The Estevan Apex Bruins used a pair of third-period comebacks to earn three of four points on the opening weekend of the South Sask. Minor Hockey League regular season.
The midget AA squad scored three unanswered goals on Saturday to tie the Notre Dame Argos 4-4, then turned the tables on a one-goal deficit the next night to edge the Melville Millionaires 4-3.
First-year players accounted for six of the Bruins' eight goals on the weekend and head coach Tim Lequyer said they're just scratching the surface.
"The tempo of the league is a little different than the bantam AA league and some of the hockey the kids played last year," he said. "As they get more comfortable with the tempo and the pace, I think we're just going to continually improve."
Blaine Herzberg scored twice on Sunday, including the decisive goal with nine minutes left in the third.
The Mils had taken a 3-2 lead with just under 14 minutes to play, but Ryan Frehlick tied it less than a minute later to set up Herzberg's winner.
Herzberg had earlier tied the game 1-1 in the first period. Melville pulled ahead again in the second, but Chase McKersie would score his second goal in as many nights to even the score 2-2 after 40 minutes.
Taylor Fiesel, Eric Asbjornhus and Brandon Kayter scored for the Mils.
Estevan's Zach Paxman and Steven Henderson each chipped in two assists.
Levi Eiteneier earned the win for the Apex Bruins, with Jared Kreklewich taking the loss in the Melville cage.
Top forward Dylan Herzberg missed Sunday's game after being levied a three-game suspension for being involved in the second fight on the same stoppage during the second period on Saturday.
In that game, the Bruins found themselves trailing 4-1 with less than 10 minutes left but salvaged a point on three goals from rookie forwards.
McKersie banged home a loose puck in the slot with 9:13 remaining, and Zach Paxman caught Argos goalie Nic Metz out of position with a short-side goal off the rush only 77 seconds later.
Paxman followed that up with the equalizer from the right side with 1:48 left in regulation.
Lequyer credited his young team for not folding after allowing a weak goal with nine seconds left in the second period that gave the Argos a 3-1 lead.
"In the second, we felt we outplayed them quite badly overall in that period, especially 5-on-5. Just some unfortunate mistakes caused a couple of the goals," he said. "We've got seven young players playing and they're going to be a big part of our team this year and we're going to make those mistakes."
Jason Hengen scored the Bruins' first goal of the season with six minutes left in the first period to send the teams off tied after 20 minutes.
Notre Dame's goals came from Ben Duperreault, Hanspeter Senoner, Tyler Aberle and Yury Dobronravov.
In a game that was dictated by penalties, the Bruins' power play scored twice and the penalty kill was able to limit the damage.
They did a really good job. It was tough to get any flow going, for sure. They handled it well," Lequyer said. "We gave up a few opportunities, but not too many against a pretty skilled squad, actually."
He said the main items to focus on heading into Saturday's home game against the Regina Flames (4 p.m.) are "a little bit more consistency on our puck pursuit and not taking any little breaks."
