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Bandits Take Pair from Roadrunners

March 20, 2011 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
St. Louis Bandits News Release


One week after a disappointing two losses in three games to Traverse City, the Bandits rebounded on the road in the most unlikely of places. St. Louis swept the final two game set against the Roadrunners in Topeka. The Bandits' offense came back to life with two victories of 3-2 and 5-1. With the wins, the Bandits also clinched first place in the North Division.

In the first game, the Bandits came out strong and held on through the end. Isak Quakenbush answered the bell for St. Louis in the first period. The Bandits' power forward slipped one past Eric Rohrkemper at 12:12 of the opening frame. St. Louis would score twice more in the second. Chris Ciotti scored shorthanded a little over 15 minutes into the second and Joe Kalisz put the icing on the cake slapping a shot past Rohrkemper at 18:14. That goal chased the Topeka netminder from his crease.

Rasmus Tirronen took his place and stopped all six shots faced. The Roadrunners stormed back in the third behind their netminder. Justin Hussar slipped one under Matt Green to cut the lead down to two just over seven minutes into the third period. Bob Marx would make it a real nail-biter, scoring with six and a half left in the game. Green stepped up his game however and stopped seven of nine shots as the Bandits would hold on for the 3-2 win. Again, the St. Louis powerplay failed to score, making it four straight games without a goal on the man advantage. Nevertheless, it was an all-important win to keep their lead in the division.

Saturday's game would be all St. Louis from start to finish. The Bandits would end the powerplay drought just five minutes and change into the contest. Stephen Bopp scored his 16th goal of the season and first of two powerplay goals on the night. Brad Smith made it 2-0 about five minutes later, notching his 17th of the year. Zach Schrotenboer added a powerplay goal of his own, to cut the St. Louis lead in half around the 14 minute mark. However it would not matter.

Bopp would slip in another powerplay goal late in the first period, matching Smith with his 17th and making it 3-1 after 20 minutes of play. Kevin Crowe and Evan Stibbard would knock in goals 90 seconds apart in the second frame and that would be all she wrote. Tom Comunale stopped the final 20 Topeka shots en route to his 14th win of the year. The Bandits now have 82 points on the year heading into the final two games of the year and clinched the division. Barring any major changes in the standings, the Bandits will face either Michigan or Janesville in the first round of the playoffs.

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