On Saturday night, Canberra Brave secured a 7-3 victory over the Newcastle Northstars, followed up on Sunday night with a 6-3 win over the Sydney Ice Dogs.

The Kubara brothers significantly impacted the win over Newcastle on Sunday night, with Casey, Bayley, and Tyler each securing two goals, and the seventh by Jackson Gallagher.

Talking to Casey Kubara about reaching 100 goals in front of a full crowd at the Brave Cave, he shared, “It was funny how it worked out. I actually didn’t know it was 100, and I found out after the game. It’s nice to hit those milestones. I work hard and take pride in what I do, but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates and the guys I’ve played with over the years.”

Sharing the scoresheet with his brothers, Casey reflected on the game, saying, “We have a really close group; my brothers and I are really close, and it’s pretty special to have all of us on the score sheet at the same time; it’s rare.”

“We’ve said it all year with the rough start we had that we had been short and understaffed, but there are no excuses; we don’t want to make them,” shared Kubara, “we finally have our full roster, and things are finally starting to click for us. We’re aware of where we are in the standings, and that was a huge game against Newcastle not only to get three points but to give them zero.”

Canberra Brave Captain Kai Miettinen shared the same thoughts around the team stating, “Over this weekend was the first time we’ve had our full team, including now our four imports. We’re finally getting that last piece of the puzzle now and being able to now get it all come together. There is still some fine tuning with line combinations but we have everyone here.”

Kubara looked ahead to upcoming games, sharing, “We’re getting good goaltending, we’re scoring right through the line-up, and each win helps us in the standings and hopefully get the easier schedule in finals.”

“We’re in a really good spot and playing with a lot of confidence,” Miettinen shared, “pucks are going in the net, we’re getting the bounces, and our goaltending is as solid as ever, and we’re really shaping up nicely.”

Fans took to social media commenting how the crowd showed up at the Brave Cave, and Casey took note, “We’ve been selling a lot of seats and a lot of standing room, and it’s loud in there. The Brave Cave is only a small venue, and we really pack it out. We’re reaching new ticket holders and bringing back old ticket holders. There’s a bit of excitement around games as it’s more of an event, with intermission entertainment for the kids and Leroy and Phat Boy Burgers and Bright Brewing running the bar now. It’s an awesome opportunity for fans to experience more fun.”

Miettinen took note of the crowd on Saturday night and shared, “The crowd and the atmosphere on Saturday was unbelievable. I think we were just shy of a thousand people in our rink. It creates a pretty awesome atmosphere and it wasn’t just our fans but a bunch of Newcastle fans there too.”

“It was a big deal for us to get the win against Newcastle, especially considering you never know how finals will work out and who will finish where, but if we do play Newcastle again in the finals it was important to get the win and make sure they know we’re not going to be a walkover come finals time.”

Canberra backed up their win on Sunday night travelling to Sydney to face the Ice Dogs, “We take it game by game and day by day,” started Kubara, “I think the win on Saturday was nice but once midnight hits on Saturday you forget about that and you focus on the task at hand on Sunday. We’re just really clicking. We have a deep team, and we’re getting contributions from everyone in the line-up. We’re playing with some confidence now, a bit of flair in our step. Probably what people would think is the old Brave hockey, we’re dominating and taking pride in what we do.”

“We are starting to string good games together consistently now,” Miettenen shared as he reflected on the win in Sydney and the six points, “That has been a big confidence boost, and the confidence is starting to show.

“The dogs were not an easy beat either. They’re a solid team, and they have a lot of skilled players, so we had to play well to beat them,” Casey concluded.

Northstars were down, but not out

Daniel Berno, Ethan Hawes and a highlight reel goal for Alexander Yuill got the Northstars on the board on Saturday night but it wasn’t enough to bring home the points.

Newcastle Northstars Head coach Kevin Noble shared, “I think we’re just a little hurt depth-wise right now. In saying that, our best guys had some big goals, but then we also had some key breakdowns in terms of some of our critical areas that gifted them goals.”

“It was always going to be difficult going down there, but I think it was a good experience for a lot of guys,” stated Noble.

“It’s not an easy place to play,” shared Assistant Captain Francis Drolet, reflecting on Saturday night’s game, “I think we showed up with a lot of spirit, played well and were in the game, but a couple of breakdowns meant they scored, and it reflects on the mistakes we made.”

Associate coach Dave Ferrari shared, “We did a lot of good things, and we lost the game, but again, our powerplay did its job one for three. We just didn’t quite capitalise, and they did, so we just take the positives.”

Newcastle will travel to Adelaide next weekend for a doubleheader on the 6th and 7th of July, while the Brave will travel to Boondall to face the Lightning.

These intra-conference matchups for all four teams could see the Brave and Northstars continue to secure their position in the Rurak conference or some changes in the standings.