The Estevan bantam A Bruins saw their season come to an end in the south final of Saskatchewan Hockey Association provincials. The Bruins lost 9-4 to the Prairie Storm in the twogame, total-point series. The Storm won Game 1 5-1 in Balgonie on Saturday and took Game 2 4-3 the following day at Affinity Place. The Storm’s Riley Stamm scored eight seconds into Game 1 for a quick 1-0 advantage, but Kade Anderson tallied for Estevan with 3:56 to play in the first to tie the game. Goals by Nathan Machnaik, Walker Douglas and Gage Olson in the second period gave the Storm a 4-1 lead, and they put the game away on a goal by Kian Bell in the third. “We started out well,
but we had a couple quick goals on us in the second period,” said coach Tim Miller, who thought Game 1 was closer than the score indicated. The Storm added to their lead in the series when Dylan Simank opened the scoring midway through the first period of Game 2, but Kaleb Bechtold tied the game with 2:32 to play in the first. Ben Wagstaff’s goal with 2:50 to play in the second was the only goal of the middle frame, giving the Bruins a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes. Bell for the Storm and Bechtold for the Bruins traded goals early in the third, but Taylor Johnson and Zack Ulsifer tallied for the Storm in the final five minutes of the game.
“I thought we outplayed them, outshot them and out-chanced them, but we couldn’t seem to score,” said Miller. “The bounces weren’t going our way for some reason.” Layne Gilroy was in goal for both games. Miller said the Storm are the top team in Hockey Regina’s bantam A division. They have spent all season together, while the Bruins have only played together in tournaments and provincials. “It took us some time to get up to that speed of the game,” said Miller. “From playing house league, it’s a step up.” But they came together well, and he was pleased they were able to beat Weyburn in the south semi-final before facing the Storm.
