Brooks Bandits celebrate after scoring. (Courtesy: Brooks Bandits/Meta)

By Eli J. Ridder | @EliRidder

Bandits blank Oilers for second time in series following 5-0 shoutout win in Game 3

Apr 24, 2024 | 11:47 AM

This is a submitted story.

For the second time in the series, Johnny Hicks and the Brooks Bandits didn’t allow a goal thanks to 5-0 win in Game 3 of the Alberta Semifinal on Tuesday at Centennial Arena.

READ: Brooks Bandits set to launch BCHL playoff campaign for the first time

Hicks made 31 saves for his second shutout of the series (he had a 43 save shutout in Game 1), while the Bandits had goals from Caelan Fitzpatrick, Josh Wiebe, Nathan Free, Danylo Korzhyletskyi and Keith McInnis.

The Bandits lead the best-of-seven series 2 games to 1, with Game 4 scheduled for Wednesday in Okotoks.

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Okotoks outshot Brooks in the opening 10 minutes, but Hicks (Kamloops, BC) kept the game scoreless.

The team rewarded him at 17:52, as defenceman Quinn McCall (St. John, IN) fed a breakout pass to Fitzpatrick (Moose Jaw, SK), who carried into the zone on a two-on-two, cutting to his left and scoring forehand on a shot that was tipped and beat Oilers starter Christian Green.

The Bandits had to wait until 14:11 of the second period to double the lead to 2-0, as Wiebe (Calgary, AB) finished off a two-on-one rush pass from Parker Lalonde (Aberdeen, SK).

Free (Calgary, AB) made it 3-0 at 8:!2 of the 3^rd period, sniping a top shelf shot off the rush thanks to a pass from Korzhyletskyi. Then at 14:05, Korzhyletskyi (Kyiv, UA) scored from the right circle on a tight angle, shooting five-hole to make it 4-0. All of the Bandits goals came five-on-five until the 5-0 goal from Keith McInnis (Red Deer, AB), who hammered a right circle slapshot on the powerplay at 19:13 to make it 5-0.

Final shots were 32-31 Brooks.

Game 4 of the series goes April 24 in Okotoks. Game time is 7 p.m. on New Country 105.7 FM and FloHockey..

Game 5 is Friday, April 26 in Brooks at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at brooksbandits.net.