It took 20 minutes for the CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins to get their feet under them at a packed Crescent Point Place in Weyburn on Saturday, but once the second period started the Black and Gold got down to business.
The Bruins (34-20-0-3) got past the Red Wings (35-14-5-4) on a 4-1 score, giving the team its fifth straight win and ninth in the past 10 games. The win in Weyburn on the last weekend of the SJHL regular season evened up the record at 4-4 between the clubs, with SJHL quarter-final playoff action awaiting each team later this month.
“They were a little better than us I thought in the first,” said Bruins head coach and general manager Chris Lewgood. “The first initial push was all Estevan. They got a power play and that seemed to change the momentum and they were able to maintain that momentum and play a pretty good first period. I thought we were only okay, but by the time the second period rolled around we started to take over.”
Red Wings forward Braden Mellon got Weyburn on the board first eight minutes into the game, which was followed by a reply from Bruins' leading scorer Darcy DeRoose a little past halfway through the second. The Bruins got the game-winner 4:13 into the third on Lynnden Pastachak's 24th of the season, with Braden Oleksyn and DeRoose each notching their 27th as insurance markers. Weyburn's Carter Phair took the loss in net, while Bruins goaltender Daniel Wapple made 34 saves for his 10th win of the season.
“He played really well,” Lewgood said, noting Wapple stepped up his game in Weyburn. “When you play a team like Weyburn or any of those top seeded teams you need your goaltender to be really good for you and he was for us.”
