CALGARY, AB – The Brooks Bandits (55-3) officially recorded the most successful regular season in Alberta Junior Hockey League history on Saturday night, beating the Calgary Canucks 6-2 and becoming the first team to ever record 110 points in the standings in league history.
Although the team had set a new AJHL win record the previous night with their 54th, they had trailed the 2012-13 Bandits, who had their 53 wins bolstered by three overtime losses for the then-highest point total of all time, 109. The win by Brooks now leaves only the “fewest losses” record left to break, as no team in AJHL history has ever recorded fewer than 4 losses in a single season, with the Bandits currently sitting at 3.
Ray Christy (St. Paul, MN) led the way with six points on the night, beginning with the opening goal less than a minute in when he dangled around two defenders and swept a forehand shot by Calgary goalie Blake Pilon. But Calgary tied it at the 7:36 mark when an errant pass was picked off by Brandon Brazeau and fired into the top shelf to make it 1-1. Brooks broke that tie on the power play 11 minutes in when Arnaud Vachon (Ajax, ON) tipped home a Christy shot.
In the second, Vachon recorded his second of the game and hit the 30-goal plateau when he tipped in a Simon Boyko (Mississauga, ON) shot at 4:39. Ryan Mahshie (Stoney Creek, ON) scored at the 13:20 mark on a power play wrister from the left circle to make it 4-1.
The Canucks drew closer on a 5-on-3 power play at the 59 second mark of the third when Justin Giacomin jammed in a puck off a net front scramble. But Tanner Marshall (Kelowna, BC) let in nothing further, recording his 12th straight win since joining the Bandits with 15 saves on 17 shots. Boyko scored a goal of his own on the power play at 11:30 on a turnaround wrister from the left circle, while Mahshie tipped in his second of the night on another Christy shot to notch the 6-2 final score.
The Bandits outshot Calgary 35-17 in the game, going a whopping 5 for 8 on the power play and 6 for 7 on the penalty kill. Their 31-game win streak will next be put to the test Friday night when they travel to Okotoks for their penultimate game of the season, against the Oilers at 7 PM. Pre-game coverage starts at 6:45 PM on Real Country 105.7.