By Tyler King - Brooks Bandits

Jean scores trio in Bandits 5-1 win over Canmore

Nov 18, 2017 | 10:01 AM

CANMORE, AB – Conner Jean (Oakland, MI) scored a natural hat trick in the first period, as the Brooks Bandits (16-7-1) downed the Canmore Eagles (9-13-1) by a 5-1 score on the road Friday night, despite being sent to the penalty kill a whopping 13 times, in a game that took more than 2 hours and 40 minutes to complete.

The Bandits killed off 12 of those Canmore power play opportunities, including two of the three 5-on-3 advantages their opponents had. The win keeps the Bandits 6 points out of first place in the AJHL South, with first-place Okotoks still holding two games in hand.

With Canmore forward Taden Rattie in the box for running Bandit goalie Mitch Benson (Windsor, ON) just 2:27 into the game, Jean got his first of the night with a spinning shot from the slot at the 4:19 mark to make it a 1-0 game. Just over three minutes later, Jean absorbed a hit in the left corner of the Canmore zone but kept control of the puck, firing it behind the net to linemate Matt Cassidy (Medford, NJ) who quickly saucered the puck back to Jean at the net front for a one-timer goal and a 2-0 lead.

Jean completed the hat trick with just 2:06 left in the opening frame, accepting a pass from Simon Boyko (Mississauga, ON), speeding in on a partial breakaway, and firing a shot that Canmore goalie Thomas Davis stopped with his pad. But Jean collected the rebound and roofed it from the left side of the net to give Brooks the 3-0 lead after the first.

Tempers boiled in the second period as Rattie was ejected after spearing a Bandit after a whistle, and the Bandits were sent on five power plays in the period. At one point, with four Bandit players needing to serve penalties, the penalty box couldn’t fit all of them, and Tyler Carangelo (Hamden, CT) was sent to a gate on the stands side of the rink to serve his slashing minor while three others remained in the box.

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The only goal came when Will Garin (Mound, MN) dropped a pass back from the slot to Nic Hamre (Ottawa, ON), who wristed one home from the slot for his 10th of the year and a 4-0 Brooks advantage.

The Bandits were sent to the penalty kill five more times in the third, but extended their lead nonetheless when Carangelo sent a pass from the corner to Garin in the slot, who swept a low shot by Davis for his second as a Bandit and a 5-0 advantage. Benson’s shutout bid was spoiled with just over two minutes left in the game on Canmore’s third two-man advantage of the game when Max Giangualano tapped a puck in from the crease to cut the deficit to four.

The Bandits outshot Canmore 30-27 in the game, going 12 for 13 on the penalty kill and 1 for 5 on the power play. Both Rattie and Canmore defenceman Jarell Pinchuk were suspended 1 game for their game misconducts while Nolan Thompson (Calgary, AB) was suspended three games for a match penalty called late in the third period.

The rematch goes Saturday night at the Canmore Recreation Centre with puck drop scheduled for 7 PM and pre-game coverage beginning at 6:45 PM on Real Country 105.7.