BROOKS, AB (April 19, 2024) – Johnny Hicks won his first ever playoff start and the Brooks Bandits won their first ever BCHL Playoff game, taking Game 1 by blanking the Okotoks Oilers 4-0 on Friday night at the Centennial Regional Arena.
Hicks (Kamloops, BC) made 43 saves, and the goals started to come, mostly in the 2nd period. The Bandits built a 4-0 lead and held on for the shutout win. The Bandits lead the Best-of-Seven Alberta Semifinal series 1-0, with Game 2 scheduled for Saturday, April 20th at the CRA. Puck drop is 7:00 pm.
Forward Nathan Free (Calgary, AB) opened the scoring 3:41 into the 1st period, taking a pass off the wall from linemate Logan Sawyer (Orangeville, ON) and sniped a low-blocker side shot to make it 1-0. Hicks made 13 saves on the Oilers in the period, including a clutch point-blank chance from forward Jagger Tapper.
The Bandits doubled the lead 4:49 into the 2nd period, as forward Parker Lalonde (Aberdeen, SK) cleaned up a loose puck off a Nick Peluso (Rochester, NY) toe-drag and drove to the net. The Bandits extended the lead to 3-0 at 13:11 as Sawyer one-timed a behind-the-net pass from Free. Just 16 seconds later, the Oilers turned the puck over to forward Nic DeGraves (Edmonton, AB), who fed Hunter Wallace (Oak Lake, MB) at the front of the Oiler net. Wallace slid in a backhander past Oilers starter Christian Green to make it 4-0.
Brooks went 3/3 on the penalty kill, including a key five-on-three kill late in the 2nd to preserve the lead. Hicks held the fort for his first ever playoff win, and first playoff shutout. He recorded seven in the regular season.
Schedule:
- Game 1: Brooks 4 vs Okotoks 0
- Game 2: Sat, April 20 @ Brooks
- Game 3: Tue, April 23 @ Okotoks
- Game 4: Wed, April 24 @ Okotoks
- Game 5: Fri, April 26 @ Brooks*
- Game 6: Sun, April 28 @ Okotoks*
- Game 7: Tue, April 30 @ Brooks*
All Games 7:00 PM
*if necessary
