The CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins saw their season come to a end last Thursday evening at Affinity Place with a 6-4 comeback loss to the AJHL champion Brooks Bandits in the final round-robin game of the Crescent Point Energy Western Canada Cup (WCC).
“We came here to win this tournament and go on to win a national championship and we lost the game tonight,” said Chris Lewgood, head coach and general manager of the Bruins, about their strong play against Brooks to close out the round robin. “It was no different than any of the other games in the tournament where we came up short. I thought we worked hard again like we did in some of the others and we came up short. So no we don’t feel better about the week. I don’t think the guys have anything to hang their heads about, but at the same time we came here to win (and) not to be a gracious host.”
After falling behind 2-0 on goals by Leif Mattson 3:16 into the first period and Landon Welykholowa 1:09 into the second, the Bruins erupted with a four-goal outburst during the middle seven minutes of the frame. Darcy DeRoose scored his first of the tournament 6:08 in by backhanding a rebound from the slot high glove side before potting his second a little over three minutes later on a second swipe of a rebound lying in Bandits goaltender Josh Davies’ crease.
DeRoose then set up Tyson Predinchuk for the go-ahead goal by saucing over a pass to the side of the crease for an easy tap in at the 8:48 mark. Bruins centre Keaton Longpre made it 4-2 a minute and a half later by firing a shot top corner blocker side from the side wall.
“Everything I had I had to leave all on the ice,” said DeRoose, 20. “It’s my last game as a junior.”
Bandits defenceman Jesse Baird got the comeback started 19 seconds into the third period when he poked in a rebound lying in Bruins goalie Daniel Wapple’s crease. Josh McKechney tied the game eight minutes later on a shot through traffic from the top of the circle that went low stick side. Logan Mick notched the game winner with 2:35 remaining when he skated in alone on a nice set-up from the corner by Welykholowa and backhanded the puck low glove side after pulling Wapple across the crease.
“No consequence for us, but fun I think for some of our young guys to get in and battle against a team that has a lot of older players,” said Ryan Papaioannou, head coach and general manager of the Bandits. “We knew from the start it would be tough, but fun to come back and get the win.”
Lewgood said they were right there with the other teams at the WCC and just failed to capitalize on their opportunities. He said the guys competed well, but going 0-4 in the round robin is not how they drew things up.
“The first game we were a bit rusty, but I would say we kept up to every team,” said DeRoose. “We didn’t get the bounces unfortunately.”
