Alberta junior hockey team blows out opponent by over 20 goals in preseason game
The Wisconsin Lumberjacks junior hockey team learned a tough lesson on Thursday night: never mess with the Brooks Bandits.
Or at least, never schedule a preseason game with them again.
The American team out of the Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL) travelled to Brooks, Alberta, last night as part of their preseason schedule, and probably weren’t quite ready for the beatdown that was coming.
The Brooks Bandits scored, well, 23 goals on them, while allowing zero.
— Brooks Bandits (@BrooksBandits) September 2, 2022
Hudson Malinoski led the way for Brooks, scoring five goals and one assist.
But with Wisconsin registering a paltry 12 shots on goal, Brooks probably could’ve actually won this laugher without an actual goalie in net.
There was plenty of Twitter reaction once the post-game score graphic started to circle around:
Nail biter https://t.co/kRTPLjIJ7p
— Vincent Gillespie (@vinnygillzy) September 2, 2022
Beating a team 23-0 https://t.co/O5DJe69jHH pic.twitter.com/pQSQoPz329
— Dyl (@dhockey13) September 2, 2022
at first i thought the shots were 23 and i was like well thats not particularly impressive and then i realized. https://t.co/rc7JX5NeUq
— nick š» (@bearbashev) September 2, 2022
"Wilson Maxfield with a 12-save shutout as the Bandits got past the Lumberjacks by 23 in preseason action…" https://t.co/7C4ldQOSKM
— Jim Carr (@JimCarrHockey) September 2, 2022
NHL be a gm mode on beginner https://t.co/fuC4owx4NX
— Sean (@SeanMurphy_92) September 2, 2022
Brooks has won six Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) championships since 2012, in as much of a “dynasty” as you can have in junior hockey. Meanwhile, Wisconsin went 16-25-1-1 last season, finishing fifth in the seven-team SIJHL.
Technically, both teams are a part of the same parent league, competing as part of the overarching Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) for the Centennial Cup, with Wisconsin as one of four American teams (out of a total of 132). Brooks is actually the defending champion, and appear well on their way to being one of the country’s top teams again.
But if Wisconsin has any Centennial Cup hopes, well, they’ll have to use last night’s game as a HELL of a lot of motivation moving forward.