Brooks celebrates hockey win with parade

Brooks residents are celebrating the city's junior A hockey championship with a parade.

The Brooks Bandits brought the RBC Cup home to southern Alberta after a long-weekend tournament in Summerside, P.E.I.

On Tuesday, smiling team members cruised through Brooks on a float during a celebratory parade. Cheering fans lined the streets.

"I talked to a bunch of young kids who were wearing their Brooks Bandits jerseys," said CBC reporter Devin Heroux. "These guys are heroes."

Bandits beat Western Capitals

Anthony Petruzzelli and Dakota Mason scored in the first period and the Brooks Bandits never looked back in a 3-1 victory over the Summerside Western Capitals on Sunday.

Cam Maclise added an empty-net goal with 30 seconds left to play for Brooks, while Michael Fredrick made 17 saves for the win.

This was the Bandits first RBC Cup tournament.

Summerside lost the national final on home ice for the second time in three tries. It fell to Thunder Bay in the 1989 championship game before beating South Surrey in 1997 for its only national crown.

The Bandits allowed Summerside just 18 shots on goal, 10 in the final 40 minutes and none in the first 12 minutes of the third period, when Brooks held on to a tenuous one-goal lead.

It was fitting it was Maclise who scored the final goal – the Bandits' captain led the way from start to finish for Brooks, becoming the first player to win national player of the year honours and the national championship in the same season since Greg Johnson in 1989.