With three losses and a tie that looked like a guaranteed win, it was not an ideal week for the Estevan Apex Bruins.
It appeared as though the midget AA team would wrap up the four-game slate on a positive note on Sunday, but they inexplicably blew an 8-2 lead against the 10th-place Melville Millionaires and had to settle for an 8-8 draw.
They had previously lost 4-2 to the Regina Wild on Saturday, 6-5 to the Moose Jaw Warriors on Friday and 9-4 to the Notre Dame Argos on Feb. 11.
The Bruins (17-12-4) are in fourth place in the South Saskatchewan Minor Hockey League with three games left, although several teams still have a chance to overtake them.
On Sunday at Affinity Place, the Bruins appeared to be cruising to victory with an 8-2 lead halfway through the second period, but the Millionaires surged back with four goals before the end of the frame and two more in the third.
"I think we just stopped working. We had things working for us, that's why we had the lead. Then we got a power play and they scored two shorthanded goals, and it gave them some momentum and we just stopped working. It showed," said Bruins head coach Dalton Giblett.
"We just didn't win battles and we weren't strong on the puck. We were turning it over, turning it over and you just can't keep doing that. We've talked about that. This isn't the first game that's happened to us, where we've been turning it over. We've been doing it for the last two or three weeks."
The Bruins took a 4-1 lead after the first period, including three goals in a span of just 29 seconds from Blaine Herzberg, Kyle Salaway and Kaelan Holt. Kolten Ganson also scored for Estevan in the period, while Mitchell Cook had the Mils' lone goal.
Estevan's Tyler Hengen and Melville's Gordie Wasteste traded goals early in the second. The Bruins followed with three straight goals, two of them by Salaway and one by Kale Little.
Then it all came apart at the seams.
The Melville comeback began about 90 seconds after Salaway's hat trick marker, with Darcy Kayseas scoring twice, followed by goals from Kyle Rathgeber and Cody Jarocki, the latter coming on a rocket off the crossbar and in with less than a minute left in the period.
Marial Beny got the Mils within a goal early in the third, firing a shot from the right faceoff circle on a power play. Wasteste scored the tying goal seven seconds later when a blocked shot saw the puck land on his stick.
There was plenty of time left for either team to take the lead, and Giblett bemoaned his team's inability to convert on its chances in the third.
"Right at the end, we have a 2-on-1 with the top two scorers in the league and don't even get a shot on net. That compounds things," he said. "It was kind of like the Canada game (against Finland on Sunday). We had some pressure on, but never generated any shots."
In Regina on Saturday, the Bruins got goals from Herzberg and Cole Piche, while Christopher Belanger (2), Colby Brandt and Fraiser Belanger replied for the Wild.
"That game, we had nothing but chances in the first period and never scored. It was 1-0, but we had 2-on-1s, 3-on-2s, shots on net, that we didn't score on and that came back to haunt us," Giblett said.
At home on Friday, the Bruins fell behind 6-2 before making a third period comeback bid that fell short.
Holt (2), Ganson, Herzberg and Dylan Lay had the goals for Estevan, while Bhody Magnusson (2), Brett Reidy, Kale Clewis, Braydon McCarthy and Kelton Kouri scored for Moose Jaw.
"Moose Jaw is a good team. They don't turn the puck over. They controlled the puck and we were chasing it. I think we played a lot better in the third period and yeah, we did score three goals, but we were causing turnovers then. If you're waiting for them to throw the puck away, they don't do that," Giblett said.
The Bruins will finish their regular season slate this week. They visit Weyburn tonight, Swift Current on Saturday and Moose Jaw on Sunday.
They will have to do it without Dayton Westerman (broken arm) and Ryley Giblett (arm laceration), who are both expected to miss the rest of the year.
