Brooks, Alberta – The Brooks Bandits fell 4-3 to the Trail Smoke Eaters almost ten minutes into overtime (9:02). It was tightly contested all night long with Brooks overcoming a two goal lead to tie it up.
It was easy to tell in the first period just how much of a tight checking game it was going to be. Erik Pastro put one away for the Smoke Eaters at the 6:35 mark of the first period. Cade De St. Hubert extended the lead for Trail at the 11:42 mark of the frame but Liam Fitzpatrick buried a goal at 18:06 to not only score his fourth goal in as many games, but also bring down the Smoke Eater’s lead to one.
In the second period, Cooper Struckel buried one on Zach Zahara to extend the lead to two for the second time of the game. Jack Good didn’t let that lead marinate for long, however. On the power play, Jack Good put one top shelf from the right circle (11:50).
The third period was back-and-forth the entire time; no one maintained possession for long with incredible chances going both ways. Dmitrijs Delevka finally tied it up at the 12:20 mark after a prolonged Bandits offensive possession.
It went deep into overtime, a period that even a casual hockey fan was on the edge of their seats for. Nine minutes and two seconds in Christian Kim of the Trail Smoke Eaters put one by Zach Zahara and won the game for the Smoke Eaters, extending their win streak to six. They have not lost this season.
Zach Zahara was named the second star of the game and for good reason. He made twenty-six saves on twenty-nine shots with at least seven of them being of high difficulty.
The Bandits now go on hiatus for a little over a week and are back in action in Abbotsford, BC on October 14th when they play the Powell River Kings in the BCHL showcase.
