BROOKS, AB (January 14, 2017) – The Brooks Bandits (33-3-4) completed a regular season series sweep of the host Canmore Eagles (22-15-5) on Saturday night, sneaking by their opponents by a 3-2 shootout score to make it a 6-0 record against Canmore for the 2016-17 AJHL season.
The win extended the team’s streak to 11 consecutive victories, and extended its South division lead to 13 points over second-place Okotoks, with 2 games in hand. In the overall AJHL standings race, the Bandits are 8 points ahead of second place Whitecourt with three games in hand, and 9 points up on Fort McMurray with one game in hand.
Brooks opened the scoring on its first power play of the game, when Josh McKechney (Calgary, AB) fired a puck past Canmore goalie Thomas Davis from the slot at the 5:10 mark. That lead would hold until the 7:20 mark of the second period, when a Logan Ferguson power play shot from the high slot ricocheted off of Bandit goalie Mitch Benson (Windsor, ON) and into the back of the Brooks net to make it 1-1.
In the third, the Bandits reclaimed the lead when Parker Foo (Edmonton, AB) scored on a shot from the bottom of the right circle. A few minute later, an equipment issue for Benson required the Bandits to make an impromptu goalie change, with Alex Horawski (Toronto, ON) entering the game and making 4 saves on 4 shots to maintain the 2-1 lead before Benson could return.
But Canmore managed to tie the game with just over two minutes left in regulation when Coy Prevost scored on a rebound shot from the bottom of the left circle to send the game to overtime.
The Bandits dominated the extra frame, registering all 4 shots on goal in the period, but couldn’t beat Davis to take the extra point, sending the game to a shootout.
Canmore opened with Adam Tisdale, whose shot was stopped by Benson. Brooks captain Nick Prkusic (Medicine Hat, AB) then responded with a quick wrister goal, beating Davis to give the Bandits the advantage. Dondre Watson missed the net on the next Canmore shot, and although McKechney rang the post on his shot, Benson denied Jake Ashton on the final shot of the shootout to give Brooks the dramatic win.
The Bandits next hit the road to take on the Camrose Kodiaks on Tuesday night at Encana Arena. Puck drop is at 7:00 PM with pre-game coverage starting at 6:45 PM on Real Country 105.7.