We’ve got ourselves a series.
The Brooks Bandits made sure of that Saturday night in Brooks where they skated to a 3-1 win over the Prince George Spruce Kings in Game 2 of the Doyle Cup championship to tie the best-of-seven Pacific regional championship series 1-1.
Tanner Campbell, Arnaud Vachon and Jakob Lee did the damage offensively for Brooks. Finn Williams was the lone goalscorer for Prince George, whose 15-game winning streak in the playoffs came to an end.
“You’re not going to win them all so it’s good we go through this now rather than later,” said Kings head coach Adam Maglio. “Brooks is a good team and it’s a good series, to be honest and it’s nice going through this (adversity) because you’re going to see good teams at the national championship.”
It was an abrupt turnaround for the Bandits in the opening 20 minutes compared to their first period in Friday’s 2-0 loss to Prince George. The Alberta Junior Hockey League-champs looked more like the team that went 57-3 in the regular season. They outshot the Kings 22-3 and came out of it with a 2-0 lead.
Prince George goalie Logan Neaton was the only reason it wasn’t 7-0.
Campbell opened with the Bandits’ first goal of the series three minutes in. The Kings got caught watching Simon Boyko with the puck on his stick behind the Kings’ net and fed a pass to Campbell unguarded in the slot.
The Bandits continued to pour on the pressure and found the net again while on their first of four power plays. Arnaud Vachon took a pass while standing just off the post and swept a shot along the ice in through Neaton’s legs.
Neaton, who blocked 30 shots for his third playoff shutout Friday, robbed Bandits captain Ryan Mashie with a toe save not long after Vachon had scored. Before the period ended, Neaton made another point-blank kick save to deny Andrew Lucas, then got his blocker in front of a labelled drive from Bandits captain Nathan Plessis. Outshot 22-3, the Kings had to be counting their blessings they were still in the game. Neaton was a deserving recipient of third-star honours.
The Kings found their skating legs in an evenly-played second period and had the Bandits pinned in their own zone for extended period several times in the period. Sean Donaldson was foiled on a 2-on-1 tip-in saved by Brooks goalie Pierce Charleson and Kings defenceman Nick Bochen nailed the goalpost about seven minutes into the period.
Williams cut the lead in half 15:50 into the second, converting on another odd-man rush which started as a 3-on-1 the other way for the Bandits. Simon Gravel came close to making it 3-0 for Brooks when he chipped a low shot along the ice that bounced off the glove of a sprawling Neaton. Before Brandon Scanlin could whack in the rebound, Sean Donaldson swatted the puck to the side wall and took off, chipping the puck ahead to Williams and he skated into the Brooks zone and filed away a high shot from the left circle into the top corner. It was the second goal for the just-turned 16-year-old Williams, who joined the Kings for the third round of the BCHL playoffs.
“We’ve been fortunate to have him as a full-time player because he can play nd he can contribute,” said Maglio. “He’s been very good and another goal, it’s pretty nice when your (fourth line) contributes like that.”
The Bandits got their insurance goal 6:22 into the third period. Lee picked up a rebound in the slot and fired off a high snapshot that sailed in over Neaton’s right shoulder. Lee played a solid game at centre as the first star of the game, winning more than his share of faceoffs and using his body to force turnovers and win puck battles.
The Kings’ comeback attempts late in the period were foiled by a too-many-men bench penalty with 1:38 left. The shots ended 41-14 in the Bandits’ favour.
It was the only the second loss the postseason for the Spruce Kings, whose record stands at 17-2. The Bandits are 13-4 in the playoffs. Both teams are qualified for the five-team national junior A hockey championship in Brooks, May 11-19.
This one had a nastier edge than Friday’s opener. Although there were only seven minor penalties assessed there was more pushing and shoving after play stoppages and the teams spent a lot of time chirping at each other. That sets the stage for an interesting Game 3 Sunday night (6 p.m. PT) in Brooks.
Then the series switches to Prince George with the remainder of the games to be played at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena, Wednesday, Thursday and if necessary, Saturday and Sunday.
“We took one here in the first two and we’re not bummed out,” said Maglio. “We did well in the second and in the third we could have capitalized on a couple of Grade-As – Nick Poisson had a breakaway, a 2-on-1 and it just didn’t go in for us tonight. We’ll regroup and we have a three-in-three (playing the third game in three days Sunday night), which we’re used to in Prince George. We don’t mind that because we see a lot of three-in-threes in the regular season.”
Kings defenceman Jay Keranen left the game I the first period with an upper-body injury and did not return. Maglio said he aggravated a previous injury and he will be assessed on a day-to-day basis.
Doyle Cup
Prince George Spruce Kings vs. Brooks Bandits
(Best-of-seven series tied 1-1)
Game 2
Saturday summary
Spruce Kings 1 at Bandits 3
First Period
1. Brooks, Campbell 4 (Boyko, Lucas) 3:01
2. Brooks, Vachon 7 (Mashie, Christy) 8:44 (pp)
Penalties – Christy Bks (goaltender interference) 4:56, Anhorn PG (tripping) 9:20, Brar PG (hooking) 16:51.
Second Period
3. Prince George, Williams 2 (Donaldson) 15:50
Penalties – None.
Third Period
4. Brooks, Lee 5 (Campbell, Boyko) 6:22
Penalties – Manz PG (high-sticking) 6:25 PG bench (too many men, served by Wilson) 17:22, Lee Bks (tripping) 18:16.
Shots of goal by
Prince George3 7 4 -14
Brooks22 10 9 -41
Goal – Prince George, Neaton (L,17-2); Brooks, Charleson (W,13-4).
Power plays – PG: 0-2; Bks: 1-4.
Referees – Clayton Hall, Tyler Jensen; Linesmen – Jason Nedinis, Devin Kohlhauser.
Attendance – 1.191.
