BROOKS, AB (November 18, 2016) – Oliver Chau (Oakville, ON) and Nick Prkusic (Medicine Hat, AB) both had two-goal nights, and Alex Horawski (Toronto, ON) pitched his second shutout as a Brooks Bandit, as the Bandits downed the Grande Prairie Storm 5-0 on the road Friday night.
The win moves the Bandits into uncontested first place in the AJHL South division, 2 points ahead of the second-place Calgary Canucks with three games in hand on them.
Chau scored his two goals back-to-back in the first period to open the scoring. First, at the 3:38 mark, his wraparound attempt slid under the left pad of goalie Arik Weersink for the eventual game-winning goal. Just before the halfway mark of the first, Chau was sprung on a breakaway and made a nifty forehand-to-backhand move, tucking his second past Weersink to double the Brooks advantage.
Before the period was out, captain Prkusic wired home a power play goal from the left faceoff circle to make it a 3-0 Bandit advantage at the 16:49 mark.
Brooks killed off 4 Grande Prairie power plays in the first, including a 2-man disadvantage, and still outshot their opponents 8-5 in the frame.
In the second, Brooks nearly tripled the Storm in shots, 13-5, yet both goaltenders were perfect in the middle stanza.
But the Bandits pulled away in the third, first with Prkusic’s second goal of the night, a shot from the top of the crease at 7:36 for a 4-0 advantage, and the second a Parker Foo power play rebound goal at 11:07 to seal the 5-0 final score.
The Bandits outshot Grande Prairie 29-14 on the night, with Horawski making two breakaway saves and multitude of point blank pad stops, especially in the first period, to notch his sixth consecutive win.
Brooks is back in action tomorrow night taking on the Whitecourt Wolverines in the Saturday night finale of the team’s latest northern road swing at 7:30 PM. Pre-game coverage starts at 7:15 PM on Real Country 105.7.