BROOKS, AB (February 5, 2022) – The Brooks Bandits earned back-to-back shutouts this weekend following a 5-0 blanking of the Okotoks Oilers on Saturday at the Centennial Regional Arena, the team’s 24th straight home win.
Goaltender Ethan Barwick made 22 saves in the win, his 3rd shutout of the season. The Bandits (45-5-1) shutout Calgary 9-0 on Friday night.
Okotoks netminder Jack McNaughton denied forwards Aiden Fink (Wisconsin) and TJ Hughes (Mercyhurst) with a couple left pad saves to keep the game scoreless until the final minute of the 1st. Hughes forced a turnover in the Oiler and deked out McNaughton on the backhand with 53 seconds left in the period for his 55th goal of the year to make it 1-0 Bandits. Shots were 16-6 Brooks in the frame.
Brooks doubled their lead to 2-0 at 7:42 of the 2nd as Ryan McAllister (Western Michigan) took a cross-ice pass from Hughes, moved in from the right circle and slid the puck past McNaughton who was out to challenge. Shots were 15-10 Bandits in the period.
Hughes got his second of the game (56th of the year) at 7:18 of the 3rd period, finishing off a tic-tac-toe play from McAllister and Devin Phillips (Holy Cross) to extend the lead to 3-0. Phillips then one-timed a right circle shot at 12:41 on a pass from Hughes on the powerplay to make it 4-0. McAllister then finished off a Hughes pass from right of the net at 16:47 to make it 5-0, the final. Shots were 10-6 Brooks in the 3rd, and 41-22 overall.
Postgame comments from goaltender Ethan Barwick following the #BrooksBandits 5-0 shutout win over the Oilers!@TheAJHL pic.twitter.com/9uNkq8KQVS
— Brooks Bandits (@BrooksBandits) February 6, 2022
The Bandits will hit the road for three straight games next week, with a Tuesday (Feb 8) stop in Camrose for a 7:00 pm puck drop against the Kodiaks. That’s followed by a Friday (Feb 11) game in Sherwood Park at 7:15 pm and finally a trip to Lloydminster on Saturday (Feb 12) for a 7:30 pm start. All games can be heard on Real Country 105.7 FM.
Photo: Rayne Makin