The Brooks Bandits played 75 games, 60 in the regular season and 15 in the playoffs, and not once were they shut out.
Leave it to the Prince George Spruce Kings to spoil it for them.
Backed by a 30-save effort from Logan Neaton, they stung the Bandits 2-0 Friday night in Game 1 of the Doyle Cup championship in Brooks, Alta.
Ben Poisson and Max Coyle provided all the offence the Kings needed to take the opener in the best-of-seven series to decide the Pacific regional junior A hockey champion.
The Kings wasted no time grabbing the lead. Poisson scored his 14th of the playoffs just 59 seconds into the game. His linemate Chong Min Lee took the puck from Nick Poisson and unleashed a backhand shot from the side of the net that was stopped by Pierce Charleson. Lee got the rebound and from behind the goal line fed the puck into the slot for Ben Poisson, and the Kings captain buried his shot with a quick release.
After a scoreless second period, Kings defenceman Coyle collected his fourth of the playoffs, an unassisted effort 13:18 into the third period. He carried the puck into the Brooks zone and while facing three Bandits defenders dragged the puck into the middle to let go a low wrist shot that got through a screen and caught the bottom of Charleson's glove as it traveled into the net.
"I had a pretty good shot in the first period on a 1-on-3 when they were screening the goalie and I didn't capitalize there so it was nice to get another shot," said Coyle, 21, a University of Alabama-Huntsville recruit. "I cut to the middle and kind of got lucky and snuck one by him."
The Spruce Kings' well-established work habits defending their own zone proved the difference. Forwards and defencemen blocked shots, cleared up rebounds and were physical when they had to be to keep their opponents off the scoreboard. The Bandits were their own were enemies at times, fanning on one-timers while facing open looks or missing with their shots.
Neaton, as he has been all season, was sharp, especially in the second period and late in the game when the Bandits mounted many of their most dangerous opportunities. With the goalie out for the final two minutes Neaton was kept busy but did not flinch. He robbed Jakob Lee on a point-blank shot to the far side in the dying seconds with a flick of the wrist Coyle called the nicest glove save he's seen his goalie make all season.
"Everyone knows about Logan, he's the Number 1 goalie in our league and after you watch that game or any one of our last 30 games you'll know why he's Number 1-rated because he comes up with big plays," said Coyle. "If they score with ten of 15 seconds left, that's a 2-1 game and it's different hockey game right there. He never takes a night off, which is exactly what we need to win a championship."
Neaton lowered his goals-against average to 1.50 while posting his third shutout of the playoffs. The 21-year-old from Brighton, Mich., is giving the Kings the kind of goaltending they will need when they join the Bandits in the five-team national championship in Brooks, May 11-19.
"It's always nice to get the first one out of the way, especially when you start on the road, that was the most important thing for us heading into the series and now we can just refocus on tomorrow," said Neaton.
"Honestly I kind of owed that one to my team, they were great in front of me all night and made my life pretty easy back there. That shutout goes to my d-corps, they were pretty phenomenal. I didn't have to do too much work out there."
Charleson made 20 saves as the games second star and his best stop came eight minutes into the third period when Dustin Manz set up Sean Donaldson with a backhand pass just in front of the crease. Donaldson got all his might into the shot but the Brooks goalie shot across in time to get his glove in the way. The Kings had been outshot 8-1 in the period up until that point.
Another bright spot for the Spruce Kings was their penalty killing, taking on a power play that was percolating at a 21 per cent success rate through 15 Alberta Junior Hockey League playoff games. The Kings took three minors in the opening period and in two of them held Brooks without a shot. They frustrated the Bandits with smart stick placement that deflected passes and rarely allowed any shots to get through the middle of the ice, allowing Neaton good views of the puck.
"I thought we battled some adversity tonight within the game," said Kings head coach Adam Maglio. "The start was good and we had a bit of lapse in the second and I felt we were good in the third. We had two minutes of 6-on-5 and that made it a little tougher. Killing three penalties in the first wasn't ideal."
Neaton was the obvious first star and Maglio was impressed with his rebound control.
"He did a good job making some saves through traffic, which aren't easy," said Maglio. "Besides a couple odd-man rushes we did a pretty good job at limiting any inside shots and inside chances. They're an offensive team and we've got to clean up a few things (Saturday) and be a bit sharper for 60 minutes."
With that win the Kings have won 15 straight games in the playoffs to improve their postseason record to 17-1. They've come out on the winning end of 26 of their last 28 games. Coyle could not overstate the importance of drawing first blood in the series.
"We weren't really sure what we were up against, we could have spanked them 8-0 or the other way around, they could have spanked us 8-0, and obviously a huge part of the series us getting that first game under our belt," said Coyle.
Game 2 of the series is tonight in Brooks (6 p.m. PT). If the Kings win the series will be coming back to Prince George right away for the rest of the series. Game 3 would be played Tuesday at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena, with Game 4 to follow Wednesday night. Games 5, 6 and 7, if necessary, would then follow next Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
If the Bandits win tonight, the teams will play a third game in Brooks Sunday night. The series would then resume in Prince George with Game 4 on Wednesday, with the remaining games scheduled for the following Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.
Doyle Cup championship
Prince George Spruce Kings vs. Brooks Bandits
(Spruce Kings lead best-of-seven series 1-0)
Game 1
In Brooks, Alta.
Spruce Kings 2 at Bandits 0
Friday summary
First Period
1. Prince George, B.Poisson 14 (Lee, N.Poisson) 0:59
Penalties - Vanroboys PG (roughing) 1:09, Keranen PG (boarding) 6:33, Manz PG (hooking) 12:30.
Second Period
No scoring.
Penalties - Theis BKS (elbowing) 5:19.
Third Period
2. Prince George, Coyle 4, 13:18
Penalties - None.
Shots on goal by
Prince George 11 5 6 -22
Brooks 6 9 15 -30
Goal - Prince George, Neaton (W,17-1); Brooks, Charleson (L,12-4).
Power plays - PG: 0-1; BKS: 0-3.
Atttendance - 1,375.
