The Estevan Century 21 bantam A Bruins dropped Game 2 of their two-game, total-goals provincial playoff series against Swift Current.
Entering the game on Feb 28., the Bruins trailed 8-7, but fell 7-1 in the home loss.
Dalton Schrader scored the only goal for Estevan in the first period of the game to tie it at one.
Coach Chad Himmelspeck noticed that the team had some nerves in the game and were flatfooted. Once they fell behind it was too much of a deficit to overcome.
“We fell behind early on. We just never did recuperate,” he said.
In Game 1 Himmelspeck noticed that toward the end of the game Swift Current seemed to tire out. So they were hoping to stay close in game Game 2 and capitalize toward the end but were unable to do that.
The Bruins were also in action on March 1 as they played their second last regular season game against the Regina Panthers at home and defeated them 3-2.
“We just came out, and we were a totally different team. Right from start to finish they played a whole game, so it was actually enjoyable to watch,” Himmelspeck said.
Schrader scored the first goal for Estevan and soon later Regina tied it up at one.
Tanner Sorenson put the Bruins ahead 2-1, and he was assisted by Jace Carlisle and Schrader.
Schrader lit the lamp later on to make it 3-1 Bruins. Regina added their second goal in period two and the third was scoreless.
The key contributor to the victory was how the team was relaxed throughout the game compared to the matchup the previous day, said Himmelspeck.
“We came out, had a good warm up and I knew it was going to be a good game for the kids and after I saw the warm up, I knew they were ready to play.”
The Bruins concluded the regular season on Tuesday at Affinity Place.
Estevan finished the season with 10-13 record and are the eighth seed in the playoffs.
They play in the survivor round in a best-of-three series starting March 7 at Affinity Place. Game time is 4 p.m.
