Although there was a sense of missed opportunity on Friday, the Estevan Apex Bruins emerged from the weekend with three points in two games.
The midget AA club tied the Notre Dame Argos 4-4 on Friday and defeated the Regina Wild 5-1 on Saturday in South Saskatchewan Minor Hockey League action. Both games were played at Spectra Place.
The Bruins (4-2-4) sit in third place in the midget AA league, although the Notre Dame bantam Hounds are two points back with four games in hand.
On Saturday, the Bruins scored three goals in the third period to take control of the game against the Wild.
Tanner Jeannot scored the only goal of the first period, coming at the 9:13 mark.
The Wild knotted the score early in the second period on a Christopher Belanger goal only 48 seconds in.
The score remained tied until Jeannot's second of the game at 16:24 restored the Bruins' lead.
"It was a close game," said Bruins head coach Dalton Giblett. "Right off the bat, Regina was pretty quick, they took the body and we were flat-footed. Once we woke up, it was a pretty good game.
"As the game went on, we started to dominate more and more."
That manifested itself in the third period, beginning with Tyson Price's goal only 13 seconds in.
Mason Benning gave the Bruins a three-goal lead at the 4:44 mark, and Kaelan Holt's goal midway through the period rounded out the scoring.
Friday's game was a different matter, as the Bruins needed a late third period surge to salvage a tie against the Argos.
"We're getting into a habit of only playing 15-20 minutes a game and that's what's causing this. At least we were able to capitalize (at the end of the game), because that's the other issue that we're having. We're leaving too many goals out there. We gotta bear down and bury them," said Giblett.
The Bruins had the only goal of the opening frame, courtesy of Dylan Lay at the 8:36 mark.
The Argos got two goals from Kaden Hintz in the second period to take the lead. His first goal came at the 7:16 mark and the other came with 3:50 left in the period.
Notre Dame increased its lead to 3-1 in the third period on a goal by Montana Giesbrecht at 7:33.
The Bruins responded with a goal by Jason Hengen about five minutes later, but Josh Woodrow scored for the Argos with 4:10 to play to put them ahead by two again.
That was when Price stepped up for Estevan. He got the team within a goal with 1:18 left in the game and 47 seconds later he tied the game.
"Tyson's been huge. We expect that from him every game," said Giblett. "Tyson's a shooter and the more chances he gets, the better off we are. We expect Tyson to score. We just gotta makes sure he gets his chances and stays out of the penalty box."
Giblett added that the Bruins should have had the game in hand by then.
"It was pretty good to be still fighting, but we shouldn't have been in that predicament to begin with. We started off good for the first 10 minutes, but then we kinda went to sleep. We had to battle back the last two or three minutes.
"The league's pretty competitive and even, and if we don't come to work, we're not going to win. That's what happened Friday night."
The team's next regular season game is Nov. 16 when they visit the Notre Dame Hounds.
