BROOKS, AB (October 13, 2023) – Johnny Hicks earned his third shutout of the season as the Brooks Bandits offence cruised their way to an 8-0 blanking of the Lloydminster Bobcats on Friday night at the CRA.
Hicks (Kamloops, BC) stopped all 18 shots he faced for his second straight shutout. He hasn’t allowed a goal in 126 minutes and 55 seconds. The Bandits (9-1) have won seven straight games and haven’t trailed in 364 minutes and 44 seconds of hockey.
Forward Hunter Wallace (Oak Lake, MB) opened the scoring at 8:15 on the powerplay, tapping in a Nathan Free (Calgary, AB) pass to make it 1-0. The Bandits doubled their lead at 17:23, as forward Nic DeGraves (Edmonton, AB) cleaned up a rebound shorthanded from a Wallace shot to make it 2-0. Shots were 16-2 Brooks.
The Bandits poured it on in the 2nd period, as Quinn McCall (St. John, IN) scored on a forehand shot at 2:14 to make it 3-0. Not long after, defenceman Dylan Compton (Victoria, BC) cleaned up a loose puck from a Caelan Fitzpatrick (Moose Jaw, SK) drive to the net to make it 4-0 at 4:45, it was Compton’s first AJHL goal, and it was shorthanded. Later in the period, DeGraves cleaned up a rebound from a Ty Mason (Weyburn, SK) attempt to make it 5-0. Then, on the defensive zone breakout, Danylo Korzhyletskyi (Kyiv, UA) snapped a pass to Josh Wiebe (Calgary, AB), who passed cross-ice to Free, who sniped a goal off the rush to make it 6-0. Shots were 23-12 Brooks in the period.
Forward Ty Mason one-timed a Logan Sawyer (Calgary, AB) pass on the powerplay to make it 7-0, which was Mason’s first goal as a Bandit since being traded. Sawyer would finish things off at 9:40, tapping a tic-tac-toe passing play from Free and Wiebe to make it 8-0. Shots were 50-18 Brooks, the Bandit set a season high in shots on goal in a single game.
"Our PK has been something to be proud of, but now our powerplay is starting to pick it up and the goals are starting to come,"
Captain Nic DGraves shares his thoughts on the Bandits 8-0 win over the Bobcats! pic.twitter.com/szIHZWAOws
— Brooks Bandits (@BrooksBandits) October 14, 2023
The Bandits are back in action on Saturday, October 14th when they visit the Okotoks Oilers. Game time is 7:00 pm.