By Tyler King - Brooks Bandits

Bandits take ninth straight, win in Canmore 9-5

Dec 29, 2018 | 11:38 AM

CANMORE, AB – In a high-scoring return from the Christmas break, the Brooks Bandits (33-3) won their ninth consecutive game on Friday night, beating the Canmore Eagles 9-5 on the road.

The Bandits got their nine goals from eight different goal scorers, with only captain Nathan Plessis (Salmon Arm, B.C.) scoring twice in the game.

The first period featured a whopping seven goals with a back-and-forth start to the game. Plessis scored the opener on a breakaway just 1:44 into the game, but Alex Young tied it for Canmore eight seconds later on a wrist shot from the right circle. Bobby Harrison (Waterdown, ON) jammed home a rebound goal at the 3:34 mark to make it 2-1, but Canmore tied it again on a Quinton Ong goal at 9:13.

Brooks then scored three times consecutively; the first a Jakob Lee (Owen Sound, ON) marker at 11:08, then Plessis’ second of the game on the rebound of a Nick Hale (Raleigh, NC) point shot at 13:55, then Hale himself wristed home a top shelf shot at 15:49 on a setup by Simon Gravel (Boucherville, QC) to make it 5-2 heading into the first intermission.

Canmore changed goalies to start the second with Logan Dyck replacing Thomas Davis, and narrowed the deficit to two when Tian Rask tipped a Mark Drohan point shot at 6:28 to make it a 5-3 game. But the Bandits reclaimed the three-goal cushion when Gravel sped in on a breakaway, delayed and cut his way to the right side, and fired a high wrister over a downed Dyck to make it 6-3.

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In the third, the Bandits held Canmore to just 5 shots, outshooting them 12-5 in the frame and 40-28 in the game, but the home side still made it interesting. Ong scored a shorthanded breakaway goal just 36 seconds in, before the Bandits converted on the remaining power play when Jordan Di Cicco (London, ON) flung a puck in front from the end wall that got caught in goalie Dyck’s skates and was poked home by William Lemay (Marieville, QC) to make it 7-4.

Owen Reith wristed home a goal at 3:20 to make it 7-5, but Simon Boyko (Mississauga, ON) scored the insurance marker on a breakaway backhander at 10:38, and Andrew Lucas (Alexandria, VA) blasted a slap shot at 16:31 that was tipped home by Andranik Armstrong (Alexandria, VA) to notch the 9-5 final score.

Pierce Charleson (Aurora, ON) made 23 saves on 28 Canmore shots for his league-leading 24th win of the season. The two teams will meet again for the rematch on Saturday night at the CRA in Brooks, with puck drop scheduled for 7:00 PM. Tickets are available online at tickets.brooksbandits.ca.