The Power Dodge Estevan Bruins used a strong start and a second period rally to beat the down-but-determined La Ronge Ice Wolves 5-3 at Affinity Place on Friday.
The Bruins jumped out early on the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s last place Ice Wolves (1-10) with left wing Jake Fletcher one timing a Zach Sherburne pass from the slot 1:59 into the first period. Centre Kaelan Holt put the home side up 2-0 a little less than three minutes later on a tip from the side of the net off a Johnny Witzke slap pass before bruising left wing Isaac Embree followed that up by banging a Nolan Ferguson rebound past Ice Wolves goalie Josh Dechaine 10:31 in.
“Any team that is down in the standings you want to make sure you get a quick start on them,” said Bruins assistant coach Kyle Mulligan. “You want to make sure you take any opportunity that they think they’re going to get into the game out of them quickly.”
The Ice Wolves didn’t let up despite the early deficit with Jared Blaquiere ringing a shot off the crossbar shortly after the Embree goal. La Ronge defenceman Bryce Fiske trimmed the lead to two a couple minutes later while on the power play with a shot from the hash marks that went short side on Bruins netminder Kurtis Chapman.
Both teams exchanged opportunities throughout the rest of the first period and beginning of the second with Ice Wolves forward Nick Prouty poking in a Curtis Peck pass from the side boards 5:01 into the middle frame to make the score 3-2. The goal seemed to wake up the sleeping bear with Bruins assistant captain Jason Miller replying 13 seconds later on a drive to the net where he slid home a deflected Hayden Guilderson pass. Jayden Davis gave the Bruins a three-goal cushion once again a little over two minutes later by poking in a Michael McChesney rebound from the top of the crease that spelled the end of Dechaine’s night who made way for goalie Luke Lush.
“We just rallied together,” said Miller. “We need to stay together. We need to keep to the game plan and that’s what we did.”
The Ice Wolves pushed back after the Davis goal outshooting the Bruins 27-18 the rest of the way, but a strong performance by Chapman including a glove save on Spencer Hodge where the goalie had to reach back to grab the puck off the goal line on a jam play kept the opposition at bay. La Ronge defenceman Trevor Bush did manage to beat Chapman with 16.7 seconds left on the clock on a high shot to the glove side, but that would be as close as it would get.
The Bruins (6-2-0-1) win marked only their second game of October and third overall on home ice after a busy road schedule to start the season. Mulligan said the early break going into Thanksgiving allowed the team some time to heal up and enjoy a chance to visit family, but it’s back to business this week with a divisional tilt against the Yorkton Terriers (2-3-2) on the road Tuesday before they head home to meet the top-ranked Flin Flon Bombers (6-1-1) and Battlefords North Stars (6-1-1) this Thursday and Saturday.
“Flin Flon and Battlefords are two of the best teams in the league and we’re going to need to take our game up to another level and make sure we can match anything that they bring in our rink,” said Mulligan. “We’ve got to do a good job of making sure we create an identity in our own rink and I think tonight was a good start to that.”
