The Brooks Bandits grounded the host Summerside Western Capitals 3-1 to claim the RBC Cup national junior A hockey championship Sunday on Prince Edward Island.
Cam Maclise, named CJHL Player of the Year at Friday night’s awards banquet, scored once and added an assist for the Bandits, who fell 3-1 to the Western Capitals in earlier preliminary play.
Maclise set up the game’s first goal at 7:17, centering to Anthony Petruzzelli, who had a wide open net in front of a tournament-record 4,211 fans. Dakota Mason made it 2-0 just 80 seconds later, finding the five-hole on Summerside goaltender Kevin Bailie.
Chris Caissy got one back for the Western Capitals at 10:20, squeezing a shot through Brooks netminder Michael Fredrick. Maclise clinched the win for the Bandits with an empty-net goal with 30 seconds to play.
Brooks allowed just 18 shots, including none in the first 12 minutes of the third period. Fredrick finished with 35 saves.
The national championship is the first for Brooks, which held the No. 1 spot in the CJHL Top 20 rankings for the final 22 weeks of the regular season. The Bandits are the eighth AJHL team to win the crown, and the fifth to do it since the start of the five-team format in 1990. The Camrose Kodiaks were the last AJHL team to win the national title, in 2001.
The Western Capitals are the second consecutive team from the Maritime Hockey League to lose in the championship game after Woodstock fell to Penticton last year in Humboldt, Sask. Summerside is the first host team to advance to the final since the Dauphin Kings did it in 2010, when they lost to the Vernon Vipers.
Vernon hosts the 2014 RBC Cup next May.
