The Canberra Brave's impressive imports are as determined as their home-grown teammates to complete a rags to riches tale in perfect fashion – by raising the Goodall Cup.
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Six months of planning, persistence and puck-wielding drama will come to a climax when the Brave contests the Australian Ice Hockey League finals series at the Melbourne Ice House.
The Brave takes on the Melbourne Ice in the second semi-final at 6.30pm on Saturday, with the winner to face either the Sydney Ice Dogs or the Melbourne Mustangs on Sunday for the championship.
Simply being competitive was the Brave's modest goal when it rushed to get a team on the ice after the demise of the Canberra Knights.
But those expectations changed a third of the way through the season when the Brave was racking up wins and playing in front of packed houses at the Phillip Swimming and Ice Skating Centre.
The Brave's imports have complemented the existing players nicely, adding a different dynamic and blending in with the group of tradies, public servants and uni students.
Among the recruits are Canadian attacker Mathieu Ouellette and Finnish stopper Petri Pitkanen.
Ouellette has been shortlisted in the final three as the AIHL's most valuable player, while Pitkanen is in the running for goalkeeper of the year.
"The MVP nomination is great and all, but the championship is a lot better because you don't get nominated for those things by yourself," Ouellette said.
"It can be hard, when you have guys like Mark [Rummukainen] and Aaron [Clayworth], they have full-time jobs and work from say 8am to 5pm, then come to the rink to practice.
"As imports, this is pretty much our job, so when we come to the rink we're all one and that's been the difference this year."
That hasn't always been the case for Canberra teams.
Rummukainen should know. He was with the Knights from 1998 until the team withdrew from the AIHL on February 26 this year.
"Lots of people say imports win you games, but we've had imports in the past who are great players, highly skilled, but they're arseholes," Rummukainen said.
"These guys have come out, they've seen what we've been building and they've bought into the system and there's no massive egos in the room.
"To have that gelling in the team and that solidarity has pushed us."
Pitkanen won't have long to revel in the celebrations if the Brave wins the title.
The 22-year-old will be on a flight on Tuesday bound for Finland to resume training with his club side later in the week.
"These are the games we've been waiting for the whole season," Pitkanen said.
"Last season [the Knights] only won two games, but when I came here and saw us play, I was really confident we would be in the top four.
"Of course I want to win it for the local guys who have been here for 15 years, it means more for them than for myself."
AUSTRALIAN ICE HOCKEY LEAGUE: Semi-finals on Saturday at the Melbourne Ice House: Sydney Ice Dogs v Melbourne Mustangs, 3pm. Canberra Brave v Melbourne Ice, 6.30pm. Final on Sunday: Winner of SF1 v Winner of SF2, 3pm. All three games will be shown live at: http://new.livestream.com/atcproductions
