The Brooks Bandits came back from a two-goal deficit with 20 minutes left to play to beat the CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins 6-4 in the final Crescent Point Energy Western Canada Cup (WCC) round-robin game at Affinity Place on Thursday.
Jesse Baird got the Bandits' comeback started 19 seconds into the third period when he poked in a rebound that was lying in Bruins goaltender Daniel Wapple's crease bringing his team to within a goal at 4-3. Bandits forward Josh McKechney evened the score eight minutes later on the power play with a shot through traffic from the top of the circle that found the back of the net low stick side.
Bruins right wing Lynnden Pastachak had a chance to put his team ahead once again with just under eight minutes left in the third when he corralled a bounce off the back glass at the side of the net and fired it into Bandits netminder Josh Davies' glove. Brooks went ahead 5-4 with 2:35 left in the game when Logan Mick found himself at the hash marks with the puck on his stick and the only thing between him and the back of the net being Wapple. Mick skated in, went cross crease moving the goaltender along with him and backhanded a shot low glove side.
After falling behind 2-0 after the first 22 minutes of the game on Bandits' goals by Leif Mattson in the first period and Landon Welykholowa a little over a minute into the middle frame, the Bruins exploded for four straight goals in a seven-minute segment in the middle of the second period. Bruins left wing Darcy DeRoose scored his first of the tournament at the 6:08 mark by backhanding a rebound high glove side on Davies from the slot. DeRoose scored his second three-and-a-half minutes later finding the back of the net on his second swipe at a rebound lying at the top of the crease.
Tyson Predinchuk put the Bruins ahead 3-2 with 8:48 to go in the second period when he tapped in a saucer pass from DeRoose at the side of the crease. Bruins centre Keaton Longpre then put his team up by two at the 12:42 mark firing a shot through a screen from the side wall that went top corner blocker side.
The Bandits (4-0) will face the West Kelowna Warriors (3-1) in the WCC one-vs-two game at Affinity Place on Saturday evening, with the winner earning a spot at the May 14-22 RBC Cup in Lloyminster. The loser will face the winner of the Portage Terriers (2-1-1) and Melfort Mustangs (1-3) three-vs-four game on Sunday afternoon. The Bruins (0-4) were eliminated from the WCC playoffs in a 2-1 loss to the Mustangs on Tuesday evening.
