Sherwood Park, AB (December 13, 2024 ) – Johnny Hicks stopped 35 shots, including a massive pad save late in the third, preserving a 4-2 revenge win over the Crusaders on Friday at the Randy Rosen Rink, the Bandits third straight win.
The Bandits (21-4) have won three straight on the road to open December thanks to goals from Julian Fantino, AJ Lacroix, Ethan Beyer and Nick Peluso, who was named the BCHL 2nd Star of Week earlier this week.
In the opening frame, the Bandits came out on the front foot as they pushed for an early goal just less than three minutes in. Forward Julian Fantino picked up his second goal of the season as he found the loose puck in the slot and fired it home past Crusaders starter James Venne. Just three minutes later, the Bandits were on the powerplay as the puck was won back to defenceman Keith McInnis, where he passed it off to Nick Peluso, who found forward AJ Lacroix to bang the puck home to double the Bandits lead to 2-0. Just at the halfway point Loranger had an opportunity in the slot and hit the outside of the left post of Johnny Hicks net. Hicks made three big stops at the end of the period with his pad to keep the Crusaders off the board.
In the second period, defenceman Ethan Beyer sniped the puck bar down to increase the Bandits lead to 3-0. In the final minute of the frame, Sherwood Park forward Alex Dimitriadis backhanded the puck past the glove side of Hicks to put the Crusaders on the board as they still trailed 3-1.
In the final period, forward Nick Peluso scored six minutes in to put the Bandits further ahead at 4-1 but just a few moments later on the powerplay, Jeremy Loranger scored his 16th of the season to bring the Crusaders right back into the game down by two. The Crusaders pulled the net late and had chances but the Bandits held on for the win. Hicks made a massive pad save on a Matthew Frost backdoor chance.
The Bandits face the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Saturday, December 14th in the last game before the Christmas break. Game time is 7:00 pm.
