3	0	20	66	140	9	7	Did not qualify
2010	25	12	-	9	1	3	41	83	92	3	Lost Semifinal, 1-2 (Melbourne Ice)

¹ As of the 2006 AIHL season, all games will have a winner.

* The Bears were penalised 3 competition points for icing players that had not been officially cleared to play by the IIHF and IHA.

Championships

Goodall Cup: 2002, 2007

V.I.P. Cup: 2008

Players

Updated 27 June 2011

No.	Nat	Player	Pos	S/G	Age	Acquired	Birthplace
2		Jordan Hale	D/F	L	34	2011	Lacombe, AB, Canada
3		Steven Adams	D	R	45	2008	Adelaide, South Australia
5		Daniel Spina	D	L	32	2009	Australia
6		Nick Cleland	D	L	39	2010	Canberra, Australia
6		Geoff O'Hara	D	R	45	2011	Bristol, England
8		Jim Zvonicek	F	R	36	2009	Australia
12		Lukas Manco	D	L	32	2008	Australia
16		Michael Schlamp (C)	F	L	43	2006	Regina, SK, Canada
18		Kurtis Dulle (A)	D	L	44	2011	Craik, SK, Canada
20		Vladimir Rubes (A)	F	L	54	2000	Praha, Czech Republic
21		Tony Demelinne	F	L	37	2011	Den Haag, Netherlands
19		Brett Nelson-Bond (A)	F	R	41	2000	Australia
29		Daniel Shaw	F	-	34	2008	Australia
33		Scott Clemie	F	L	29	2009	Australia
37		Sheldon Baerg	G	R	38	2011	Burnaby, BC, Canada
47		Spencer Austin	D	L	32	2010	Hamilton, ON, Canada
55		Gabe Robledo	G	L	38	2005	Australia
56		Lucien Hackett	F	L	34	2010	Vancouver, BC, Canada
57		Laurie Mock	D	R	41	2006	Australia
84		Adrian Esposito	RW	R	39	2003	Sydney, Australia
88		Joel McFadden	F	R	33	2007	Australia

Notable players

• Nick Boucher
• Adrian Esposito

Franchise scoring leaders

These are the top-ten point-scorers in franchise history

Note: GP = Games Played; G = Goals; A = Assists; TP = Points; * = current Bears player

Player	GP	G	A	TP
Vladimir Rubes*	187	126	203	329
Vladan Stransky	137	100	149	249
Murray Wand	170	70	75	145
Roberto Franchini	85	42	53	95
Brett Nelson-Bond*	178	37	50	87
Michael Schlamp*	77	35	47	82
Andy Luhovy	46	31	40	71
Tomas Landa	25	20	42	62
Paul Shumak	162	32	29	61
Joshua Gribben	42	20	26	46

Current Staff

• President – Wayne Hellyer
• General Manager/Team Manager – Gabriel Robledo Snr
• Assistant Team Manager - Robert Palmer
• Head coach – Vladimir Rubes
• Bench coach – Art Shaw
• Secretary – Bronwyn McFadden & Neil McFadden
• Treasurer – Marlon Jayawardene & Lorelle Cross
• Game Day Ticketing - Bronwyn McFadden & Keri Spina 
• Time Keepers – Marichu Liddicoat & Warwick Griffith
• Announcing - Wayne Hellyer & Debbie Clemie
• Game Day Organiser - Jennifer Scott & Rachel Tanit

Arena

The team plays its home games at the Penrith Ice Palace in Penrith, on the western outskirts of Sydney, New South Wales. The team previously played at the Sydney Ice Arena in Baulkham Hills, but announced they would move to Penrith for the 2007 AIHL season.

External links

• Official website of the Sydney Bears
• Sydney Bears profile on Elite Hockey Prospects
• The Official AIHL site