KARLSTAD, SWEDEN (August 15, 2023) – Brendan Holahan stopped every puck he faced, while Nic DeGraves scored twice as the Brooks Bandits blanked Norway’s Valerenga IF 4-0 at Lofbergs Ice Arena on Tuesday.
The Bandits (1-0) outshot Valerenga 44-15 on the opening day of the U20 Super Challenge, and went 5/5 on the penalty kill as Holahan (New Canaan, CT) earned his first shutout as a Bandit.
"The boys played good in front of me, it was nice to get that under my belt and just keep moving forward,"
Goaltender Brendan Holahan talks about the 4-0 win over Norway and his experience in Karlstad so far!#BrooksBandits | #Sweden pic.twitter.com/WYo8ewM3Ox
— Brooks Bandits (@BrooksBandits) August 16, 2023
DeGraves (Edmonton, AB) opened the scoring on the powerplay, going end-to-end and shooting a forehand shot on the powerplay to make it 1-0 Brooks at 9:38. With 22 seconds remaining and tons of pressure, forward Dakota MacIntosh (Winnipeg, MB) sniped a top right corner shot to make it 2-0. Shots were 20-3 Brooks in the period.
"The first game's always important to win, it's nice to get the two points, but we have to keep this going, the competition's only going to get tougher and tougher,"
Nic DeGraves discusses the 4-0 win over Norway and Wednesday's showdown with Denmark!#BrooksBandits | #Sweden pic.twitter.com/c2rp7MnZOj
— Brooks Bandits (@BrooksBandits) August 16, 2023
The 2nd period was scoreless. Danylo Korzhyletskyi (Kyiv, Ukraine) one-timed a left circle shot that blasted off the right post, and Davide Patella (Laval, QC) was robbed by a glovehand save from Marcus Dehn of Valerenga.
Brooks tripled the lead in the 3rd at 5:46, as Logan Sawyer (Orangeville, ON) finished off a two-on-one rush pass from Liam Fitzpatrick (Moose Jaw, SK) to make it 3-0. With just over five minutes remaining, DeGraves scored his second of the game, going top shelf to make it 4-0.
Schedule
*Mountain Standard Time
Tuesday, Aug 15 @ 11:15am: Brooks vs Norway W 4-0
Wednesday, Aug 16 @ 11:30am: Brooks vs Denmark
Thursday, Aug 17 @ 11:15am: Brooks vs Hungary
Saturday, Aug 19: Semifinals
Sunday, Aug 20: Final
The U20 Super Challenge runs from August 15-20, hosted by Farjestad BK at Lofbergs Arena. It features eight teams in two Groups, with team’s travelling from around Europe to participate.
All tournament games will be streamed on https://www.svenskhockey.tv/sv/home
Located 300km west of Stockholm, and 220km east of Oslo, Karlstad is a city of 65,000 residents. The Lofbergs Arena seats 8,645 for hockey, and is the home of Farjestad BK, who’s professional team compete in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). Karlstad is located in the Central European Timezone, which is eight hours ahead of Mountain Time.
The Bandits 2023 Exhibition Season begins Tuesday, September 5th when they host the Okotoks Oilers at the Centennial Regional Arena. The 2023-24 Regular Season begins September 15th in Drayton Valley when the Bandits begin their defence of three straight National Championships.
Bandits 2023-24 Season Tickets are on sale, visit brooksbandits.ca for more information.