They live to fight another day!
Down in their best-of-three semi-final 1-0 to the reigning back-to-back champs, the RPR Mechanical/JR Construction Bandits were hot with the sticks early Tuesday night (July 9) at Kin 1 Arena and rallied to a 10-7 win over the Westwood Pub Devils.
The B’s even the series at 1-1 and force a deciding contest this week to determine who will face the Northland Nissan Assault in the Prince George Senior Lacrosse Finals starting on July 16.
The designated home team shut out the Devils 4-0 after the first period, thanks to 11 saves from goaltender Dalan Etter and two goals from Doug Schonewille.
The Devils bench replaced netminder Steven Brizan with Patrick Bayliss with over three minutes left in the second stanza after giving up a couple of goals within a short span.
However, the Devils would outscore the Bandits 5-4 in the same frame, two coming off the strings of Danton Nicholson and getting them within three goals (8-5) after 40 minutes.
Despite the effort, Westwood would only get as close as two before the final buzzer.
Each team scored two goals in the third period, including an empty-netter from Jackson Parish from his own zone to seal the Bandits’ victory.
Etter had a 33-save performance, while the Devils had a total of 29 stops between Brizan and Bayliss between the pipes.
Devils’ Scott Anderson had a game-high three assists.
There were 62 penalty minutes in Game Two, 46 of which came from a frustrated Devils squad.
The Bandits now have a chance to eliminate the defending champions and possibly advance to their fourth consecutive Finals to compete for the Dale Rolufs Memorial Trophy.
Game Three is slated for tomorrow (July 11), 8 p.m. from Kin 1 Arena.
