Courage and faith in themselves and their teammates led the Estevan Power Dodge Bruins to an 8-6 third period comeback win over the Battlefords North Stars at the North Battleford Civic Centre on Saturday.
“Even though we were down 6-4 with a couple of minutes to go, everybody thought ‘hey, these guys are on a 13-game winning streak and we’ve been in and out of the penalty box all night and we’re still right with them,’” said Bruins left wing Hayden Guilderson, who nabbed the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) Rookie of the Week honours on Monday. “All throughout the year our team has been able to score in a snap, so we just got two quick ones and it’s 6-6 and (Josh) Rieger was able to put one in to seal the deal and (then) the empty netter by (Michael) McChesney. That was pretty good.”
The late two-goal comeback was the third of the night for the Bruins. The North Stars rolled out to a 2-0 lead on markers by Coby Downs and Troy Gerein 12 minutes into the first period before Zach Goberis and Canalta Hotels SJHL Player of the Week Matt McNeil replied on the power play before the frame was up.
Battlefords forwards Connor Logan and Keaton Holinaty restored the two-goal lead before the second period was two minutes old only to have Bruins left wing Jake Fletcher tie the game at four with two straight goals in a span of 40 seconds late in the middle stanza.
North Stars leading scorer Layne Young put his team ahead once again at the 19:40 mark of the second period with Connor Sych adding to the lead eight minutes into the final frame. Fletcher notched the hat trick, his second in two days, on the man advantage with just over five minutes remaining in the game before McChesney got the equalizer a minute-and-a-half later.
Curtis Meger stopped 43 shots for the win, while Joel Gryzbowski made 32 saves in the loss. As in the two previous contests between the clubs, a 4-3 Bruins win at North Battleford on Sept. 24 and a 10-3 North Stars victory at Affinity Place three weeks later, the game was marked by tough, never-back-down play resulting in the Black and Gold taking nine penalties on the night and the homeside going down a man 10 times.
“There is a good rivalry there,” said Chris Lewgood, head coach and general manager of the Bruins. “We respect their ability as a team and the individuals on their team and for that reason we get our intensity level up. One of the other things that adds to it is I don’t think there is a lot of respect coming the other way.”
The Bruins (19-7-0-1) win over the SJHL leading North Stars (21-6) marked a three-games-in-three-nights sweep of the north for the team. Estevan began the trip with a 7-3 win over the Humboldt Broncos (15-9-0-1) at the Elgar Peterson Arena on Thursday before they knocked off the 9-15-1 Kindersley Klippers 7-4 at the West Central Events Centre the next evening.
“Everybody chipped in,” said Guilderson. “Our fourth line, Barney (Levi Barnstable) and Kes (Matthew Kesslering) scoring his first SJ goal and having Fletcher back after the suspension was huge (with the) back-to-back hat tricks. Every line was rolling in all of the three games.”
Lewgood said the team went hard to the net and played in the tough areas of the ice during the road trip and when they do that they’re a difficult squad to contain. He said they may not be the most skilled team, but they’re fast, hardworking and can shoot the puck and they’ll need more of the same this weekend when the Black and Gold heads down Highway 39 to take on the rival Weyburn Red Wings (12-11-0-2) on Friday before the Wings pay a visit to Affinity Place the next evening.
“It means a lot to play hard against Weyburn if nothing else (than) just for the guys inside the room and the fans in the stands because anybody who knows the history between these two teams knows every game means something,” said Lewgood. “With or without the standings the Red Wings are a tough opponent for us and they’re going to hold us accountable for 120 minutes this weekend.”
