The Apex Bruins, short of players due to suspension and injury, came out Sunday like their first place lives depended on it and they came through with a 5-2 win over the Notre Dame Hounds.
The Bruins (20-8-2-0) now lead the South Saskatchewan Midget AA Hockey League by a single point over the Regina Rangers (19-8-3-0) as they won two of three on a wild weekend. They won 6-1 over the Lumsden/Bethune Lions at Lumsden, lost 9-5 to the Regina Vics (11-14-0-0) in Regina and then won 5-2 over the Hounds (8-16-2-0) at home.
“Overalll, this game was important for us,” said Bruins head coach Robin Ulrich after the win over Notre Dame. “We had a little bit of a blip on the radar (Saturday) night. We weren’t very good at all, kind of across the board. So it was nice to get back in and have a good game (Sunday)… I liked the way we responded after (Saturday) night.”
Ulrich dressed nine forwards and six defencemen – including affiliate player Chase Gedak. The team didn’t lack the energy needed to shut down the Hounds, and went a solid 4-for-8 on the power play.
The Bruins jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the first on a trio of power play goals. Tristan Seeman scored one and Joey Meredith picked up a pair of his own. Triston Sorenson and Dawson Schaff picked up the others.
Bryson Garton played well in the game, tested 20 times in surrendering only two goals.
“Our whole team last night, we just didn’t play together,” said Garton. “We didn’t come together as a team. (Sunday) night, it just seemed to flow more and we just played better together.”
Saturday’s game was a good reminder, Ulrich said, of how tough it is to be the top dog in the league.
“Every night you’ve got a team coming in that wants to knock you off,” she said. “You have to meet and exceed the energy level and intensity level that they bring. Our focus from now on in is that if you’re going to be the top tier dog in the league then you have to play that way every night and that’s the expectation.”
“We’ve just got to keep the boys motivated to keep going,” said Garton. “We want that number one spot, so we’ll just try to hold every other team out and the next games against Weyburn, just shut them down more than anything.”
The Bruins have two games against Weyburn in February. The Wings have six games in hand and are six points behind the Bruins.
The Bruins’ next action is Saturday at the Swift Current Broncos and Sunday at the Notre Dame Hounds.
