Further strengthening their grip on first place, the Bears added another “W” over the Tigers in the final match-up of the night. The win gives the Bears a solid lead over their second place rivals and puts them within reach of the regular season champions’ title in their next match-up or two.

Scoring opened barely a minute into the first as Tiger’s centerman, Kevin Yu, jumped all over a turnover in the neutral zone to blow by the Bears defense and get his dangle on past Bears tender, Thomas Schnitzer for the first goal of the game and a 1-0 lead. Opportunity looked ripe for the Bears when Tiger, Tommy Sullivan, took a penalty at the 4:33 mark, but all to no avail, as the Tigers’ special teams proved up to the kill. It would take the better part of the next ten minutes for the Bears to muster the steam to capitalize on the one-two punch of Steve Clark and Dave Campbell, as Clark banged home the goal after an onslaught of Bears offense. The onslaught continued and was again rewarded when Justin Menzies hard work out front paid of and netted the rebound after a scramble in front of the Tigers net (assists: Mike Thorburn, Steve Clark).

2-1 and into the second, the Tigers evened it up just six seconds in. Jeff “TC” Millard capitalized on a pass from Dan Definney to keep the Tigers in the hunt. Hopes looked high until captain, Clay Laughren, was called for boarding, and Menzies netted his second of the night for the Bears (assist: Steve Clark). Tempers flared as housemates Dave Campbell and Tommy Sullivan aired some dirty laundry, and looked about ready to go, until both were called for coincidental high sticking minors and realized, hey, there’s a possible battle for first place going on here. Campbell made good on this getting a well-earn goal at the 11:20 mark, fighting off both Tigers’ defenseman to put Justin Menzies’ rebound past Tigers’ tender, John Osmar.

Up by two and going into the third, the Tigers had a close call when netminder, Osmar, took a two-hander on the wrist going after a puck lodged in the twine on the side of the net. Osmar, who is sure to be sporting some black ‘n blue on the upper regions of his glove hand this week, was in obvious pain, but soldiered on. This put the Tigers at a man advantage in which they turned up the heat more than once, but failed to find the net. They did, however, bring the game within one, when Dan Wei potted his first of the season off of passes from Sullivan and Laughren. The Tigers looked poised to pounce until David Chapman took a minor for contact deep in Bears territory. While not fatal, the power play gave the Bears a chance to breathe and regroup heading into the dying minutes. The Tigers made a last ditch effort, pulling their goalie and adding an extra skater in the dying minutes, but as the buzzer sounded, the Bears found themselves on top for another, albeit hard-fought, victory.

Three Stars: