By Robb Fenton
After a few up and down weekends, this was exactly what the Lloydminster Bandits were looking for.
The Bandits faced one of their toughest weekends of the year, hosting the Cold Lake Ice and the Wainwright Bisons, but they rose to the occasion and walked away with two hard-fought and gutsy wins.
Friday, the Bandits climbed back from a 3-0 deficit to earn a 5-4 win over the Ice and Saturday, the Bandits built up a 5-0 lead before hanging on to the Bisons 5-3.
Bandits head coach Jason Newman said said loved the way his team battled both nights and earned two big wins.
“I think it’s huge for our guys. The rest of the league probably knew we were there with the top teams, but for our guys, it was a big character win Friday night. I’m very proud of them how they came back from the early deficit and played hard,” Newman explained. “Saturday was a little sloppier and lots of penalties, but the boys got it done and Klynt (Spencer) played a really good game in net for us. Just a big weekend like this, coming away with four points at home is huge.”
Newman said his team did a quick 180 after the first period of Friday’s game as they gave up three goals on 10 shots, but turned things around and outshot the Ice 16-10 the rest of the way and outscored them 5-1 to pick up the win.
“We just came out with more intensity and desire and hard work in the second. Mike McKay and Maz (Cody Mazerolle) got us sparked with a couple fights and it seemed to sparked the guys and they played their butts off the rest of the game,” Newman said. “That was a big win against Cold Lake.”
While both nights it was a team effort, Kodi Sawka had a big night Friday, scoring twice, with Anthony Regnier, Todd McNaughton and Kyle Cummings adding singles.
Saturday, Sawka and Regnier scored again, while Nathan Newman added one and Kyle Stark scored twice, including the game winner.
Stark said this was a big weekend for his team heading into some time off.
“Saturday was big and it was nice to get the two points, but our biggest game was Friday night against Cold Lake, against the top team in the league. It was good to get the four points and now we’re looking forward to a weekend off,” Stark said.
Stark said he was very proud of his team for not giving up Friday night when they were trailing 3-0 after the first period.
He said they stuck to the game plan and it paid off in the end,
“It was just hard work and we knew we needed to get the puck deep, keep it simple and keep banging out there. Things started to go our way, we got a couple bounces and we put the puck in the net,” Stark explained.
The two wins, Stark said, are big for a few reasons.
They obviously improved the Bandits record, but they also put them within two points of Cold Lake for top spot in the league and they have two games in hand.
“It shows we are a top contender in this league and taking out the number one team is great. It was a great weekend for us,” Stark said.
With some regulars out of the lineup, it was up to the depth of the Bandits to earn the win Saturday and that’s exactly what they did.
It’s something Newman has noticed and is really happy to see.
“Cummings came up and played forward the last few games and got the winner Friday and then Stark with a couple of timely goals Saturday. That depth is coming through and we’re getting goals from all our lines, we’re getting goals form our power play and getting great goaltending,” Newman said.
With their next game not until Nov. 26, the Bandits will take a break, but will stay sharp and be ready for their matchup with Vegreville.
“The biggest thing is we have to take this and keep it going in practice, have some good practices. We’re off next weekend, so we’re going to have to maintain focus. The next game is in Veg. and we know they’re going to be ready, Newman said.