The Estevan Apex midget AA Bruins are looking to turn things around after suffering another November defeat, the latest one being a 5-3 road loss to the Regina Rangers at the Al Ritchie Arena on Friday.
Blake Jamieson, head coach of the Bruins, said they had a great start against the Rangers going up 3-0 on goals by Daymon Wanner, Colton Schell and Matt Bill before the game was 11 minutes old. He said a return to their recent tendency of playing without effort and intensity shortly thereafter helped the Rangers get back in the game and also eventually gave the Bruins a result the team has been seeing a lot of lately.
Less than four minutes after Bill made the score 3-0 for Estevan, the Rangers’ Nicholas Ah-Fat and Jarred Hicks each managed to beat Bruins’ netminder Ethan Veroba to make the score 3-2 heading into the second period. A parade to the penalty box by the Bruins in the middle frame saw the Rangers score two unanswered on power play markers by Carson Eskra and Taylor Gervais to put Regina up 4-2 with 20 minutes left to play. The Rangers’ Peyton Gorski scored another goal with the man advantage late in the third to put the game away.
“Over the course of the last few games it seems to be the trend here now,” said Jamieson, about the Bruins lack of effort. “We got to figure it out and come ready to play and be prepared to play for a full game.”
After starting the season 7-1-2, the Bruins have now gone 1-4-2 over the past month to leave the team in third place in the South Saskatchewan Minor Hockey League (SSMHL) behind the Notre Dame Hounds and first place Notre Dame Bantam Hounds.
Jamieson said the difference between their first 10 games and their past seven is the team seems to be too comfortable on the ice as well as too satisfied with their play. He said every other team in the SSMHL has improved since the beginning of the season and if they want to keep up they’ll have to do the same.
“Those are things we’re going to be working on in practice this week leading to a busy December,” he said.
The Bruins will start off this month with an away date against the 9-6 Notre Dame Argos this Friday before skating onto home ice the next night against the 6-7-3 Regina Vics. The club will remain at home throughout the month for a span of seven straight contests at Affinity Place.
“It’s a good month to be at home,” said Jamieson. “We just need to come prepared to play like we are capable of.”
