Brooks, AB: The Sherwood Park Crusaders and the Brooks Bandits wrapped up their four-game cohort series on Saturday, with Brooks looking to sweep the series. Sherwood Park gave Lochlan Gordon the start, Jared Whale got the nod for Brooks.
The first period was the closest in the style of play, with both teams playing a fast-paced game to begin the period. Brooks thought they’d opened the scoring just over seven minutes in, but the goal was called back for goalie interference, which resulted in a Crusaders power play. Sherwood Park couldn’t do anything with the man advantage before giving Brooks a power play six minutes later. A nice backdoor pass from Devin Phillips onto the stick of TJ Hughes resulted in a tap-in for the Bandits. The period would end with both teams getting chances, but the score remained 1-0. Shots in favour of the Bandits 12-5.
Brooks took over in the second period, refusing to give Sherwood Park any breathing room. This hard forechecking style resulted in a pair of goals in the period. The first coming right after a power play for Sherwood Park, Anthony Cipollone picked up the puck after stepping out of the box, streaked in on a two-on-one with Sean Chisholm. Cipollone slid the puck to Chisholm, who made no mistake, beating Gordon for his sixth goal of the weekend. TJ Hughes would score his second of the game on a pretty passing play just three minutes later, and the period ended with the Brooks Bandits leading 3-0. Shots favoured the Bandits: 19-2.
The third period was much of the same for both teams, as Sherwood Park couldn’t get anything going, and Brooks continued to force the issue. Hughes would return the favour, setting up Devin Phillips for a power-play goal of his own. With less than four minutes left in the game, Brooks would add a fifth, as Cipollone beat Gordon to make the final 5-0.
Lochlan Gordon made 43 saves in the loss, while Jared Whale made nine saves for his first career AJHL shutout.