BROOKS, AB (August 28, 2018) – Brandon Scanlin (Hamilton, ON) and Andranik Armstrong (Alexandria, VA) both had two-goal nights, as the Brooks Bandits downed the Calgary Canucks 9-5 in the teams’ first pre-season game of the 2018 Alberta Junior Hockey League campaign on Tuesday night at the Centennial Regional Arena in front of an announced crowd of 1,079.
The Bandits rebounded from a 4-2 deficit to take the win, outshooting the visitors 56-18 in the game.
Justin Ross (Calgary, AB) was the first to find the back of the net when he tipped a point shot from Corson Ceulemans (Beaumont, AB) past Canuck goalie Blake Pilon to open the scoring. The Canucks tied it when Brooks native Chandler Aleman fired a loose puck home from the slot, but the Bandits restored the lead when Scanlin notched his first on a power play scramble in front of the net.
Again, the Canucks battled back to tie it when Jack Berger wristed a goal home from the slot, and Nic Herringer gave Calgary the lead on a shot off the rush to open the 2nd period scoring. Cooper Johnson was then found alone in the slot and beat 16-year old Bandit starting netminder Ethan Barwick (St. Albert, AB) to give Calgary a 2-goal cushion.
The Bandits then went on a scoring tear, beginning when Simon Gravel (Boucherville, QC) tapped a puck through the slot to Dylan Witzke (Calgary, AB), who knocked it home to pull Brooks within one. Thomas Samuelsen (Williston, VT) fed his Kimball Union Academy teammate Armstrong from the end wall for a quick backhand goal and a tie game. Then, Brett Meerman (Blackfalds, AB) dangled around a Canuck defender as he entered the zone and slid a puck five-hole on Pilon to give the Bandits a lead they would not relinquish.
The very next shift, Ethan Lund (Calgary, AB) fired home a shot from the high slot to extend the Brooks lead to two, while Scanlin notched his second of the game on a bullet of a one-timer from the high slot to make it 7-4 Brooks entering the second.
Barwick had given way to Pierce Charleson (Aurora, ON) halfway through the second, whose only blemish on the night came on a Jack Berger goal off the rush to make it a 7-5 game. But Armstrong got his second of the night on a wrister from the slot, and William Lemay (Marieville, QC) tapped in a backdoor feed from Gravel who had forced a turnover in the slot to cap off the 9-5 final score.
The Bandits will travel to Okotoks on Friday night to take on the Oilers before returning to host the very same Oilers on Saturday night at the CRA. Game time is 7 PM with tickets available at tickets.brooksbandits.ca.