Sydney Bears

The Sydney Bears (formerly Macquarie Bears) is an Australian semi-professional ice hockey team from Sydney, New South Wales. Established in 1982, the Bears are the only remaining founding member of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) still operating. The Bears are based at Macquarie Ice Rink, within the Macquarie Centre, in the northern suburbs of Sydney. The Sydney Bears are three time Goodall Cup champions and four time H Newman Reid Trophy premiers.

Sydney Bears
City	Macquarie Park, New South Wales
League	Australian Ice Hockey League
Conference	Hellyer
Founded	1 July 1982 (43 years ago) (1982-07-01)
Home arena	Macquarie Ice Rink
Colours	Red, black, white
General manager	Nathan Graham
Head coach	Vladimir Rubes
Captain	Ryan Annesley
Affiliates	Sydney Bears IHC (IHNSW) Penrith Raptors (ECSL) Sydney Sting (ECSL) Sydney Bombers (ECSL) Reach Rebels (ECSL)
Website	bearsden.com.au
Franchise history
1982–1997	Macquarie Bears
1997–2007	Sydney Bears
2007–2009	AIHL Bears
2010–present	Sydney Bears
Championships
Conference titles	2 (2023, 2024)
H Newman Reid Trophies	4 (2000, 2002, 2008, 2024)
Goodall Cups	3 (2002, 2007, 2019)
Current season

History

Prior to AIHL

The Sydney Bears was founded on 1 July 1982 as the Macquarie Bears Ice Hockey Club Incorporated. The team was formed concurrently to the non-incorporated local ice hockey club sharing the same name.^[1] The Bears were based out of the Macquarie Ice Rink. The club competed in the NSW Super League (NSWSL) and then the East Coast Super League (ECSL).^[2] In 1989 the Bears claimed the NSWSL championship with star defenceman Glen Foll claiming top points scorer for the season.^[3] In 1997 the club decided to change its name to the Sydney Bears Ice Hockey Club in preparation for a new national competition.^[4] In September 1999, the Bears won the East Coast Super League after defeating the Canberra Knights in a two match grand final series held at Phillip Ice Skating Centre, Canberra. In game one, on 18 September, the Bears fought their way to a close a 6–5 victory over the hosts. In game two, on 19 September, Sydney's goalkeeper Alan Becken claimed a shutout as the Bears won 5–0.^[5]

AIHL era

2000–10

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

In 2000, the Australian Ice Hockey league (AIHL) was established.^[6] The league adopted a franchise arrangement for competing teams so the Sydney Bears set up their incorporation as The Bears AIHL Inc. and were granted an AIHL licence.^[7]

The Sydney Bears claimed the inaugural AIHL season premiership by finishing top of the round-robin season involving the Bears, Adelaide Avalanche and Canberra Knights. The Bears were defeated by the Avalanche, 6–5 in a shootout in the single match championship final.^[8]

The Sydney Bears backed up this performance and made the championship final in 2001. They were again defeated by the Adelaide Avalanche, 10–7.^[9] The Bears did find success in the Goodall Cup tournament in 2001. Held in Newcastle, it was the last Goodall Cup tournament held independently to the AIHL.^[7]

In 2002, the Bears had a breakout AIHL season. The team left Macquarie and moved to the new Sydney Ice Arena in Baulkham Hills. The league doubled in size to six teams and the Bears finished the season first in the table to claim their second premiership. They faced a familiar foe, Adelaide Avalanche, in the first Goodall Cup Final for the AIHL.^[6] In Blacktown Ice Arena, the Bears defeated Adelaide 5–4 in a shootout to clinch the Goodall Cup and claim their first AIHL Championship.^[10]

In 2003, the AIHL adopted a new finals format that involved the top four teams from the regular season.^[6] The Sydney Bears were involved in and won the one and only third place play-off in an AIHL finals weekend. The Bears continued their rivalry with Adelaide and defeated them 10–5 in the match to claim third. From 2004 the AIHL tweaked the finals format to remove this match.^[11]

The Bears next found success in 2007 and 2008. In 2007, the Sydney Bears changed their name to the AIHL Bears (or simply the Bears) as the team left Sydney for Penrith.^[12] The team played out of the Penrith Ice Palace. The Bears won their second championship and Goodall Cup by defeating the Newcastle North Stars 3–2 in overtime in the final.^[13] The Bears also won the inaugural Wilson Cup in 2007.^[14] In 2008, the Bears claimed the H Newman Reid Trophy for the first time by finishing top of the league table ahead of the Western Sydney Ice Dogs.^[15] The Bears also claimed back-to-back Wilson Cups after defeating the Ice Dogs in the pre-season tournament's final 6–4.^[14]

2010–20

To start the new decade, in 2010, the team rebranded and changed their name back to the Sydney Bears.^[12] The team switched between Penrith and Sydney Ice Arena over the course of seven seasons.^[16][17] In 2017, Macquarie Ice Rink, at a cost of $3 million, had been upgraded to AIHL standards providing the Bears the opportunity to return to their spiritual home.^[1] The Bears, along with the Ice Dogs, moved into the newly renovated arena located within the Macquarie Centre.^[18] The upgrade of Macquarie Ice Rink also brought back the Sydney Bears (IHNSW) club to Macquarie. Since the move in 2017, the AIHL team and the IHNSW club have increased cooperation and support between the two clubs. Ex AIHL Bear's players have been taking up coaching roles within the IHNSW club while the IHNSW Bears provides the AIHL team a pathway for local players.^[19] In 2018, prior to the season starting, the Bears unveiled a new team logo to signify their return home to Macquarie.^[20]

On the ice, the Bears struggled to find form. The team spent seven consecutive seasons failing to reach the AIHL finals weekend between 2011 and 2017. In 2018 the team's fortunes began to improve. The Bears finished second in the league and made their first appearance in the Goodall Cup final in eleven years.^[21] They were defeated 4–3 in overtime by the CBR Brave but their display and spirit was praised.^[22] In 2019, the Sydney Bears surprised many and went one better and clinched their third Goodall Cup. It was their second Cup success after finishing the regular season in fourth place. The Bears defeated the Perth Thunder, 5–2 in the final.^[23]

Season-by-season results

Sydney Bears all-time record
Season	Regular season											Finals									Wilson Cup	Top points scorer
	P	W	T	L	OW	OL	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Finish	P	W	L	GF	GA	Result	Preliminary Final	Semi Final	Goodall Cup Final		Name	Points
2000	Information not available										1st	1	0	1	5	6	Runner-up	–	–	Lost 5–6 (SO) (Avalanche)	–	Information not available
2001	16	7	1	8	–	–	70	74	−4	15	2nd	1	1	–	10	7	Runner-up	–	–	Lost 7–10 (Avalanche)	–	Information not available
2002	20	16	1	3	–	–	126	69	+57	33	1st	1	1	–	1	0	Champion	–	–	Won 5–4 (SO) (Avalanche)	–	Murray Wand	27
2003[a]	20	12	–	8	–	–	84	72	+12	26	3rd	2	1	1	14	12	Third[b]	–	Lost 4–7 (North Stars)	–	–	Vladimir Rubes	14
2004	20	8	1	6	1	4	68	71	−3	31	3rd	1	–	1	4	5	Semi-finalist	–	Lost 4–5 (Ice Dogs)	–	–	Trent Ulmer	24
2005	26	11	–	12	2	1	96	100	−4	38	4th	1	–	1	3	6	Semi-finalist	–	Lost 3–6 (Avalanche)	–	–	Andy Luhovy	33
2006	28	15	–	11	1	1	133	101	+32	48	5th	–									–	Vladan Stransky	57
2007	28	14	–	8	4	2	112	84	+28	49[c]	4th	2	2	–	7	3	Champion	–	Won 4–1 (Avalanche)	Won 3–2 (OT) (North Stars)	Winner	Tomas Landa	62
2008	28	20	–	7	–	1	134	118	+16	61	1st	1	–	1	5	7	Semi-finalist	–	Lost 5–7 (North Stars)	–	Winner	Vladan Stransky	63
2009	24	1	–	20	3	–	66	140	−74	9	7th	–									Group	Vladimir Rubes	36
2010	24	12	–	8	1	3	82	90	−8	41	3rd	1	–	1	1	2	Semi-finalist	–	Lost 1–2 (Ice)	–	–	Vladimir Rubes	34
2011	28	2	–	21	2	3	83	151	−68	13	8th	–									–	Michael Schlamp	45
2012	24	9	–	12	2	1	92	93	−1	32	6th	–									–	Tomas Landa	58
2013	28	7	–	20	–	1	73	120	−47	22	7th	–									–	Tomas Landa	33
2014	28	6	1[d]	19	1	1	88	125	−57	22	8th	–									Group	Hamilton Steen	31
2015	28	11	–	14	1	2	110	110	+0	37	7th	–									Runner-up	Joe Harcharik	52
2016	28	5	–	15	5	3	77	95	−18	28	6th	–									Winner	Tomas Landa	33
2017	28	6	–	14	3	3	101	121	−20	33	6th	–									Winner	Jackson Brewer	45
2018	28	15	–	7	3	3	104	72	+32	54	2nd	2	1	1	6	4	Runner-up	–	Won 3–0 (Thunder)	Lost 3–4 (OT) (Brave)	Runner-up	Charlie Adams	54
2019	28	15	–	11	2	–	121	102	+19	49	4th	2	2	0	11	6	Champion	–	Won 6–4 (Brave)	Won 5–2) (Thunder)	Winner	Danick Gauthier	53
2020	2020 and 2021 AIHL seasons were cancelled and not contested
2021
2022	20	10	–	8	2	–	105	93	+12	34	3rd	2	1	1	10	7	Prelim-finalist	Won 7–3 (Mustangs)	Lost 3–4 (OT) (Northstars)[e]	–	Winner	Tomas Landa	38
2023	26	21	–	5	–	–	132	81	+51	60[f]	2nd	1	0	1	0	4	Semi-finalist	–	Lost 0–4 (Mustangs)	–	Winner	Ace Cowans	33
2024	30	23	–	5	1	1	166	103	+63	72	1st	1	0	1	2	5	Semi-finalist	–	Lost 2–5 (Brave)	–	Winner	Adam Kadlec	70
2025	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Totals	558	246	4	242	34	30	2223	2185	+38			19	9	10	79	74

Notes:

1. 2003 AIHL season statistics are unofficial. The AIHL has not published official statistics on www.theaihl.com. Data has been collected from web archives of the Newcastle Northstars and Ice Hockey Australia game reports.
2. 2003 was the one and only season where a third place play-off was contested as part of the finals format for the AIHL. The Sydney Bears defeated the Adelaide Avalanche 10–5 in the third place play-off to clinch third.
3. The Bears were penalised 3 competition points for icing players that had not been officially cleared to play by the IIHF and IHA.
4. As of the 2006 AIHL season, all games have a winner, which eliminated the tie from the league. In 2014 due to the cancellation of a game against Adelaide Adrenaline, the AIHL declared the result a tie.
5. In 2022, the preliminary Final was the second game of the Finals format rather than the first, as it was in following seasons. The Bears qualified for the preliminary-final after winning the minor semi-final and played the loser of the major semi-final for a spot in the grand final.
6. The Bears were penalised 3 competition points on 26 July 2023 for breaching import player rules under the AIHL's player points policy. The Bears accidentally had more than the allowed import players on their active roster at a single time.

Notes References: ^{[24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29]}

Champions	Runners-up	Third place

Championships

• Goodall Cup

Champions (3): 2002, 2007, 2019

Runners-Up (3): 2000, 2001, 2018

• H Newman Reid Trophy (2008–Current)

Premiers (2): 2008, 2024

Runners-Up (2): 2018, 2023

• Hellyer Conference

Winners (2): 2023, 2024

• Wilson Cup

Winners (8): 2007, 2008, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024

Runners-Up (2): 2015, 2018

• V.I.P. Cup (2004–07)¹

Premiers (2): 2000, 2002

Runners-Up (1): 2001

• East Coast Super League

Champions (1): 1999

• NSW Super League

Champions (1): 1989

¹ This list includes Premierships prior to the first trophy for Premiers in 2004.

Players

Current roster

Team roster for the 2024 AIHL season.^[30][31]

Sydney Bears roster - 2024 AIHL season v t e
Active Roster				Inactive Roster		Coaching staff
Goaltenders 33 Dane Brumm (I) 31 James Downie 28 Anthony Kimlin 55 Gabriel Robledo Defencemen 16 Ryan Annesley (C) 97 Tyerell Clare 95 Richard Crowe (I)  2 Brian Funes (A) 13 Joey Gunner 18 Kenshin Hayashi 52 Kenta Matsukane (I) 44 Nathan Moncrieff 25 Geoff O'Hara 88 Tyrone Oxlade 41 Mac Tutton		Forwards 91 Jeremy Brücker 96 Scott Clemie 43 Chris Eaden 84 Adrian Esposito 23 Jeremy Granger 54 Lucas Herrmann (I)  6 Eugene Ju 80 Adam Kadlec (I)  7 Chris Kushneriuk (I) 24 Tomas Landa 21 Brody Lindal 37 Carson Miller (I) 19 Noah Moncrieff  8 Thomas Moncrieff 77 Tim Newmark 10 Taegan Rippon 11 Michael Schlamp (A) 93 Colby Shumak		-- Greg Davis (G) (EBUG) -- Samuel Poole (G) (EBUG) -- Max Portnov (F) (DNP) -- Jake Riley (F) (DL) -- Shawn Rooke (F) (I) (DL) -- Samuli Vainionpää (F) (I) (DL)		Head Coach Vladimir Rubes (Jul-Aug) Tyler Huberty (Apr-Jun) Coaches Ryan Annesley (AC) Gabriel Robledo (AC) Logan Russell (AC) Rhye Kolodynski (TM) Lee Moncrieff (EM) Legend (C) Captain (A) Alternate Captain (I) Import player Statistics Average age: 28.9 Average height: 181.8 cm Average weight: 85.2 kg Locals: 26 Imports: 7
Last updated on: 25 June 2022
Elite Prospects

Player records

These are the top-ten all-time player records in franchise history for the following categories: Appearances,^[32] Goals,^[33] Assists,^[34] Points,^[35] Penalty minutes^[36]
(Figures are updated after each completed AIHL regular season)

As of 2024 AIHL Season

All-time Appearances # Name Pos GP 1 Adrian Esposito F 327 2 Vladimir Rubes F 299 3 Michael Schlamp D 291 4 Brett Nelson-Bond F 270 5 Tomas Landa F 194 6 Tyerell Clare D 194 7 Paul Shumak F 187 8 Murray Wand D 180 9 Brian Funes D 178 10 Steven Adams D 151

All-time Goals # Name Pos G 1 Vladimir Rubes F 176 2 Tomas Landa F 142 3 Michael Schlamp D 128 4 Vladan Stransky F 101 5 Murray Wand D 77 6 Brett Nelson-Bond F 54 7 Roberto Franchini F 43 8 Thomas Steven F 37 9 Cameron Todd F 36 10 Paul Shumak F 34

All-time Assists # Name Pos A 1 Vladimir Rubes F 270 2 Tomas Landa F 212 3 Michael Schlamp D 196 4 Vladan Stransky F 154 5 Ryan Annesley F 122 6 Murray Wand D 84 7 Brett Nelson-Bond F 63 8 Tyerell Clare D 60 9 Jeremy Brücker F 55 10 Roberto Franchini F 53

All-time Points # Name Pos Pts 1 Vladimir Rubes F 446 2 Tomas Landa F 354 3 Michael Schlamp D 324 4 Vladan Stransky F 255 5 Murray Wand D 161 6 Ryan Annesley D 153 7 Brett Nelson-Bond F 117 8 Roberto Franchini F 96 9 Jeremy Brücker F 83 10 Cameron Todd F 82

All-time Penalties # Name Pos PIM 1 Spencer Austin D 578 2 Michael Schlamp D 527 3 Brett Nelson-Bond F 469 4 Tyerell Clare D 418 5 Vladimir Rubes F 351 6 Vladan Stransky F 304 7 Brian Funes D 273 8 Murray Wand D 263 9 Paul Shumak F 235 10 Jeremy Brücker F 232

Legend:

Current Bears player

Staff

Current as of 2024 AIHL season.^{[37][31][38][39]}

Bears staff

Role	Name
Head coach	Vladimir Rubes (Jul-Aug)
Head coach	Tyler Huberty (Apr-Jun)
Assistant coach	Ryan Annesley
Assistant coach	Gabriel Robledo
Assistant coach	Logan Russell
Analytics coach	Shawn Rooke
Team manager	Rhye Kolodynski
Equipment manager	Lee Moncrieff
Medic	Kasey Arkinstall
Trainer	Hayley Rawson
Governor	Nathan Graham
President	Andrew Bourne
Secretary	Marlon Dionisio
Treasurer	Scott Graham

Team facilities

Macquarie Ice Rink, The Bears spiritual home and current home barn since 2017

The Sydney Bears' current home venue is the Macquarie Ice Rink, located within the Macquarie Shopping Centre in Macquarie, Sydney. The Macquarie facility consists of an Olympic sized rink (60m x 30m) with seating for approximately 2,000 people.^[40]

Macquarie is the spiritual home of the Bears, as the team called Macquarie home from foundation in 1982 till 2002. In 2002 the team moved to the recently constructed Sydney Ice Arena in Baulkham Hills, Sydney. After five years the team moved out of Sydney and into the Penrith Ice Palace, Penrith, New South Wales, out west of the city.^[41] In 2012 the Bears returned to Sydney and to the Sydney Ice Arena. In late 2013 / early 2014 it was announced that the ownership of the Sydney Ice Arena, Hillsong, had lodged a development application with the NSW Government to re-develop the site into a residential complex, removing the twelve year old ice rink.^[42][43] The Bears moved back to Penrith for the 2015 and 2016 AIHL seasons.^[44] In 2017 it was announced that the Bears would return home to Macquarie to play out of the newly upgraded Macquarie Ice Rink, which now met AIHL standards.^[45][46]

Stadium history
Rink	Location	Term
Macquarie Ice Rink	Macquarie	1982–01
Sydney Ice Arena	Baulkham Hills	2002–06
Penrith Ice Palace	Penrith	2007–11
Sydney Ice Arena	Baulkham Hills	2012–14
Penrith Ice Palace	Penrith	2015–16
Macquarie Ice Rink	Macquarie	2017–Present

Leaders

Team captains

The Bears have had seven captains in the team's known history.^[47]

No.	Name	Term
1	Tyler Lovering	2001
2	Don Burke	2002
3	Tyler Lovering	2003–04
4	Murray Wand	2005–08
5	Vladimir Rubes	2009–10
6	Michael Schlamp	2010–19
7	Brian Funes	2022
8	Ryan Annesley	2023–Present

References:^{[48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55]}

Further information on team captains in ice hockey: Captain (ice hockey)

Head coaches

The Bears have had four head coaches in the team's known history, with Vladimir Rubes taking the position in three stints.^[56]

No.	Name	Term
1	Vladimir Rubes	2001–05
2	Kelly Lovering	2006
3	Vladimir Rubes	2007–15
4	Ron Kuprowsky	2016–23
5	Tyler Huberty	2024
6	Vladimir Rubes	2024–Present

References:^{[57][58][59][60][61][62]}

Further information on head coaches in ice hockey: Coach (ice hockey)

General managers

The Bears have had three general managers in the team's known history.^[56]

No.	Name	Term
1	Wayne Hellyer	2000–19
2	Matthew Burrell	2020–21
3	Nathan Graham	2022–Present

References: ^[63][64][65]

Further information on general managers in ice hockey: General manager (ice hockey)

Broadcasting

Current:

• AIHL.TV (2023–present) – Worldwide paid subscription-based online video broadcasting published by the AIHL in partnership with the Swedish company StayLive AB platform using local production companies at each team’s rink.^[66] In Sydney, Thought Fox Media Group is the local production company. The service went live in April 2023 in partnership with Clutch.TV, and would cover every AIHL regular season and finals games live and on demand.^[67] In 2024, the service expanded to offer Apple iOS and Andriod Play apps.^[68]
• Sportradar (2022 - present) – International online video broadcasting in North America and Europe as part of a league-wide 3-year deal signed in March 2022 in the lead up to the 2022 AIHL season.^[69]

Former:

• Kayo Sports (2022) – Domestic online video broadcasting in Australia as part of the league wide deal struck in the lead up to the 2022 AIHL season to show every AIHL game live.^[70]
• Fox Sports (2013 – 2019) – Part of the entire AIHL domestic TV broadcasting deal with Fox Sports to show one game a round, normally on Thursday's at 4:30 pm or after NHL games during NHL season.^[71]
• Self-broadcast (2015 – 2019) – Between 2015 and 2019 the Sydney Bears self-broadcast all home matches with an online audio stream utilising the Mixlr platform. Eric Brook and Nicholas Kutnjak called the play by play with various co commentators joining the team during the season.^[72]