The Brooks Bandits made their lone visit to the Casman Centre Friday night and in what was a fast paced back and forth contest, they handed the Fort McMurray Oil Barons their seventh straight loss.
The MOB hung tough against the league’s top team but fell 3-2, a third straight one goal loss for the club.
“They’re deep, you can’t key on one line they have nine players who have more points than our top scorer so they’re a pretty balanced hockey team and they’re structured and a well coached team. They’re pretty efficient and skilled, there’s no question about it but our guys held up well and I’m proud of the effort,” said MOB Head Coach Bob Beatty.
Chris Pappas got the visitor’s on the board 7:20 into the game when his shot slipped through the legs of Evan Fradette.
After a blockbuster deal Thursday that saw the MOB send Ryan Conroy and Jonathan Assayag to Spruce Grove, Colson Gengenbach and Riley Bodnarchuk were making their Oil Barons debuts and made an immediate impact.
Gengenbach was a wrecking ball in the first period as the 19 year old hit everything in sight and set the physical tone early.
In the second period, Bodnarchuk would tie the game with a long point shot that beat a screened Pierce Charleson.
“He’s a good all around defenceman who moves the puck very efficiently, makes good reads, doesn’t get caught out of position and I was very pleased with his play and Colson’s as well,” said Beatty of his two newest players. “Colson’s a good 200 foot player who can play anywhere in the line-up and that gives us some versatility for sure and different options and hopefully we can get some chemistry because those guys just arrived (Thursday night).”
With the Oil Barons moving their captain to the Saints, a new leadership group was named prior to the game. Second year Oil Baron Konrad Belcourt was named the team’s new captain with second year pivot Max Struss and 20 year old forward Ty Budai named as alternate captains.
“That was the consensus of the guys and the coaching staff. We have to re-set a little bit and I think there is a lot of leadership in the room and there’s a lot of players who don’t have letters that have a lot of experience and leadership and selflessness who can also set a good example,” said Beatty when asked why the time was right to name a full leadership group after the club went the first 23 games with just a captain.
The game remained tied until the mid-way point of the second period when Tim Rego broke in alone and beat Fradette on the short side to give the Bandits a 2-1 lead heading into the third period.
Randy Hernandez added to the lead at the 5:19 mark when the MOB got hemmed in their own zone for an extended period.
With the Oil Barons shorthanded late in the game, Hunter Leslie blocked a shot and broke away on a breakaway. After taking a slash and nearly losing his footing, Leslie roofed a shot past Charleson to cut the deficit to one.
The Barons remained shorthanded for the remainder of the game and could never get another chance as the Bandits improved to 24-1-0 on the season.
The MOB (7-16-1) are back in action Saturday night when they welcome the Camrose Kodiaks (10-9-2) to town. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Casman Centre.
