CALGARY, AB (September 16, 2018) – Nathan Plessis (Salmon Arm, B.C.) had two goals, while Simon Boyko (Mississauga, ON) also found the back of the net twice, as the Brooks Bandits (1-1) got their first win of the 2018-19 AJHL season with a 9-3 victory on the road over the Calgary Canucks (0-2) on Sunday afternoon at the Max Bell Centre.
Brooks outshot the Canucks 58-21 in the game, never trailing en route to a major bounce-back from their 11-3 loss on Friday in Drumheller.
The Bandit captain opened the scoring 8:16 into the game when Brandon Scanlin (Hamilton, ON) fed a pass from behind the net to a waiting Plessis at the top of the crease for a quick one-time goal. Less than a minute later, the Bandits doubled that lead when Jakob Lee (Owen Sound, ON) tapped home a rebound for his first Junior A goal.
In the second, Mack Hancock (Kingston, ON) wristed one home from the right circle to make it 3-0, but within a minute, a backdoor tap in by Jackson Zloty of the Canucks got the home side on the board.
The Bandits responded with three straight goals to end the period, though, with Arnaud Vachon (Ajax, ON) tipping home a puck at the front of the net, then William Lemay blasting home his first as a Bandit from the right circle on a cross-slot setup by Plessis, and finally with Andranik Armstrong (Alexandria, VA) firing a perfect stretch pass to Boyko who sniped one home on a breakaway to make it 6-1.
In the third, the Bandits extended the lead when a Vachon shot produced a rebound for Plessis to bang in for his second of the game at the 1:22 mark. Just over four minutes after that, Boyko, who had been a recipient of a great breakaway pass in the second, fired an identical pass to Bobby Harrison (Waterdown, ON), with the Bandit rookie speeding in and firing home his first Junior A goal to extend the lead to 8-1 and chase Calgary starter Blake Pilon from the net.
Calgary responded with quick goals by Cooper Johnson and Dylan Clark less than two minutes apart, but Brooks capped off the scoring when a faceoff win by Armstrong led to a quick wrister from the right circle by Boyko to notch the 9-3 final score.
Bandit rookie goalie Pierce Charleson (Aurora, ON) made 18 saves on 21 Calgary shots to record his first Junior A win in his first start. The Bandits went 2 for 6 on the power play and a perfect 6 for 6 on the penalty kill.
Next up for the Bandits is the team’s home opener, presented by Western Financial, on Friday night at the CRA, with tickets available online at tickets.brooksbandits.ca. The Drumheller Dragons return for a key rematch, with puck drop scheduled for 7:00 PM and a free pre-game tailgate party starting at 5:30 PM in the CRA parking lot.
