CANMORE, AB (January 29, 2019) – The Brooks Bandits (44-3) tied their franchise record with their 20th consecutive win, downing the Canmore Eagles 10-6 on the road on Tuesday night.
It’s the first 20-game win streak for Brooks since November of 2012, when the team went 20-0 to start the 2012-13 season en route to a national championship. It’s also the third-longest win streak in the history of the AJHL, behind only the 21-game run of the 1987-88 Calgary Canucks, and the 24-game streak by last season’s Okotoks Oilers.
Power play goals from Ray Christy (St. Paul, MN) at 11:47 and Jake Theis (Chanhassen, MN) at 13:40 gave the Bandits an early 2-0 lead before Taden Rattie scored on a rebound with 3 seconds left in the opening frame to make it 2-1 after 1.
That led to an eight goal second period, with Brooks holding a 7-4 lead when it was all done. Luke Bast (Red Deer, AB) scored on a power play point shot at 2:15 before Andranik Armstrong (Alexandria, VA) tapped in a rebound of an Andrew Lucas (Alexandria, VA) shot at 3:03 to make it 4-1. Jordan Di Cicco (London, ON) had a point shot tipped in by Jakob Lee (Owen Sound, ON) to make it 5-1, before a Quinton Ong shorthanded goal got Canmore on the board again to cut the deficit to 5-2.
But Lee tipped in an Ethan Lund (Calgary, AB) shot at 14:50 to make it 6-2, and Brandon Scanlin (Hamilton, ON) wired in an off-balance slapshot from the right circle on the power play at 15:51 to make it 7-2. The lead appeared insurmountable until Canmore scored twice in the span of just 30 seconds in the final minutes of the period, with Mark Drohan slapping one in on the power play and Finn Withey converting on a 2 on 1.
In the third, Ryan Mahshie (Stoney Creek, ON) shot one home off the rush at 1:52 to extend the lead to 9-4 before Simon Gravel (Boucherville, QC) tipped in a Randy Hernandez (Miami, FL) pass on a 2-on-1 rush to make it 9-4. Carter Wolski (Sexsmith, AB) then fired a pass from behind the net to Lee in front of the cage for a quick hat trick goal and a 10-4 lead. Colton Young scored off the rush at 14:39 and Michael Spafford fired in a power play goal with 23 seconds left to narrow it to 10-6.
Brooks outshot the Eagles 43-26 in the game, going 4 for 12 on the power play and 3 for 5 on the penalty kill, with 16 of 18 skaters registering at least 1 point. Pierce Charleson (Aurora, ON) made 20 saves on 26 shots for his league-leading 34th win of the season, while Logan Dyck stopped 33 of 43 for Canmore.
The Bandits return home Friday night to take on the Olds Grizzlys in what could be an historic night for the franchise; a win would give the team the longest win streak in franchise history and tie for the second-longest in AJHL history. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 PM with tickets available online at tickets.brooksbandits.ca.