BROOKS, AB – A big first period for the Brooks Bandits lifted them to a 6-1 win over the Sherwood Park Crusaders Friday as the Crusaders opened up their first of three games this weekend in Southern Alberta.
The Bandits would outshoot the Crusaders 17-5 and score four goals, two of them on a power play as discipline would be an issue for Sherwood Park
Bandit Forward Simon Boyko opened the scoring at 5:59 of the first, just thirty seconds after the Crusaders had killed off their first of four minor penalties.
Three minutes after the Bandits had opened the scoring, Sherwood Park Forward Tyson Gruninger would be assessed a double minor for High Sticking.
Brooks would convert twice on the double minor, only 57 seconds apart near the mid-way point of the first.
The Crusaders would get on the board immediately after surrendering the third goal to Brooks as Gruninger would make amends for his penalty and make the game closer at 3-1.
The Bandits capped off the period at 17:46 with Forward’s Connor Jean second of the game, giving Brooks a 4-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Brooks would add two more in the second period as Jean would complete the hat trick and Arnaud Vachon rounding out the scoring at 18:05.
Sherwood Park went scoreless on their four power play opportunities while Brooks went two for four and outshot the Crusaders 48-23 in the hockey game.
The Crusaders will be right back in the thick of things when they travel to Okotoks to face the Oilers for the second time in a span of a week on Saturday night.
The Oilers are coming off that 8-5 win in Sherwood Park last Sunday and are looking for their 13th win in a row.
BOXSCORE: Bandits 6 Crusaders 1
VIDEO: Highlights