Brooks, Alberta – The Brooks Bandits will visit the Powell River Kings and the Victoria Grizzlies this weekend as they head to Vancouver Island for the second time as members of the BCHL. Their only other trip was to Nanaimo last season during the BCHL Rogers Cup.
The Bandits defeated the Vernon Vipers 8-3 after the first intermission, where they were knotted up at three apiece.
“Vernon is a very good team… they are fast,” said Assistant Coach Ryan Wilkinson post-game Friday. “We knew they were going to push the pace, so we knew that if we manage pucks and control pace, it really takes their offensive ability away, and it showed on the scoreboard.”
On Saturday, the Bandits visited Sherwood Park for the second time this season and fell 8-6 in a high-scoring affair.
“It was a very winnable hockey game,” said Assistant Coach Keven Sajinovic Saturday. “When you score six goals in a game, it is more than enough to win… We did this to ourselves.”
The Powell River Kings sit at just a 6-6-1 record, but the Bandits know not to take their Vancouver Island opponents lightly. The Bandits have just one win against the Coastal West division this season, including an overtime loss to the fifth-place Cowichan Valley Capitals just under two weeks ago. Their lone regulation loss against Coastal West opponents came against Victoria during the BCHL Showcase in Nisku, Alberta. They will visit Victoria on Halloween seeking revenge.
There will be a familiar face in Powell River, as former Bandits defenceman Mark Konstantinov is set to face Brooks for the first time since winning a championship with the club last season. He has one point in 12 games for the Kings.
Kings Head Coach Brennan Menard has plenty of experience with the Brooks Bandits, as he was the head coach of the Sherwood Park Crusaders for the past three seasons, posting a 111-55-9 record with the franchise. His team pushed the Bandits to the brink last year in the second round of the BCHL playoffs, forcing a Game 7 that saw the Bandits cruise to a comfortable win.
Michael Mikan is the Kings’ leading scorer and is plenty familiar with Brooks, having played in 41 combined games for both the Okotoks Oilers and the Sherwood Park Crusaders last season. Brooks held the Harvard commit to just one point during their seven-game series against each other. Mikan has 17 points in 13 games this season and leads his club in goals with eight.
The Bandits will be seeking revenge versus the Victoria Grizzlies, having lost to them two weeks ago in Nisku by a score of 4-2. Former Bandit goaltender Mikus Vecvanags is their star, posting nine wins over 12 starts, along with a 2.01 GAA and a .938 SV%. The Montreal Canadiens prospect started five games for the Bandits during the 2024-2025 season and won four of the matchups before having his rights traded to Victoria last season.
The Grizzlies are more of a defensive team, with only two players bumping along at more than a point-per-game pace (minimum six games played) and only four players in double figures for points on the season. The Bandits have scored 16 more goals than Victoria (59 – Brooks, 43 – Victoria), but have conceded 20 more (50 – Brooks, 30 – Victoria).
Despite their hot start, the Grizzlies have struggled lately dropping four of their last six games, with one of those wins coming against Brooks. They still sit atop the Coastal West standings with a 9-4-0 record.
Dmitrijs Dilevka leads all Bandits with 15 assists and 19 points, tied for second in the league. Bandits forward Makaio Van Tassel’s ten goals are tied for fifth in the league. Zachary Deleau leads all BCHL defencemen with 17 points and is tied for the league lead in goals by defencemen with four, including one coming last Saturday against Sherwood Park. Despite appearing in just seven games, forward Koby Francis is second in the BCHL in points per game with 1.71 (12 points). Okotoks’ Conner Radke, who was recently named the BCHL first star of the week, leads the league with 1.92.
Puck drop in Powell River will be at 7:00 pm PT, while in Victoria, it will be at 6:00 pm PT. All games will be streamed on FloHockey and New Country 105.7.
