The Eagle Sky Estevan Bruins are coming off a tremendous weekend showing, which saw the team sweep their mini two-game series with the Highway 39 rival, Weyburn Red Wings.
Pitting the top two teams in the SJHL’s BUNGE Division, and two of the top five in the overall standings, anticipation was high heading into the weekend showdown, which saw the Bruins come away with back-to-back wins.
Friday
Friday night was a down-to-the-wire finish that saw defenceman Ethan Andrews score a pair of goals, Nathan Kam stop 44/48 and Cash Olson notch his 5th of the season and add the shootout winner, in a 5-4 shootout victory.
A 1-1 game at the end of the first, the goals were scored in the opening period by Olson and former Estevan Bears U18 AAA standout, Roan Burgess – each of whom now have 16 points to lead all rookies in the SJHL this season.
After Burgess’ second of the game made it a 2-1 Red Wings’ lead in the second, the Bruins would come through with a three-goal third, as Andrews’ pair and Ewan Rennie’s team-leading 14th of the season offset two more goals by the Wings to force extra time.
Following a scoreless five minutes of 3-on-3 overtime, the teams were off to a shootout.
Facing a star-studded gauntlet of shooters, the goalies – Kam and Ty Matonovich – stood tall through the first five shooters, until Olson notched the winner with the lone goal of the penalty-shot relay, to clinch the victory for his team.
“It was definitely a good feeling,” Olson said of scoring the shootout winner. “It’s always nice to get the winning goal and help the team out, and we were pretty excited to beat our rivals, so to be the one to do that it’s a great feeling.”
Saturday
Less than 24 hours later, as the scene shifted to Weyburn, the Bruins picked up where they left off, en route to a 6-4 win.
Andrews opened the scoring on a power play goal for already his 7th of the season (and third of the weekend). Although Weyburn would respond with a pair of late-period power play strikes of their own to make it 2-1 Wings’ lead at the intermission, the B’s were back buzzing in period two.
Drew Beasley’s first of two on the night knotted the score on a beautiful breakaway tally, followed by Rylan Williams’ 8th of the campaign to give Estevan their first lead.
Chase Holt, Beasley and Lochlan Tetarenko then added goals in the third period on the way to victory, with Tetarenko’s tally serving as his 1st in the SJHL.
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Three of the Bruins’ six goals came on the power play in a wild, emotional game that saw the two sides combine for 134 minutes in penalties.
Between the pipes, Dylan Adams was also excellent, making 39 saves to backstop the team.
Teteranko said postgame the team’s energy and resiliency as a group made the win possible.
“Our legs were going from the start and even though we fell short [on the scoreboard] at the start, we pushed back and everyone contributed to the win, so it was awesome,” Tetarenko said. “[We had] a bunch of different goal scorers and our goalie was amazing, so it was fun to watch and fun to be a part of.”
With their weekend victories, the Bruins have now won seven of their last nine games, with a 9-5-2 record on the season through 16 games to sit fourth overall in the SJHL standings. The team sits just one point back of the Red Wings for tops in the division.
The Bruins will now get just over a week off, before returning to play next Tuesday, Nov. 11 in Melville. Next Tuesday’s game will be available on FloHockey and for free on the Bruins YouTube Livestream. Pregame will begin at 6:45 p.m. with puck drop to follow at 7 p.m.
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Marty Martinson/Bruins PxP & Marketing Director
On X: @MartyMartyPxP1
