BROOKS, AB (March 18, 2022) – Dario Beljo had four points, Ethan Barwick won his first playoff start and the Brooks Bandits trounced the Canmore Eagles 7-1 on Friday at the Centennial Regional Arena in their first playoff game since May of 2019.
The Bandits lead the South Division Semi-Final Best-of-Seven series 1-0. Game 2 of the series goes Saturday at the CRA, puck drop is 7:00 pm. Barwick made 25 saves for Brooks, while Andreai Proctor-Ramirez stopped 38 Bandits shots.
Beljo (AIC) opened the scoring 1:46 into the game, snapping a behind-the-net pass from forward Aiden Fink (Wisconsin) into the Canmore net to make it 1-0 Brooks. Fink doubled the lead to 2-0 at 14:19, tapping in a backdoor pass from defenceman Wes Turner (Holy Cross). Then at 16:15, forward Devin Phillips (Holy Cross) redirected an Ethan Lund (Niagara) shot from the net front to make it 3-0 Bandits. Defenceman Zach Bookman (Merrimack) made it 4-0 at 17:44, scoring top left corner. The Eagles got one back, as Austin Lusok finished off a two-on-one rush to cut the lead to 4-1 at 18:28. But with 56 seconds left in the busy 1st period, forward TJ Hughes (Michigan) went backhand, forehand to beat Proctor-Ramirez to make it 5-1. Shots in the period were 16-6 Bandits.
Beljo scored again at 11:57 of the 2nd period, tipping a Ryan McAllister (Western Michigan) shot to make it 6-1 on the powerplay. In the final minute of the period, defenceman Boston Buckberger (Wisconsin) cleaned up a loose puck on a net front scramble to increase the lead to 7-1. Shots in the period were 20-12 Brooks.
No goals were scored in the 3rd period, the Bandits outshot the Eagles 9-8 for a total of 45-26.
Postgame comments from #BrooksBandits forward Dario Beljo following the 7-1 win over Canmore in Game 1!@TheAJHL pic.twitter.com/obWCZNNZP6
– Brooks Bandits (@BrooksBandits) March 19, 2022
Game 2 will be preceded by a ceremony where the 2022 recipient of the Nick Crosby Memorial Award will be handed out. Game time is 7:00 pm, tickets available at brooksbandits.ca