West Kelowna, BC (November 1, 2024) – Johnny Hicks made 24 saves in a near shutout as the Brooks Bandits secured a 4-1 win over the West Kelowna Warriors on Friday at Royal LePage Place, the team’s third straight win.
The victory brings the Bandits record to 13-1 on the season, as Hicks was named 1st Star allowing just one goal in the final 10 seconds.
In the first period, forward Nick Peluso fired home the opening goal of the game from the left circle thanks to a Mathieu Taillefer pass to put the Bandits in the lead. Just under two minutes later, Princeton committed forward Jack Rosensteel picked up the loose puck in front and netted his third goal of the season to double the Bandits lead to 2-0. Just 1:20 later, forward Nathan Free was given open space on the right circle to walk in and ripped it top shelf over the glove of Dawson Labre on the powerplay to extend the lead to 3-0. Just passed the halfway point in the period, Johnny Hicks made an incredible diving glove save on a Warriors two-on-one to keep the Warriors off the scoresheet.
In the second period, the Warriors pushed back and were able to level the shots but just before the halfway point of the period, forward Jace Letourneau picked up the loose puck from the front of the net and backhanded it in the net to record his first goal of the season in his first game to make it 4-0, chasing Labre from the net.
The third period had a continuous Warrior push but Hicks stood tall. As the period went on the after whistle scrums increased and with just nine seconds remaining in the game Jack Farrell threw the puck on net and found a way through to put the Warriors on the board.
The Bandits penalty kill went 5/5, while the powerplay went 1/3.
The Bandits head to Penticton on Saturday, November 2nd in a battle of the top two teams in the BCHL. Game time is 6:00 pm Pacific at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
