The Estevan Carlyle Motor Products atom AA Bruins fell 6-3 to the Weyburn Panther Drilling Wings in the third game of their best-of-three South East Minor Hockey League (SEMHL) championship series at Crescent Point Place March 22.
The loss ends a promising season for the Bruins that saw the club begin the year 1-4 before picking themselves up to eventually compile a 5-4-2 SEMHL record the rest of the way. The Bruins rode that hot streak into the playoffs where the team downed the Moosomin Ice Badgers 2-1 in the survivor series, swept the SEMHL top ranked Yorkton Terriers in the semifinal and took the Wings to a third and deciding game.
Bruins head coach Derek Wilhelm said the first two periods in the game were very close with each team going back-and-forth to generate chances. He said Wings goalie Ryan Hicks was playing great and they just couldn’t beat him.
“The third was back-and-forth too,” said Wilhelm. “It was the same as the whole game. They were just able to score a couple more than we were and we never could catch up.”
Weyburn led 2-1 after the first period on markers by Quinn Mantei and Silas Stein, which came after a goal by Estevan’s Carson Birnie five minutes in. The Wings added to the score seven minutes into the second on a shot by Wyatt Lacoste and two-and-a-half minutes into the third on a Conner Kerr goal to make the score 4-1.
The Bruins replied at the 4:26 mark of the third on a score by Birnie, which was followed by Lacoste’s second of the game a little under six minutes later. Bruins’ Tate Kasick scored with eight minutes remaining to bring the score to 5-3, but that would be as far as they would get. Mantei notched the final marker with Bruins goaltender Tallan Howie pulled for an extra attacker with 1:12 remaining.
Wilhelm said after their rough start to the season, highlighted by a 6-1 loss to the Wings at Crescent Point Place on Nov. 22, the players and coaching staff came together for a team meeting to discuss what was going wrong and how they can actually play. He said everybody bought in, fought for the same goal and started playing the right type of hockey.
“Everybody just started believing that we were good,” said Wilhelm. “We went into Yorkton right after Christmas and played two really good games. I think that got us going in the right direction and then everybody started playing.”
