What did the Canberra Brave enjoy most about beating their arch-rivals? They get to do it all again this weekend. An undermanned Brave outfit trumped the Newcastle Northstars to claim a 4-2 win in the Australian Ice Hockey League at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium on Saturday night. It sets up a mouth-watering return bout between the two sides at the Phillip Swimming and Ice Skating Centre this Saturday. Newcastle drew first blood through Pat Nadin in the first period before new Brave recruit Joey Hughes scored his second goal in as many games for Canberra to level the scores. A Hughes assist saw Russian import Ainars Podzins put the Brave in front before the hosts clawed their way back through Liam Manwarring. But the Northstars fans had little to get excited about after that when Chris McPahil broke the stalemate and Podzins netted his second to ram home the advantage inside the final three minutes. The Brave return home buoyed by their second straight win to open their campaign but they will be forced to contend with a hurting Newcastle outfit at the Brave Cave before facing the Sydney Bears at the Macquarie Ice Rink on Sunday. Canberra will welcome back a trio of stars in Per Daniel Goransson, Wehebe Darge and Kai Miettinen for their first double-header of the season, but the star trio still have unfinished business to tend to in the Netherlands. The trio helped Australia to the gold medal game of the International Ice Hockey Federation world championship division II against the unbeaten Netherlands. A win in the clash scheduled for 12.30am on Monday [AEST] would see Australia earn promotion to IIHF division 1B.

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