Melbourne Mastodons defeated CBR Brave 5:4 in the Australian Ice Hockey League on Saturday 23 August. The result keeps the hosts second in the standings while the visitors remain third, with both sides having played 30 games and both sitting on zero points.
Melbourne came into the fixture with momentum, having won their last three games 7:1 against Adelaide, 6:0 and 4:3 against Perth. CBR Brave were riding a four-game winning streak before their 3:4 loss to Melbourne Ice on Friday, but had been scoring freely in that run with 9:4 and 6:3 results.
The visitors had been impressive earlier in their recent form, netting five goals twice against Melbourne Ice in back-to-back games on 9 and 8 August. They also put six past Newcastle on 15 August and scored nine in their 9:4 win over Brisbane Lightning on 16 August.
Melbourne's recent form showed no signs of slowing before this match. Their 12:2 victory over Sydney Ice Dogs HC in September 2022 remains their most lopsided result in the dataset, while the 3:7 loss to Sydney Bears a week later offered little comfort.
The final score leaves Melbourne two points clear of CBR Brave in the table. Both teams have yet to register any points, which suggests the AIHL season structure may not yet be applying standard point allocations, or the data reflects a different scoring system.