The HDC Bandits and Rebels Hockey Academy engaged in a wild, back-and-forth offensive showcase that saw the Bandits emerge with a narrow 7-6 victory. The game was a story of special teams and a remarkable individual performance. The Rebels struck first on the power play late in the opening period, with Declan Salmon finding the net off a feed from Brady Sodergren to answer two early Bandits goals from Jett Gaulton and Bryce Ector. The middle frame, however, belonged entirely to the Rebels' Bohen Anderson. With his team killing penalties, Anderson became a one-man wrecking crew, scoring two shorthanded goals in a 25-second span to completely swing the momentum. The period ended with the Bandits' Grayson Geers adding another shorthanded tally, capping a bizarre period where three of the four goals came while a team was down a man.
Entering the third period, the Rebels carried their momentum and quickly extended their lead. Brody Ferguson scored on the power play, assisted by the red-hot Bohen Anderson, and just 54 seconds later, Anderson completed his hat trick to make it 6-3 Rebels. The game seemed to be slipping away from the Bandits, but they mounted a furious comeback. Wyatt MacLeod scored to cut the deficit, and then Anderson struck again for his fourth goal of the night, seemingly putting the Rebels back in control. The Bandits, however, refused to quit. With Rebels defender Kyson Cloutier in the box for tripping, Hunter Murphy buried a power-play goal with assists from MacLeod and Geers, pulling the Bandits within one with just over two minutes to play. A late trip penalty to Brody Ferguson gave the Bandits a final chance, but the Rebels managed to kill it off and hold on for the dramatic one-goal win.
The final score belied a game dominated by the Rebels in shots, who fired 40 pucks on net compared to the Bandits' 19. Despite the lopsided shot count, Bandits goaltender Ethan Ross was credited with the win, while Madson Venhola took the loss for the Rebels in a game where goalie save statistics were not formally tracked. The undisputed star of the night was Rebels forward Bohen Anderson, whose four-goal performance, including two shorthanded markers, was nearly enough to will his team to victory single-handedly. For the Bandits, Grayson Geers was a catalyst, contributing a goal and three assists, while Jett Gaulton and Wyatt MacLeod each had multi-point nights in a resilient team effort that secured the narrow win.
