FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OLDS, AB (November 2, 2021) – The Brooks Bandits bounced back from an early 1-0 deficit and rolled to their 15th straight win, beating the Olds Grizzlys 9-1 on Tuesday at the Sportsplex.
Goaltender Jared Whale made 20 saves in his return to the Bandits net, while Brendan Poshak, Brendan Mairs and Zach Bookman each had multi-goal games. The Bandits remain in 1st place in the Alberta Junior Hockey League with a record of 16-1 and haven’t lost on the road yet this year.
Highlights presented by Days Inn & Suites Brooks:
Grizzlys forward Noah Hackett scored on a breakaway 4:59 into the game to give Olds a 1-0 lead, just the fourth time this season Brooks has surrendered the game’s first goal. Bandits TJ Hughes (Merychurst) scored at 13:55 on the powerplay as linemate Devin Phillips (Holy Cross) fed him a cross circle pass that Hughes shot post-and-in to make it 1-1. Less than two minutes later, Bandits forward Dario Beljo redirected a Ryan McAllister (Western Michigan) shot to give a Brooks a 2-1 lead. Shots were 8-7 Bandits in the 1st.
After successfully killing off a penalty to start the 2nd, forward Brendan Mairs came out of the box and took a Bookman (Merrimack) stretch pass on a breakaway and fired in a forehand shot at 2:09 to make it 3-1. Then at 8:42, forward Brendan Poshak (Northern Michigan) got a Nic DeGraves rebound and banked it off the Grizzlys goaltender Tristan Martin and into the net to increase the lead to 4-1. Poshak scored again at 10:03, firing a top shelf shot from the right circle to make it 5-1. Bookman would find the back of the net after receiving a Beljo pass and scoring from the right circle at 13:08. He scored again with four seconds left in the period, shooting off the post-and-in as the Bandits swarmed the Grizzlys on the powerplay to make it 7-1 Brooks, who outshot Olds 17-5 in the frame.
Forward Aiden Fink (Wisconsin) scored from the right circle on a forehand shot that beat Martin on the far side just 2:28 into the period to increase the lead to 8-1. Then in the final minute, Mairs scored on a powerplay point shot to make it a 9-1, the final. The Bandits powerplay went 4 for 10. Shots in the 3rd were 26-9 and 51-21 overall.
Postgame comments from Zach Bookman:
The Bandits next game is Friday, November 5 when they visit the Dragons in Drumheller for a 7:00 pm puck drop. Live coverage begins at 6:45 pm on Real Country 105.7 and HockeyTV.
Brooks next home game is Saturday, November 6 when they host the Blackfalds Bulldogs at the Centennial Regional Arena, game time is 7:00 pm.
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