In honour of Remembrance Day and supporting the Royal Canadian Legion, the Fort McMurray Oil Barons sported bright white jerseys full of poppies Friday night as they battled the Brooks Bandits.
The Bandits are ranked as the top team in the country and it certainly showed at times in the game as the Bandits (18-2-0) came away with a 4-1 win.
The Oil Barons (9-7-5) were coming off a huge win Wednesday night against Sherwood Park and got off on the right foot when Reed Morison beat Pierce Charleson from the left circle 5:59 into the first period.
From there, the Bandits would score four unanswered and played strong defence to stifle any MOB chances.
William Lemay would tie the game 1-1 in the first period when he slipped through the MOB defence undetected and took a pass before tucking the puck around the pad of Chris Curr.
The Barons skated with the Bandits through one period with the shots tied 8-8 but in the second, it was the RBC Cup hosts who dominated, outshooting the MOB 20-6 in the period.
Ryan Mahshie scored 1:01 into the frame with a long shot that seemed to handcuff Curr as it tipped off his glove and fell into the net. The Bandits struck again moments later when a deflected point shot bounced around the crease until finding Jakob Lee at the side of the goal to tap it in.
A powerplay goal at 6:09 of the second period from Arnaud Vachon was all the scoring the Bandits needed as they struck three times in a five minute span to take over the game.
“It just goes to show you that against exceptional teams you can’t take shifts off because they’re going to make you pay,” said MOB Head Coach Tom Keca. “It’s one thing to show up to the party, it’s another thing to get engaged and we had a lot of guys show up at the party but not a lot of guys who wanted to engage.”
The Barons would get three powerplays in the third period but couldn’t generate anything as the Bandits completely shut them down. The MOB’s streak of six consecutive games with a powerplay goal was snapped as they went 0-4 with the man-advantage.
“You can not beat a team like Brooks when even one facet of your game is not executing and I thought our powerplay was weak, our entries were atrocious and I’m sure (Chris) Curr would like to have a few of those (goals) back,” said Keca.
The Barons will finish up a busy week of games Saturday night when they host the Camrose Kodiaks at the Casman Centre. The MOB will once again be wearing their Remembrance Day jerseys. Bids can be placed on the jerseys at the Casman Centre until the end of the 2nd intermission of Saturday’s game in person or by calling 780-743-5509. All proceeds will be given to the Fort McMurray Legion.
MOB Head Coach Tom Keca on the Country 93.3 post-game show.
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