A late third-period line brawl capped the Brooks Bandits 4-2 win over the West Kelowna Warriors on the second afternoon of the Crescent Point Energy Western Canada Cup.
With 10 seconds remaining on the clock and the puck in the Bandits’ zone, Warriors forward Kyle Marino drove to the net and cross checked Brooks goaltender Garret Hughson. Every Bandit and Warriors skater on the ice jumped in with Marino and Hughson throwing punches.
Ryan Papaioannou, head coach and general manager of the 1-0 Bandits, said the cross check was a premeditated act on behalf of the Warriors coaching staff and that was evidenced by them replacing starting goaltender Matthew Greenfield for backup Keelan Williams 20 seconds before the play happened. He called the move “1970’s style” and something out of the movie Slap Shot, noting he can’t say exactly how he feels about it without getting handing a fine.
“It’s a disgrace to the whole tournament and the game,” said Papaioannou. “This is supposed to be about young guys, the way they play the game trying to move on to a national tournament, and we turn it into jumping other team’s goaltenders. I don’t understand it, but I guess that is a tactic they want to use and we’ll see at the end of the week if it pays off.”
Ryan Ferster, head coach and general manager of the 1-1 Warriors, said he didn’t send anyone out to hit Hughson and ending a game with a brawl is not what he wants to see. He said Greenfield was run three times during the game, so he can only assume their kids were not very happy.
“He’s our most valuable player,” said Ferster. “He’s one of the reasons we’re here and I’m sure the other team knows that. I mean they got nine minutes in (penalties) for running our goalie so for him to come in here and say that, he can say whatever he wants, but I certainly didn’t premeditate anything and tell guys to do that. I don’t tell guys to go out and do that.”
Brooks defenceman Jesse Baird got the Bandits on the board first with a shot from the blue line that eluded Greenfield glove side 3:11 into the first period. Warriors forward Brett Mennear, with his third of the tournament, evened the score when he picked up the puck in the neutral zone, skated down the wing and fired a shot from the bottom of the circle far side. The Warriors’ Quin Foreman put the team ahead 2-1 with one minute left in the first on a power-play marker from the top of the crease.
“We weren’t tired from last night,” said Warriors defenceman Scott Allan about having to play Brooks only 16 hours after facing the Estevan Bruins. “We got to play hockey back to back and we got to be ready for that. I think we were ready, but at times had a mental lapse.”
Bandits defenceman Tristan Thompson evened the score 2:16 into the second on a fluky goal that rebounded off Greenfield, hit a Warriors defenceman and bounced into the net. Brooks’ Cale Makar put the team ahead 3-2 with 31 seconds left in the frame on a shot from the point that found the low corner stick side. Jeff Malott then iced it for the Bandits with a short-handed marker 1:53 into the third.
“It was actually a great play by (Jared) Cockrell wheeling it down the wing and saucing that one back door for me,” said Malott. “It was just a quick tap-in, but we came into this knowing that West K gave up a fair amount of short-handed goals against and we knew that if we kept our feet moving we were going to be able to take advantage of that and we went out there and did.”
