Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Bandits make it a series with Game 3 road win

Press Release

Down 2-0 in the series and 2-0 late in the second period of Game 3, the Brooks Bandits summoned the effort necessary to earn a 4-3 comeback win over the Penticton Vees making the Doyle Cup a much more interesting series.

After a scoreless first period, Travis St. Denis thrilled the crowd of 3,006 as he poked the puck loose in the neutral zone and went in on a partial breakaway to slip the puck past Jan Obernesser making it 1-0 Vees.

Curtis Loik doubled the Vees lead later in the period at the end of an effective Vees shift in the Bandits’ zone. Loik put the puck through the legs of a Brooks defenceman and then beat Obernesser to make it 2-0.

But the Bandits did not roll over and go away. Just after a lengthy delay as goalie Obernesser appeared to be shaking off an injury and with just more than two minutes to go in the second, Matt Wilkins deflected a shot past Michael Garteig to get Brooks on the board. Shortly after that, Cam MacLise tied it up 2-2 just before the teams skated off for the second intermission.

Penticton retook the lead early in the third on Mario Lucia’s second goal of the series but the Vees couldn’t make it stand up as they proceeded to be penalized twice in the final frame giving the Bandits life. At 8:05, it was MacLise again tying the game with a power-play goal. Overtime appeared a possibility but with 1:48 to go, defenceman Colton Semenok fired a perfect shot beating Garteig high for the game-winner.

The road team has now won each game of the series. Game 4 is slated for 7 p.m. Wednesday at the South Okanagan Events Centre.

(Nathan can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)

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