After losing their leading scorer to a potentially serious injury halfway through the game, the Estevan Sherritt Coal Bruins earned the victory for their teammate on a last-minute goal.
Jake Palmer scored on a breakaway with 37 seconds remaining to vault the peewee AA squad over the Moose Jaw Warriors 4-3 in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
The game at Affinity Place was delayed for almost 30 minutes in the second period after Estevan's Mason Strutt was hit from behind into the end boards. The two teams were eventually sent to their dressing rooms as Strutt received medical attention and was taken off the ice on a stretcher.
Strutt suffered tendon damage in his shoulder area, but nothing was broken.
The game resumed after an intermission, with the remaining 10 minutes of the period being added to the third period.
The teams exchanged goals in the first period, with Estevan's Reid Waldegger scoring at the seven-minute mark and Moose Jaw's Benjamin Wourms-Rowe responding late in the period.
Kersey Reich gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead nearly eight minutes into the second, just before the game was delayed.
When the contest resumed, the Warriors pulled into a tie on a Crozier Holmes shot that Bruins goalie Bryson Garton got a piece of but couldn't hold out of the net.
The visitors took their first lead at 5:27 of the third, courtesy of a Reece Newkirk goal.
The Bruins drew even at the 12-minute mark when a shot by Cody Davis squeaked into the net five-hole.
The second game of the series goes Saturday in Moose Jaw.
