By Tyler King - Brooks Bandits

Bandits end pre-season with 5-4 OT win over Drumheller

Sep 11, 2017 | 9:34 AM

BROOKS, AB – Nic Hamre (Ottawa, ON) scored on a shorthanded breakaway in overtime, as the Brooks Bandits (2-4) completed their 2017 Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) pre-season schedule with a 5-4 win over the visiting Drumheller Dragons (5-0-1) in front of a crowd of 1,045 on Sunday afternoon.

The Bandits saw a 4-2 lead slip away in the third, but converted on their second breakaway of the overtime frame to secure the exhibition-ending win.

Brooks opened the scoring in the first when an end boards centering pass from Geoff Lawson found 01-born rookie Tyson Upper in front of the Drumheller net; the youngster’s quick shot beat starting goalie Dane Dow to make it 1-0. Drumheller replied later in the first when Jordan Taupert scored on a shot from the right circle.

In the second, the Bandits pulled ahead, first on a Liam Lytton tap-in of a Tyler Vanuden feed, but that was responded to with a Brady Risk backdoor one-timer on a powerplay just seconds later. Conner Jean fired home a go-ahead goal for Brooks on a 2-on-1 rush, and Simon Boyko made it 4-2 on the power play by sweeping home a shot from the left circle.

But in the third, with Drumheller switching to Hunter Virostek in net, the Dragons pulled back even on two net front goals by sophomore forward Markus Boguslavsky.

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In the overtime frame, breakaways from Simon Boyko and Geoff Lawson were both denied by Virostek, while the Dragons got an enormous opportunity with a power play in the extra frame. But Hamre poked the puck away from Tyler Kreklewich, chipped it behind him, chased it down for a breakaway, and sniped a shot past Virostek to end the game just under three minutes into the 3-on-3 frame.

With pre-season finished, the Bandits next head to Okotoks for the regular season opener against the Oilers at 7:00 PM on Friday, before returning home for the Brooks Minor Hockey Bandits Home Opener, presented by Chinook Financial, beginning at 7:00 PM on Saturday night at the CRA.