The Estevan Apex Bruins won a pair of games at Spectra Place on the weekend to tighten their grip on third place in the South Saskatchewan Minor Hockey League.
The midget AA club defeated the Pipestone Valley Jets 6-1 on Friday and hung on for a 6-5 win over the Lumsden/Bethune Lions on Sunday.
Estevan is 4-1-1 in its last six games and now sits at 11-5-4, two points behind the second-place Notre Dame Hounds with a game in hand.
On Sunday, the Bruins took a 4-1 lead after two periods against the Lions, who entered the day in fourth place. But the visitors would battle back with four third-period goals for a tight finish.
"We came out strong and we had a real good first half of the game and then Lumsden picked it up and took it to us a bit in the latter half," said Apex Bruins head coach Tim Lequyer. "We were able to pot a couple of goals and stay ahead of them, but I'm not real happy with the way our team finished the game. We got back on our heels and stopped skating and made some of the mistakes we were making earlier in the year."
Lequyer said he thought the three-goal lead made his team overconfident and "it just about cost us."
Brad Tomiski had the only goal of the first period midway through the frame to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Ryan Frehlick made it 2-0 only 13 seconds into the middle period, but the Lions would get on the board four minutes in when league scoring leader Tyson Scott dangled the puck in front and beat Bruins goalie Levi Eiteneier.
Barely two minutes later, on a power play, Frehlick took a shot from the left side of the net and Chase McKersie tapped in the rebound to make it 3-1 for Estevan. At the 14-minute mark, Tomiski banged in his second of the game on a rebound.
The second period was a chippy one with lots of penalties.
"I thought it was going to turn into a brawl-fest kind of thing, but everybody showed the discipline that we really needed," said Frehlick.
About a minute into the third period, Lumsden's Lane Cayer knocked in a loose puck sitting in the crease to narrow the Bruins' lead to two.
Kaelum Bieber got that one back at 6:52 on a rebound goal, making it 5-2 for the home side.
The Lions began their comeback bid in earnest with eight minutes remaining, when Isaac Winter fired a wrist shot under Eiteneier's blocker arm from the top of the right circle.
The Bruins again countered barely two minutes later when Frehlick scored off a centring pass from McKersie in the left corner.
But the visitors would score twice in a span of 39 seconds shortly after that. With 3:53 left, Braden Bentz banked a shot off Eiteneier from the side of the net and the rebound popped to Carson Cayer in front.
Then Brayden Schmidt scored on a goal that appeared to go in from behind the net.
But the Bruins were able to hold the fort from there and pick up an important win.
"We really pulled through. Most guys showed character and I think our D really stepped it up," said Frehlick.
The line of Frehlick, McKersie and Dylan Herzberg combined for three goals on the night, with Frehlick and McKersie in particular developing some chemistry in recent games.
"We threw them together in the latter point of the Weyburn game on Tuesday (a 6-4 road loss) just to change things up a bit, just seeing if we can spread out of some of the opportunities and get everyone involved in the game," said Lequyer. "Those guys seemed to gel pretty good together, but so did our other lines. I think it's showing that our kids can play with anybody."
Frehlick said he and McKersie have played together in the past, which helped the line to gel.
"Herzberg helps out too. He pushes hard to the boards and then we usually pick it up and put it in," he said.
On Friday, facing a Pipestone Valley team sitting in dead last at 1-13-2, the Bruins scored three times in the first period and cruised to victory.
Herzberg, Tomiski and Frehlick scored less than seven minutes apart in the first period.
After a scoreless second, the Bruins got markers from Garett Earl, Steven Henderson and Tomiski to seal the victory.
The Jets' only goal came from Brandon Munro midway through the third.
Cody Murray was in goal for the win.
"We definitely didn't want to have a close game with those guys. They are struggling a bit this year," said Lequyer. "We didn't want to get too individual with guys trying to get points. That actually did happen, so it was nice to see Sunday's start to the game be a little more team-focused."
The Bruins' next action is Sunday when they visit the Regina Capitals.
