Oilers and Bandits Sweep Their Way into South Finals

Photo – Avid Photography:

(3) Calgary Canucks @ (4) Okotoks Oilers (Oilers win series 4-0)

Game #3: The Okotoks Oilers put the Calgary Canucks back on their heels following a 5-1 victory on home ice in game three on Monday night.

Okotoks would chase Calgary starting goaltender Logan Dracket from the crease just 16 minutes into the game. Jacob Bernard-Docker (assists to Reece Soukoroff and Carter Huber @3:34) opened the scoring with his first of the postseason. On the power play, Jordan Xavier (assists to Trey Degraaf and Jordan Davies @8:36) would tip his team leading fourth of the playoffs to double the Oilers lead. Nolan Thompson (assists to Carter Huber and Ayden Roche-Setoguchi @16:18) put Okotoks up 3-0 on just their 5th shot. Dracket would make just two saves on five shots before getting pulled. Shots in the first would favor the Canucks 8-7.

Calgary and Okotoks would exchange chances in the second. Late in the second on the power play, Zac McNeill (assists to Jordan McConnell and Mark Drohan @17:41) fourth of the playoffs would get the Canucks on the board, trailing 3-1 after two. Shots favored Calgary 13-11 in the second and 21-18 in the hockey game.
The Oilers would get their second power play goal midway through the third to restore their three goal cushion as Jordan Davies (assists to Carter Huber and Tanner Laderoute @12:34) would get his first of the postseason. Trey Degraaf (assist to Riley Morris @18:27) finished off the scoring with his fourth of the playoffs into an empty net. Shots ended up 14-10 for Okotoks in the third and 32-31 in the hockey game.

Game #4: Riley Morris made 23 saves to shutout the Canucks 2-0 and advance to the South Finals.

Neither team was able to find the back of the net in the first two periods. Shots favored the Oilers 10-6 in the first. The second period saw the Canucks dominate their way on the shot clock but unable to beat Riley Morris. Shots favored the Canucks 12-5 in the second and 18-15 in the hockey game.

The Oilers would break the scoreless tie midway through the third. On the power play, Jordan Xavier (assists to Trey Degraaf and Jacob Bernard-Docker @8:56) would get his fifth of the postseason beating Logan Drackett. Trey Degraaf (assists to Tanner Laderoute and Carter Huber @15:01) would give the Oilers a bit of breathing room with his fifth of the playoffs to extend the lead to 2-0. Shots favored the Oilers 10-5 in the third and 25-23 in the hockey game.

(1) Brooks Bandits @ (7) Olds Grizzlys (Bandits win series 4-0)   

Game #3: The Bandits would score nine unanswered goals in a 9-1 victory over Olds on Monday night.

The Grizzlys hoped that a change in goal (Andrew Henderson) would spark them to a different result then it did in the first two games and it worked for the first as Owen Guenter (assist to Jared Power @0:44) would score his first of the series to open the scoring. Less than three minutes later Arnaud Vachon (assists to Dennis Cesana and Cale Makar @3:24) fourth of the postseason evened the game at one. Just over a minute later Conner Jean (assists to Josh McKechney and Parker Huebner @4:51) would give Brooks a 2-1 lead with his third of the year. Nic Hamre (assists to Tyler Carangelo and Nathan Plessis @17:01) and Nick Prkusic (assists to Parker Huebner and Tyrell Mappin @17:25) would score 24 seconds apart to make it 4-1 after one. Shots favored Brooks 23-12 in the opening 20 minutes.

Brooks would dominate the second period but Andrew Henderson would keep the Grizzlys in the game. Shots favored the Bandits 21-5 in the second and 44-17 in the hockey game.

Parker Foo (assists to Josh McKechney and Conner Jean @1:29) would get his third and fourth (assists to Josh McKechney and Joe O'Connor @5:16) of the series to give Brooks a 6-1 lead. Shortly after that Nic Harme (assists to Cale Makar and Dennis Cesana @6:52) second of the night would make it 7-1. That would be the end of the night for Henderson who gave up seven goals on 52 shots. Cale Makar (assists to Nick Prkusic and Tyrell Mappin @9:33) would give Ben Giesbrecht a tough welcoming with his second of the postseason. Tyler Carangelo (assists to Parker Foo and Parker Huebner @10:56) first of the series would finish off the scoring. Shots favored Brooks 14-11 in the third and 58-28 in the hockey game.

Game #4: Mitchel Benson makes 23 saves as Brooks shutouts the Grizzlys 8-0 to complete the sweep.

On the power play, Tyrell Mappin (assists to Nick Prkusic and Arnaud Vachon @6:39) scored his second of the series to open the scoring. Dennis Cesana (assists to Jake Theis and Nathan Plessis @11:28) would extend the Brooks lead as he beat Ben Giesbrecht for his third of the post season. Just 40 seconds after that Tyler Carangelo (unassisted @12:48) would pot his second of the postseason to give Brooks a 3-0 lead after one. Shots favored the Bandits 18-8.

Midway through the second period Dennis Cesana (assists to Cale Makar and Nathan Plessis @11:47) would get his second of the night to make it 4-0. Just over a minute later Arnaud Vachon (assists to Tyler Carangelo and Nic Hamre @13:03) would get his team leading fifth of the playoffs to make it 5-0. Giesbrecht made 14 saves on 16 shots in the middle frame while Benson turned away all 10 shots that he faced as the shots favored the Bandits 34-18 in the hockey game.

Brooks would add two more goals early in the third as Tyrell Mappin (assists to Nick Prkusic and Kord Pankewicz @1:16) would get his second of the night. Joe O'Connor (assists to Tyler Carangelo and Parker Huebner @2:46) followed that up with his first of the series. Midway through the third Josh McKechney (assist to Conner Jean @12:58) would get his 10th point of the series and finished off the scoring. Shots favored Brooks 17-5 in the third and 51-23 in the hockey game.

Brooks will meet Okotoks in the South Final that will start on Friday March 31st.