Goaltender Zach Zahara stopped 22 shots to lift the Bandits over the Crusaders for their fourth straight win.
In the opening frame, the Bandits and Crusaders were level for most of the period until Crusaders forward Bode Sampair scored his first of the season with only five seconds remaining in the period to put the Crusaders up 1-0 ahead of the break.
In the 2nd period, defenceman Connor Gengle doubled up the Crusaders lead with an early goal that was tipped in to put Sherwood Park up 2-0. Bandits defenceman Drew Mackie responded just three minutes later with a point shot to get the Bandits on the board, 2-1. Later in the period, Crusaders forward Poul Andersen fired home his 27th goal of the season on a one-timer pass from Jeremy Loranger to bring the Crusaders to a 3-1 lead.
In the final period, with just under eight minutes to go, Sherwood Park got into penalty trouble. Bibby tipped in the Letourneau point shot to put the Bandits only one goal behind on the power play. Just under two minutes later, Bibby got his 2nd of the night on a Beyer shot as he tipped it past Crusaders goaltender James Venne to tie the game 3-3. Three minutes later, defenceman Keith McInnis picked up his own rebound on a right circle wrist shot and fired the puck home to put the Bandits up 4-3 late in the game. The Bandits would ice the game with a Davide Patella empty net goal to defeat the Crusaders 5-3. Final shots were 36-25 Brooks.
The Bandits head to Cranbrook to take on the Bucks on Saturday, March 22nd. Game time is 7:00 pm.
