Brooks, AB (March 28, 2025) – In his BCHL debut, goaltender Griffin Wright did all he could with 36 saves in the Bandits crease, but the Spruce Grove Saints came back to win 4-3 in overtime on Friday at the Centennial Regional Arena.
The Bandits finish with a 20-5-2 record at home at the CRA. The overtime loss means the Bandits finish in 2nd place, and will face the West Kelowna Warriors in the 1st round of the playoffs. Wright made 36 saves in the game.
In the opening frame, there was no scoring thanks to both goaltenders as the Bandits had the edge in shots 15-13.
In the 2nd period, the Bandits came out firing as forward Jace Letoruneau tipped in the Keith McInnis point shot to make it 1-0 for the Bandits 1:27 into the frame. Just over one minute later, forwad Dante Siciliano cleaned up a loose puck from a Davide Patella drive to the net for his 2nd of the year to extend the Bandits lead to 2-0. Just ahead of the halfway point in the period, Saints forward Matheson Mason scored a five hole tuck past goaltender Wright.
In the third period, the Saints tied the game with a rebound shot from Marko Djordjevic to make it a 2-2 game. Just 17 seconds later, forward Luke Bibby picked up the missed pass ahead of the blue line and fired a wrist shot glove side to put the Bandits back ahead 3-2. Over a minute later Josh Polak tied the game for the Saints once again as the teams continued to fire back and forth. The game went to overtime tied at three a piece.
In the ot period, Griffin Wright came up with a big glove save short handed to keep the Bandits alive. With just over five minutes left in the ot period, James Richards found the open slot pass and scored on the five hole to win 4-3.
The Bandits’ Regular Season finale is Saturday, March 29th when they visit the Okotoks Oilers. Game time is 7:05 pm on New Country 105.7 FM.
