After a close-fought loss to second-place Weyburn on Friday and a tie against the Regina Hurricanes on Saturday, the extracurricular antics of Sunday's blowout loss to the Melville Millionaires had the Estevan TS&M Bruins fuming.
In a 10-3 loss that got out of hand quickly, the Bruins came away upset at the officiating and the behaviour of their opponents.
"I tell my team all the time that win or lose, we'll play like champions and it was interesting to see today that I felt like we lost like champions and Melville won like losers," said Bruins head coach Dan Pratt.
"That's an embarrassment. A classless bunch of guys like that and some of the stuff that was going on behind the play, and then you end up with a situation where the referees, actually one in particular rewarded them with power play time. He even told us that he's calling our retaliation stuff. You can only retaliate if there's something to cause retaliation."
Melville (7-4) took a 5-0 lead after the first period on Sunday and didn't look back. The Bruins (2-11-2) scored all three of their goals in the second period, including two from Kaelan Holt and Marc Shaw roughly 40 seconds apart early in the frame. Kyle Salaway added their third marker with about two minutes left in the period.
Scoring for Melville were Rykr Cole (4), Donovan Neuls (2), Tyler Kreklewich, Koal Roberts, D.J. Crane and Dawson Davidson.
"We had a really good second period and showed that we could play with them, and all that ended up happening was we were back to the penalty kill again," said Pratt, whose team killed off several two-man advantages, including a lengthy one shortly after their two goals.
At one point, Pratt dropped his clipboard and stepped on it to express his frustration and was given a bench minor.
"I kept my mouth shut tonight to try to not say anything offensive. I could have said something to (a referee) there's no rule against what I do to my clipboard.
"At what point are officials going to realize that their (job) is to not be the game, but just officiate it? Don't make it about you. There's a lot of good officials out there, but there's an epidemic out there right now with officiating where there's this need to feel important."
Tensions boiled near the end of the game, on the ice and on the benches, with a Melville coach directing a profanity-laced tirade at the Estevan bench. A Melville player appeared to leave the bench when it looked like a fight could break out.
"(Melville's Evan) Armstrong went after (Estevan's Bryson) Mayer, and didn't fight him. (Melville's) Crane was hoping they'd drop the gloves and Crane hops the bench. I don't know if somebody sent him or what the deal was," said Pratt.
"In an altercation like that, I watch my bench. If I ever saw a player (going over the boards), I'd tackle him myself.
"What a classless team. That's just terrible. We've had some hard-nosed, tough games against (the first-place) Prairie Storm. We've had lots of bad blood, but at the end of the day we respect each other. I don't have any respect for that Melville club at all. I think that's just cowardly hockey that they play. Unbelievable," he continued.
On Saturday, the Bruins earned a 5-5 draw against the Regina Hurricanes (4-10-2). Estevan led 5-3 with 15 minutes to play, but the Hurricanes would find a pair of goals to salvage the tie.
"It was a good pace. We had them late and we let them back in a little bit and right at the very end we kind of ran out of time. I thought we could have gotten that sixth one, but it never did come," said Pratt.
Preston Hutt, Tanner Jeannot, Tyler Hengen, Mayer and Salaway had the Bruins' goals while Chaseton Sare (2), Tyler Adams, Landon Walters and Brayden Cockwill replied for the Hurricanes.
On Friday, the Bruins lost 4-2 to second-place Weyburn (9-5). The teams were tied 1-1 after one period and the Wings led 3-2 after two.
Talys Halabuza, in the first period, and Hutt, in the second, had the Estevan goals. Regan Nagy (2), Riley Bechard and Grady Bjork scored for Weyburn.
"As much as there's a rivalry between Estevan and Weyburn, that's a good hockey club. If you paid admission, you got your money's worth. That was a great hockey game and both sides played hard. I respect those guys and they did a good job," Pratt said of the Wings.
Although the Bruins are in last place in the Saskatchewan Bantam AA Hockey League's South Division at the break, Pratt doesn't believe it's all doom and gloom.
"We've played really well against some really good teams and our record, I don't think, indicates how well we've played at times this year," he said.
