Most millionaires aren’t particularly known for being all that generous, but the Melville Millionaires and the Power Dodge Estevan Bruins handed each other 4-2 wins in each other’s buildings in their last games before the Christmas break.
The Bruins (20-12-2-1) won 4-2 at Affinity Place Friday while the Mils (12-21-0-2) won 4-2 in Melville Saturday before the two teams scattered for the holiday break.
“I thought we played a pretty solid effort there,” said Bruins head coach and general manager Chris Lewgood after Friday’s game. “A couple of breakdowns cost us and bad luck with the second goal against. I thought it was a weak call that put us down two (men) and then it’s tough to kill those ones with that much time on them.”
Lewgood thought his team had a very good effort and managed the puck well Friday. The offensive zone coverage was good to get the Bruins a 4-1 lead early in the third period.
“I thought our puck distribution was crafty,” Lewgood said. “We managed the puck pretty well, in other words we weren’t turning the puck over and making unnecessary plays, other than a few instances. The key is we skated hard and we limited their opportunities.”
Jake Fletcher’s 15th goal of the season 5:32 into the first period established the lead for the Buins and the team’s Johnny Witzke and Kaelan Holt each scored in the second period before Melville’s Tucker Chapman scored on Bo Didur with eight seconds left in the period.
“Obviously it’s pretty big and we had a great turnout tonight fanwise,” said Fletcher while signing autographs on hockey cards given out before the game. “Everyone’s pretty excited to go home on break but these two games are important divisional games. We haven’t played Melville since the beginning of the year. It was important to show them we’re the best team in the division and one of the best teams in the league.”
Hayden Guilderson’s goal at 5:50 of the third alleviated a bit of the pressure on the Bruins.
“Ultimately I think we were confident throughout and with them putting some pressure on, maybe we’d have been squeezing our sticks a little more,” Lewgood said. “But at the end of the day I thought we were fine. I thought we played with confidence throughout the game and not too much of it. I thought that the guys did a good job of managing their mindsets.
Didur stopped 29 of 31 shots in the game while the Bruins fired 33 shots at Melville’s Brandon Wells.
“It’s definitely a step on the right direction going into the break,” said Didur. “You want to go into the holidays in good spirits and being happy, playing a well-played game defensively. I thought we did all the right things to get the win.”
Saturday in Melville, the team didn’t have as much early success. They went down 3-0 and didn’t hit the scoresheet until late in the third period. Fletcher scored at 15:04 of the third and Arthur Miller scored at 17:23 to put the pressure on Melville, but they tallied into an empty net with Estevan goaltender Matt Lukacs on the bench and two seconds on the clock.
Lukacs stopped 18 of 21 shots in the loss, while Colby Entz saved 33 of 35 in Melville’s net.
With 35 games gone in the season, the Bruins wit a couple of point ahead of Weyburn (19-11-3-0) for first place in the Viterra Division with Weyburn holding two games in hand.
“Our record doesn’t indicate where we want to be,” said Lewgood. “Our last month has been a real tough one on the schedule and as a result our wins and losses are down from where we thought we could be. But as far as our mindset and our confidence and those types of things, we’re happy with the group, we’re happy with the effort we’ve put forth and we’ve let a few slip away from us, not from our lack of effort but from decisions and mistakes and breakdowns.”
But the injuries and the breakdowns are all in the rear view mirror during the Christmas break. Some, like Fletcher and Didur, will go home to British Columbia for the holidays.
“I’ll go home and I’ll be visiting mom and dad and both sides of the family,” said Fletcher. “It’ll be good to go home and regenerate. We’ve had a pretty busy couple of months here, especially November. It’ll be good to just go home and see everyone and relax and then come back healthy with lots of energy ready to get back at ‘er in the second half.”
The Bruins’ next action is Dec. 30 in Weyburn and New Year’s Day at 3 p.m. at Affinity Place against the Red Wings.
