OLDS, AB (MARCH 5, 2023) – Ethan Barwick’s final regular season game as a Brooks Bandit was a memorable one, breaking the team record for most career regular season shutouts as the Bandits completed the 2022-23 Regular Season with a 5-0 win over the Grizzlys at the Sportsplex on Sunday.
Barwick made 22 saves for his 14th career regular season shutout, surpassing Michael Fredrick’s team record of 13. The Bandits (53-5-2) finish the Regular Season with 53 wins, which is tied with the 2012-13 Bandits for the second most wins in a season in AJHL history. Their five losses is tied for 3rd fewest in AJHL history.
It was the Bandits second straight shutout, as they were coming off a 4-0 win in Canmore on March 1st. Their 113 goals against is tied for the fifth fewest in AJHL History.
The Bandits ended the season on a 12-game winning streak, sweeping the season series with the Grizzlys six games to none. They also tied the team record for most powerplay goals in a season with 105.
After a scoreless 1st Period, forward Hunter Wallace (Oak Lake, MB) opened the scoring just six seconds into the powerplay at 5:05, tapping in a Brendan Poshak (Green Bay, WI) cross-crease pass to make it 1-0. Off the ensuing centre ice face-off, forward Mikhail Simchuk (Kyiv, Ukraine) carried into the Grizzlys zone and dropped the puck back to Danylo Korzhyletskyi (Kyiv, Ukraine) who knocked in the puck to make it 2-0 Brooks. With 1:23 left in the 2nd period, forward Hudson Malinoski (Saskatoon, SK) sniped a left circle shot on the powerplay to make it 3-0.
Malinoski wasn’t finished, finishing off another Poshak pass to the slot at 8:43 of the 3rd period to make it 4-0. With eight minutes remaining, forward Davide Patella (Laval, QC) tapped in a Dario Beljo (Sudbury, ON) pass underneath Grizzlys starter Marcus Cumberworth to make it 5-0, the final score. Shots were 39-22 Brooks.
The Bandits have a Bye through the First Round of the AJHL Playoffs, with Game 1 of the South Division Semi-Final set for Friday, March 24th at the Centennial Regional Arena.