The Estevan Apex Bruins' season has come to an early end following their exit from the South Saskatchewan Minor Hockey League playoffs.
The midget AA club lost 7-5 to the Lumsden/Bethune Lions on Thursday in Lumsden, dropping their best-of-three first-round series in two straight games. The Bruins had lost the series opener 10-5 on March 5.
Estevan did stage an impressive comeback on Thursday after falling behind 6-0 midway through the second period.
Despite outshooting the Lions 18-7 in the first period, the Bruins found themselves trailing 2-0 after the first frame on goals by Tyson Scott and Braden Bentz.
The Lions built on that lead in the second period, as Lane Cayer scored a power play goal three minutes in, and Mason Haus made it 4-0 barely two minutes after that.
Just past the midway point of the period, Lumsden got a pair of goals 53 seconds apart, the first coming shorthanded from Carson Cayer and the second from Scott.
Two minutes after the Scott marker, the Bruins finally got on the board when Brad Tomiski found the back of the net.
Jason Hengen followed that up 12 seconds later with a goal of his own to cut the deficit to four entering the third.
Ryan Frehlick made the score 6-3 with a power play marker five minutes into the period, only to see Lumsden's Koty Wilcocks get it back 36 seconds later.
Just 21 seconds after that goal, though, Kaelum Bieber lit the lamp to make it a three-goal game once again.
Bieber would add a second goal 62 seconds later, putting the Bruins within two with 13 minutes to play, but that was where their rally stopped short.
After sitting in the top three in the league standings for most of the first two-thirds of the season, the Bruins posted a record of 8-6-2 down the stretch, along with a provincial loss at the hands of the Notre Dame Argos.
