BROOKS, AB (January 11, 2016) – The Brooks Bandits (31-3-4) scored a season-high eleven goals, as the top line of Nick Prkusic (Medicine Hat, AB), Oliver Chau (Oakville, ON), and Ty Mappin (Big Valley, AB) combined for 17 points, while affiliate forward Louis Jamernik (Calgary, AB) scored his first career goal with 1 second left in the game, in an 11-3 home win over the Olds Grizzlys at the Centennial Regional Arena on Wednesday night.
The win was Brooks’ 9th straight, giving the team a 9-point division lead.
Mappin’s opening goal came at the 3:51 on a backhand shot from the top of the crease, before Olds forward Tyr Thompson tied it at 9:18 on a power play shot from the left circle. Less than a minute later, Cale Makar (Calgary, AB) skated end-to-end and fired a wrist shot past goalie Ben Giesbrecht to make it 2-1, before Parker Foo at 13:37 and Arnaud Vachon at 17:59 extended the first period lead to 4-1.
A shot off the rush by Quentin Greenwood 2:51 into the second narrowed the Brooks lead to 2, before Prkusic’s first of the game at 4:10 made it 5-2. But on the ensuing shift, Ryley Smith centred to Austin Holmes in the slot for a one-time goal and just a 2-goal Olds deficit. But from there, the Bandits scored six consecutively.
First, Jake Theis (Chanhassen, MN) tapped in a backdoor pass from Chau at 7:58 to give the Bandits a 6-3 advantage; then Parker Foo spun a puck home from the side of the net on a power play at 13:07 for a 7-3 lead. At the 18:28 mark, Prkusic sped in and fired home a shot off the rush from the left hashmarks to make it 8-3.
The captain completed his hat trick with a goal at the 11:01 mark of the 3rd and a 9-3 Bandits lead, before Mappin cut his way from behind the Olds net to the top of the crease and flicked a quick backhander past Giesbrecht for a 10-3 advantage. Then, with just 1.7 seconds showing on the clock, Vinny Renda (Montreal, QC) tapped a puck in front from behind the net, that the Calgary Royals midget callup Jamernik flicked top shelf into the Olds cage for his first Junior A goal in his first AJHL game, also winning free Wendy’s cheeseburgers for the just under 1,100 ticketholders for the game.
The Bandits next take on the Canmore Eagles on the road in back to back games Friday and Saturday. Puck drop for both is set for 7:00 PM with pre-game coverage starting at 6:45 on the official broadcaster of the Bandits, Real Country 105.7.