The Lloydminster Bandits needed every minute of a wild weekend of North Eastern Alberta Junior B Hockey League action to preserve their unblemished record, capping it off with a dramatic 6-5 overtime victory against the Wainwright Bisons on Oct. 11.
Read more: Bandits edge Wheat Kings 6-5 in high-scoring affair
Corvan Stewart played the hero 3:21 into extra time, hammering home the overtime winner at the Wainwright Peace Memorial Multiplex to secure the 4-0-1 start for the Bandits.
For the first 40 minutes, it looked as though the visiting Bandits would cruise to a routine win, building a 4-1 lead behind goals from Logan Flewell, Jake Redden, and a pair from Cash Parkin. However, physical play and mounting penalties disrupted the flow in the final frame, sparking a furious four-goal surge from the Bisons capped by Mason Ganser and Drew Stang to give Wainwright a brief 5-4 lead.
Facing total collapse, Bronson Parker — who finished with a stellar four-point night — netted a clutch unassisted short-handed marker at 10:00 to level the score at 5-5 and force sudden-death. Stewart then sealed it in the extra frame off setups from Flewell and Parker, while netminder Devyn Orbeck turned aside 30 of 35 shots for the win.
The dramatic Sunday finish followed another high-scoring affair earlier in the weekend for the Border City squad. On Saturday night at the Cenovus Energy Hub, the Lloydminster Bandits fended off a fierce late-game push by the Killam Wheat Kings to pull out another narrow 6-5 victory.
In that contest, the Bandits jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the opening period on goals from Adryan Bugiera, Kobi Weber, and a power-play marker by Carson Mazzei. Lloydminster extended that cushion to 5-0 in the middle frame before Killam clawed back with three straight goals, including tallies from Cade Schatschneider and Dylan Kruchten.
After Maddux Woodbury restored a three-goal margin early in the third with a shorthanded strike, the Wheat Kings continued to press with goals from Jordan Gagnon and Schatschneider’s second of the night. Goaltender Ryan Stepanick stood tall under heavy pressure, turning aside 36 of 41 shots to lock down the victory amid a physical battle that featured 72 total penalty minutes.
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