Bruender Lifts Bchl As Clippers Face Game 4 at 2-1

The bchl shifts back to Frank Crane Arena on Wednesday night with the Nanaimo Clippers trailing the Brooks Bandits 2-1 in the 2026 Rogers BCHL Cup Finals. Game 4 is set for 7 p.m., and Nanaimo can pull the series level after a 2-1 overtime loss in Game 3.

Tanner Bruender Keeps Scoring

Tanner Bruender opened the scoring for Nanaimo in Game 3 and has found the net in every game of the series. He has nine goals and 10 assists in 19 playoff games this year, production that has kept the Clippers close in a final that has already gone to overtime twice.

Bruender’s regular-season line shows the same kind of finish around the crease. He posted 57 points in 52 games for Nanaimo in 2025-2026, including 28 goals and 29 assists.

Brooks Has The Edge

The Bandits answered with the winner in overtime on Tuesday night in Nanaimo after taking Game 2 by a 2-1 score in double overtime on Saturday. Brooks started the series on the wrong side of a 3-1 result last Friday in Brooks, but the last two games have pushed it ahead 2-1.

Dmitrijs Dilevka has driven much of the Bandits’ attack with 25 points in 19 playoff games, including eight goals. Brooks has scored 79 goals in these playoffs, while Nanaimo has 65.

Nanaimo’s Series History

This final carries extra weight for a club that has reached the championship series 10 times and last appeared there in 2022. Nanaimo has five league titles, won in 1976, 1977, 1978, 2004 and 2007, so Game 4 is another chance to keep that history alive while the series is still within reach.

The matchup has also been built on very little regular-season familiarity, since the Clippers and Bandits did not meet before the finals began last Friday. That has left the first four games to decide the shape of the series, with Wednesday’s game offering Nanaimo a chance to square things at 2-2 before the final shifts toward Brooks again.