Brooks, Alberta – The Brooks Bandits will host the Spruce Grove Saints and Sherwood Park Crusaders this weekend for their first back-to-back homestand of this regular-season campaign.
“They are division rivals so they are no doubt going to be good games,” said forward Makaio Van Tassel. “They are tough teams so we have to take them seriously, stick to our gameplan, work hard and we should get the wins.”
Van Tassel is off to a hot start, scoring four goals over his first two games, including two penalty-shot conversions, but says that is in due part to the meticulous schedule of the Bandits.
“It is definitely a grind, no other team has this structure in the BCHL,” added Van Tassel. “I have [played] for two other teams [in the BCHL] before, and no one has it like this. The compete level [in Brooks] is just amazing.”
They will need that compete level Friday when they take on the Saints, who are coming off back-to-back wins this past weekend, including scoring 10 combined goals. Returning forward Felix Haibock leads the way with four points, including two goals in two games.
Brooks is coming off two very different games this past weekend. On Friday, in their season opener against Blackfalds, they got ahead by two early in he second period but then gave up four unanswered goals and eventually lost 6-4. On Saturday, they hosted the Okotoks Oilers and were able to handle them, winning 4-2. The Oilers took 15 penalty minutes, including a seven-minute Bandits power play late in the third period, sealing the win for the Bandits.
The Crusaders will be seeking revenge following an opening weekend that saw them lose both games in regulation, conceding 10 goals compared to scoring four. Dmitry Pavlov leads the team in scoring with two goals.
Outside of Van Tassel, the Bandits have five other players operating at a point-per-game clip or better. Dmitrijs Dilevka has posted two assists in each of his first two games so far, Zachary Deleau has a goal and two assists, while Rylan Hue, Jeremy Leroux and Alexei Zhukov all have two points so far this season.
The Bandits are currently third in the Interior East Division and sit behind the Blackfalds Bulldogs and the Spruce Grove Saints, who are both undefeated.
Puck drop for both games will be at 7:00 p.m. MT.
