BROOKS, AB (December 10, 2021) – Max Beckford made 21 saves in his Bandit debut, blanking the Sherwood Park Crusaders 6-0 on Friday at the Centennial Regional Arena in front of 1,028 fans.
The winning streak is now at 10 games, and the Bandits remain unbeaten in regulation through 30 games and sit in first place in the Alberta Junior Hockey League with a record of 30-1-1.
Photo: Em Duncan
Highlights:
Bandits defenceman Wes Turner (Holy Cross) fired a right circle shot on net and a rebound came off Crusaders starter Gus Bylin right to forward Dario Beljo, who scored to make 1-0 Brooks just 2:49 into the game. The Bandits doubled the lead to 2-0 as forward Aiden Fink (Wisconsin) finished off a pass from Ryan McAllister (Western Michigan) from the left circle at 3:46. At 15:55, forward Hunter Wallace (RPI) fired in a right shelf shot on a breakaway to extend the lead to 3-0. Shots were 18-7 Brooks.
Just one goal in the second, as forward Brendan Poshak (Northern Michigan) tipped in a Nicholas DeGraves shot to make it 4-0 at the 18:46 mark. Shots were 13-4 Bandits in the period.
Bandits forward TJ Hughes (Mercyhurst) finished off a Beljo no-look pass at 7:54 on the powerplay to extend the lead to 5-0. That was followed by a Brendan Mairs goal at 10:29, as he tipped in a Turner point shot to make it 6-0, the final. Shots were 10-4 Sherwood Park in the 3rd, but 35-21 overall.
The Bandits next game is Saturday, December 11 as they host the Spruce Grove Saints at 7:00 pm at the CRA. It’s also the Teddy Bear Toss game, all stuffed animals thrown on the ice after the Bandits first goal will be donated to the Scotiabank Smiles for Christmas campaign.