BROOKS, AB (November 11, 2019) ? The Brooks Bandits (23-1) got a five-point night from captain Jake Lee (Owen Sound, ON), defeating the visiting Olds Grizzlys 8-2 in front of a crowd of 1,517 at the Centennial Regional Arena on Monday afternoon.
The Bandits honoured local military veterans before the game, with a pre-game bagpipe performance, moment of silence, and the debut of the team?s special Remembrance Day jerseys, which were auctioned off during the game with thousands in profits going to the local Royal Canadian Legion.
Olds opened the scoring just 2:15 into the game when Daine Milgate one-timed a puck home from the slot off the rush. But the Bandits responded just over two minutes later, when Lee scored twice in the span of just nine seconds. First, he knocked home a puck on a net front scramble at 4:22, and then off the centre ice face off, he collected a 2-on-1 pass across from Randy Hernandez (Miami, FL) and one-time roofed it to make it 2-1 Brooks. Taylor Makar (Calgary, AB) scored from the left circle at 10:41 on a pass through the slot from Devin Phillips (Raleigh, NC) to extend the lead to 3-1.
In the second, Ethan Lund scored on a delayed penalty at the 5:34 mark with a high wrister from the left circle, and Trey Thomas (Williams Lake, B.C.) one-timed home a puck off a power play faceoff after a cross-slot pass from Lee to give Brooks a 5-1 advantage through two.
In the third period, Lee completed his hat trick when he drove into the Olds zone down the left side, dangled around a defender, and jammed a puck home on a breakaway to make the score 6-1 Bandits just one minute into the frame. At 2:25, Makar knocked home a puck from the net front on a rebound, and at 13:45 Lee lifted a puck from his own end that bounced into the Olds slot, and was chased down by Brayden Krieger (Elora, ON), who sniped it home shorthanded to make it 8-1.
Olds got closer with a net front goal from Dawson Leroux at 18:12, but it was as close as they would get. The Bandits outshot the Grizzlys 37-16 in the game, with Pierce Charleson (Aurora, ON) making 14 saves to extend his record to 19-1.
The Bandits are back in action Friday on the road in Fort McMurray taking on the Oil Barons at 7:30 PM. Pre-game coverage starts at 7:15 PM on Real Country 105.7.