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Bantam A Bruins capture league title

The Estevan Century 21 Bruins became the third Estevan Minor Hockey team to win a championship this season on Friday.


The Estevan Century 21 Bruins became the third Estevan Minor Hockey team to win a championship this season on Friday.

The Bruins defeated the Prairie Storm 7-4 in Game 3 of the Hockey Regina bantam A division final in Carlyle to win the league championship.

Estevan had to come back in the series after losing the first game on March 25 and winning the second game last Wednesday.

In Friday's deciding game, the Bruins scored four times in the second period to take control heading into the third.

"We ended up getting on the power play there and scored a couple of power play goals," said Bruins head coach Trevor Morrison. "It really swung the momentum and it got in our favour. With our team, once we get the momentum and we get going, we have a lot of depth and we can keep putting on the pressure."

Carter Hausermann struck first for the Storm at the 4:21 mark.

The Bruins responded barely two minutes later, however, when Ryan Stovin scored his first of two goals on the night.

The 1-1 deadlock carried over to the second period.

In the second, Hudson Hansford scored at 3:44 to put the Storm ahead again.

But the Bruins responded in kind, potting four goals in a span of less than six minutes to take a stranglehold on the contest.

Matthew Bill tied the game at 12:45, and Karson Whitman gave the Bruins their first lead only 78 seconds later.

Stovin scored again at the 17:37 mark to give his team a 4-2 lead, and just 55 seconds later Ethan Wanner lit the lamp to close out the second period flurry.

"Our power play stepped up, and then the kids did an excellent job on the penalty kill. We just never let them get any momentum. I was very impressed in the last two games with their willingness to want to win and they did things championship teams need to do," said Morrison.

Keagan Jacksteit got the Storm within two less than seven minutes into the final frame.

The Bruins countered four minutes later when Mitchell Morrison scored to restore his team's three-goal lead.

Dayton Westerman added another insurance marker three minutes later, and the Storm's Brandon Kokoski rounded out the scoring with a goal with 3:23 to play.

Six different players scored for the Bruins in the deciding game and Morrison said the team's depth has been a key strength all year.

"Of all the teams we played this year, we had the best balance on our team," he said. "It makes us tough to play against because we can keep bringing it."

He said it was rewarding to cap off an excellent year with a championship, particularly in Carlyle, where he and several players are from. The game was played in Carlyle because of a lack of ice time in Estevan due to the Strippers tournament.

"I do feel disappointed that it wasn't in Estevan for the Estevan minor hockey program and for the kids to play in front of more of their family. But the crowd was into it and there was a good strong group of parents there."

On Wednesday, the Bruins tied the series with a 6-1 victory over the Storm in Pilot Butte.

Morrison got the visitors on the board first at 3:32 of the opening period.

Hansford scored midway through the frame to tie it up, but that was all the scoring the Storm would do on this night.

Wyatt Bayliss scored five minutes after the Hansford goal to give the Bruins the lead for good.
The Bruins netted three more goals in the second period to put the game away, beginning with Whitman's tally at the 1:55 mark.

Less than five minutes later, J.J. Holma put the Bruins ahead 4-1, and Westerman scored his first of two goals on the night five minutes later.

Westerman's second goal came with 99 seconds to play in regulation.