NIPAWIN - It's often said that you can't win 'em all, and the Power Dodge Estevan Bruins couldn't prove that wrong.
The Estevan team put in a very un-Bruin-like game Sunday in Game 2 of the Canalta Cup final against the Nipawin Hawks and the Hawks skated away with a 4-1 win. The series is split going into a pair of games Tuesday and Wednesday at Affinity Place, which is expected to be sold out for both encounters.
Sunday's effort saw the Bruins take far too many penalties, deserved and otherwise.
“The biggest part of that (amount of penalties) was lack of focus, lack of attention to detail and some poor decision-making,” said Bruins head coach and general manager Chris Lewgood. “Lots of those were just unecessary penalties and a couple of them were careless, lazy-type plays and you mix in some pretty bizarre calls and it makes for some pretty ugly type of hockey.”
The Bruins allowed a shorthanded goal from Logan Casavant to start the game at 5:29 of the first period and then a second period goal by Adam Beckman. They were outshot 24-12 after the second period and came back to life a bit in the third on a goal on a nice move by Arthur Miller but it was too little too late for the Bruins. Beckman scored his second on a tap in behind a sprawled Bo Didur and Casavant scored into the empty net with 1:59 to go in the game to give the Hawks the win.
“We knew they were going to come out strong and they did and we just kind of sat back and tried to weather the storm” said Bruins forward Michael McChesney. “I thought they pushed the pace and we didn't push back very hard until that third period. Bo kept us in the game.”
Didur stopped 34 of 37 shots in the loss.
Game 3 and 4 are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday in Estevan before the teams head back up to Nipawin for Game 5 Friday. Game 6, if necessary, will be at Affinity Place Sunday while Game 7 would be Tuesday in Nipawin.
