54 Facts About CBR Brave

CBR Brave is a semi-professional ice hockey team based in Canberra, ACT.

The CBR Brave have claimed two Goodall Cup championships and three H Newman Reid Trophy premierships.

CBR Brave was founded in March 2014 to replace the Canberra Knights in the Australian Ice Hockey League.

On 6 March 2014, CBR Brave is born under the guidance of new owners Allinsure director Peter Chamberlain and advertising firm Coordinate's owner-director Jamie Wilson after the pair got in contact with Mark Rummukainen, head of the player consortium.

On 31 March 2014, CBR Brave announced their first ever import signing with the acquisition of twenty-two-year-old Finnish goaltender Petri Pitkanen from Finnish third division champions KeuPa HT.

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On 12 April 2014, The CBR Brave took to the ice in their maiden AIHL match at home in front of around 1000 fans against the Newcastle North Stars.

On 10 August 2014, The CBR Brave secured a top four finish in the AIHL regular season by coming third in the overall rankings, granting them a place in the 2014 AIHL Goodall Cup Finals Series held at Medibank Icehouse in Docklands, Victoria.

On 23 August 2014, The CBR Brave hosted their 2014 season presentation night at the Woden Tradies Club where Finnish goaltender Petri Pitkanen took out the inaugural MVP award, the top prize for the season.

On 30 January 2015, CBR Brave announce the appointment of Brad Hunt as the new head coach for the 2015 AIHL season.

The Junior CBR Brave are the first Canberra-based team to compete in the NSW Midget League since 2011 when Canberra Phoenix left the league.

On 16 August 2015, The CBR Brave officially secured fourth place in the AIHL regular season to give the team a birth in the 2015 AIHL Finals and a second shot at the Goodall Cup in as many seasons.

On 23 August 2015, the CBR Brave hosted their annual 'CBR Brave Ball' gala evening at the Woden Tradies Club at which the 2015 season team awards were handed out.

On 29 August 2015, in front of 1,200 passionate fans, the CBR Brave took on the league premiers, Newcastle North Stars, in game one of the 2015 AIHL Finals.

On 12 April 2016, CBR Brave management released the full 2016 AIHL CBR Brave team roster with six imports confirmed.

On 18 April 2016, Just days out from the first round of the 2016 AIHL season, the CBR Brave announced a new partnership with Canberra's national baseball team, Canberra Cavalry.

On 25 April 2016, The CBR Brave started the 2016 season on a winning note with a big round one victory over the Sydney Ice Dogs.

On 17 August 2016, In a shock announcement just a week out from the AIHL Finals weekend The CBR Brave management released a media statement detailing the bombshell sudden departure of Josh Unice from the head coaching position at the club on the grounds of 'personal reasons'.

On 27 August 2016, CBR Brave won their first AIHL Finals weekend semi-final at the third attempt.

On 28 August 2016, CBR Brave contested their first Goodall Cup Final in the club's three-year history.

The CBR Brave went up against rivals Newcastle North Stars in the final who had knocked out Perth Thunder in the other semi-final in overtime.

On 12 September 2016, CBR Brave players took out a hat-trick of AIHL player awards for the 2016 season.

On 11 November 2016, The CBR Brave were announced as a finalist in the inaugural 2016 CBR Sport Awards under the category of Minister for Sport and Recreation's Award for Innovation alongside Tennis ACT, Ginninderra Athletics Club and Touch Football ACT.

CBR Brave finished third in the 2017 AIHL regular season behind Melbourne Ice and Perth Thunder, qualifying for the Goodall Cup finals series.

On 3 September 2017, CBR Brave all-time leading point scorer, Stephen Blunden, announced his departure from the team at the end of the 2017 season to return to Canada.

The CBR Brave secured top spot in the league with five games remaining in the regular season and ended the season with twenty four wins from twenty eight matches for a return of seventy two points.

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The CBR Brave ended the regular season eighteen points ahead of the Sydney Bears in second place to clinch the franchise's first title, the H Newman Reid Trophy.

The CBR Brave levelled the match in the third period before scoring the golden goal winner in overtime.

The CBR Brave became the first Canberra based ice hockey franchise to lift the Goodall Cup and the second Canberra based team overall, following the ACT representative team's victory in 1998.

Foundation player, Jordie Gavin who was instrumental in building the CBR Brave following the collapse of the Canberra Knights, retired after the 2018 AIHL final, his first Goodall Cup success.

The CBR Brave won the H Newman Reid Trophy for the second season in a row by finishing as league premiers, 25 points ahead of second placed Newcastle Northstars.

On 24 February 2020, the CBR Brave announced head coach Rob Starke would not be returning for the 2020 AIHL season, Starke had left Canberra and moved back to Canada.

Rob left the CBR Brave having guided the team to 2 Premierships and 1 Championship titles at a win rate of 78.

On 27 February 2020, the CBR Brave announced Stuart Philps as the team's new head coach and Rob's replacement.

Philps was a former assistant coach with the CBR Brave, had strong connections to the Knights and was the current Australian women's national team head coach at the time.

Name and branding for the new club, CBR Brave, was carefully crafted by advertising agency Coordinate on the appointment by the members of the consortium in an effort to break away from the Knights history and to start afresh.

CBR Brave gave the team a unique identity in a crowded Canberra sports market that already has a host of teams that use "Canberra" at the beginning to form part of their names.

CBR Brave embraced the Australian Capital Territory flag colours of yellow, navy blue and white.

In 2017, the CBR Brave switched from its traditional white away kits to a light grey with navy blue accents.

CBR Brave logo is designed as a custom hand drawn typeface that can be utilised in its entirety as "CBR Brave" or simply as a "B" for a standalone icon.

CBR Brave has two unofficial supporters groups, CBR Brave Hecklers and The Bravehearts.

The CBR Brave were leading the Die by the Blade poll but were withdrawn when selected by Second City Hockey.

The CBR Brave were devastated at missing out on the chance to contest the Goodall Cup final for the second year straight and just before the start of the 2016 AIHL season the club announced the signing of the very player that knocked them out the year before, naming Geordie Wudrick as one of the CBR Brave's six import signings for 2016.

The return match in Canberra on 28 May 2016 saw the club hand out placards to the fans welcoming the North Stars to the middle of nowhere while CBR Brave DJ organised a special one-off walk out song for the Northstars to the tune of 'In the Middle of Nowhere' by Dusty Springfield.

On 26 May 2016, The CBR Brave, after suffering a large number of injuries to the playing roster, announced the signing of a second former Newcastle Northstar's import, Jan Safar.

CBR Brave developed a friendly rivalry with the Adelaide Adrenaline in the 2015 AIHL season with two fiery matches played with plenty of penalties and player ejections.

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On 23 August 2015, The CBR Brave established their very own and new charitable foundation named 'The Brave Foundation'.

The CBR Brave Foundation spends the money raised on tangible achievements as opposed to handing money over to a charity and not knowing where it ends up.

In July 2022, it was announced the ownership of the CBR Brave had been transferred from Sunny Singh to Steve Moeller in May 2022, with Moeller taking over as General Manager of the franchise.

CBR Brave set then league records for most points and most wins in a regular AIHL season.

The CBR Brave won the H Newman Reid Trophy for the second season in a row by finishing as league premiers, 25 points ahead of second placed Newcastle Northstars.

CBR Brave have had a total of four captains in five terms in the team's history.

CBR Brave have had a total of six head coaches, with five permanent appointments and two interim, in the team's history.

Each season CBR Brave holds an annual awards night where the team awards a number of players and members of the Brave hockey community.

The CBR Brave first made the finalists list for the innovation award in 2017 before winning their first award in 2018 by being named the team of the year.