The minor premiership hopes of the Newcastle Northstars suffered a double blow in Canberra over the weekend, going down to the Brave in back-to-back encounters.
Newcastle, who had only lost one game in 2022 prior to this round, were beaten 9-3 by the hosts on Saturday and 8-2 on Sunday.
Results at the Phillip Swimming and Ice Skating Centre mean the second-placed Northstars (36 points) are now seven behind competition leaders Canberra (43).
Newcastle have two games in hand, compared to the Brave, nearing the end of the Australian Ice Hockey League campaign.
In Sunday's match, Mackenzie Gallagher scored a goal for the Northstars early in the second period to reduce the margin to one but Canberra then netted four straight to make it 6-1 by the final term.
Northstars goalkeeper James Downie was substituted with the score at 5-1.
Pat Nadin produced his second goal of the weekend in the third period.
Francis Drolet and Daniel Berno were the others to make Newcastle's list on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Northstars representative Ethan Hawes has been named captain of the men's Australian under-20 squad. Connor Schultz is also part of the leadership group. They are currently contesting division three of the under-20 world championships in Mexico.
Also, the under-15 national titles, known as the Kurt DeFris tournament, will take place at Hunter Ice Skating Stadium from Thursday to Sunday (July 31). Northstars junior players in action are set to include Jikoda Cooper and the Garas twins - Sam and Tom.
