All the Brooks Bandits needed was a five minute lapse by the Olds Grizzlys to show why they are ranked #1 in the nation at the moment. The Bandits, who now sit 23-1-0, scored five goals in a span of 3 minutes and 46 seconds at the end of the second period to secure a 6-2 win on Friday evening. The Grizzlys now sit tied for 4th place with Drumheller and the Calgary Canucks with 25 points in the South Division.
The Grizzlys opened the scoring 4:12 into the first period when Dylan Hubbs fired the puck in the slot to gain the 1-0 lead. Linemates Spencer Dorowicz and Bart Moran were credited with the assists. Only 9 seconds later, Brandon Clowes netted another one with the assist going to Matthew Marcinew. It is Clowes 12 goal in the past 12 games. Before the period ended, the Bandits cut the lead in half on the powerplay (Maclise from Pilling and Smiley) to make it 2-1 going into the second period.
Brooks opened the floodgates at the 15:33 mark of the second with another powerplay marker (Smiley from Maclise and Petruzzelli) to tie it up at two’s. One minute later, once again on the powerplay, Brooks scored another (Maclise from Pilling and Petruzzelli). Brooks then followed up at 17:04 (Reners from Makin and Tkachuk), 17:55 (Reed from Pilling and Lee) and 19:19 (Paskaruk from Maclise) before the period ended to take a 6-2 lead. That lead would hold up through the third as the Bandits skated away with another two points to add to their total.
The Grizzlys went 0 for 4 on the powerplay and fired 30 shots on net while the Bandits went 3 for 5 with the man advantage and fired 36 shots on Ethan Jemieff and Talor Joseph. Olds is back in action tonight at home against the North Divison Drayton Valley Thunder. Puck drop is 8pm.
