By Tyler King - Brooks Bandits

Bandits come from behind to beat Storm 3-2 in overtime

Oct 15, 2017 | 11:48 AM

BROOKS, AB – The Brooks Bandits (8-4) trailed for 58 minutes and 50 seconds of regulation, but battled back to tie and defeat the Grande Prairie Storm (6-5-2) in overtime on a Nic Hamre (Ottawa, ON) breakaway goal on Saturday night at the Centennial Regional Arena.

The win was the Bandits’ fourth in a row, and first in overtime after having notched two shootout wins earlier in the year.

For the eighth time in twelve games, the Bandits allowed the opening goal, with the Storm breaking through just 55 seconds into the game when Justin Bernier intercepted a clearing pass in the Bandits slot and fired a quick shot by Mitch Benson (Windsor, ON) to make it 1-0.

Early in the second, the Storm doubled their lead on the power play when Connor Blake fired a shot from the high slot past a screened Benson.

Brooks outshot the Storm in all three periods but goaltender Charles-Olivier Levesque was up to the task, preserving a shutout until the dying moments of the middle frame, when Brandon Scanlin (Hamilton, ON) blasted a slap shot from the left point that caught a Storm defenceman’s stick and ramped up over Levesque’s right pad to get Brooks on the board.

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The Bandits needed last-minute magic to tie, however, with the tying goal coming with just 15 seconds left in regulation. Matt Cassidy (Medford, NJ) got enough space at the right circle to feed a pass across to a sneaking in Cale List (Petawawa, ON), who tapped it in backdoor to send the crowd into a frenzy with a tie game and more than 1,200 free Wendy’s cheeseburgers with the goal coming in the last minute.

In the extra frame, a lengthy stretch pass from his own goal line by captain Dennis Cesana (Providence, RI) found Hamre streaking into the Storm zone on a breakaway. His first shot was stopped by the pad of Levesque, but the Bandit alternate captain found the rebound at the left side of the net and quickly chopped it by the goalie to seal the victory and send the Bandits streaming off the bench victorious.

It sets up an exciting Sunday afternoon matchup between the Bandits and first-place Okotoks Oilers at Pason Centennial Arena in Okotoks. Puck drop is scheduled for 4:15 PM with pre-game coverage starting at 4 PM on Real Country 105.7.