The CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins pulled out a last minute 6-4 win over the Melville Millionaires Friday before an increasingly nervous crowd at Affinity Place in the black and gold's home opener.
Bruins veteran defenceman Zach Douglas earned the most valuable player hard hat, as voted upon by his teammates, for scoring the game winner on the power play with 51 seconds remaining in regulation. The goal ended a game that seemed to be slipping from the Bruins' claws thanks to a strong effort in net by Millionaires' tender Josh Bykowski, who turned away 34 shots on the night and appeared unbeatable during the final two frames.
“I got the puck from Keegan (Allison),” said Douglas about the game winner. “It was a good pass and I fanned on the first one. The defender fell and I just tried to throw it on net and it luckily went in. We'll take anything we get.”
It appeared to the over 1300 fans that occupied the Affinity Place stands that the Millionaires would spoil the fun at the home opener when a Melville player broke in on Bruins' goalkeeper Tyler Fuhr 11 minutes into the third and unleashed a shot that hit Fuhr, rebounded into the air and tipped into the back of the net. After review, the goal was called back due to the Millionaires' player knocking the puck into the net with his glove.
Chris Lewgood, head coach and general manager of the Bruins, said the hockey gods were on their side with the disallowed goal and they can consider it a reward for some breaks and bounces that didn't go their way earlier in the game.
The Bruins got off to a hot start in the first period when Lynnden Pastachak tipped a point shot from Nolan Gallagher past Bykowski 11 minutes in, but that was answered almost immediately by Millionaires' forward Keegan Milligan. The quick back and forth scoring continued a few minutes later when Bruins' forward Darcy DeRoose drilled a shot on net that Bykowski stopped, but failed to cover up before DeRoose poked in his own rebound. Melville's Tyson Predinchuk replied one minute later when his wrist shot from in close sailed into the top corner on Fuhr's glove side.
Bruins' centre Jason Duret got on the scoresheet with his first of two goals on the night, he also scored an empty netter, with a power-play marker into an open cage after a Braden Oleksyn shot rebounded off Bykowski and slid over to Duret who stood waiting at the other side of the net. Kaelan Holt finished the first period Bruins' surge when his shot from around five feet above the crease trickled through Bykowski and in.
The ice tilted the other way in the second. Melville rookie Christian Stevens brought the Millionaires to within one when he tucked a shot under Fuhr three minutes into the frame and Liam Shaw tied the game up on the power play at the 16-minute mark when he skated in from the corner, got off a shot and knocked in the rebound over Fuhr's glove.
“It was a pretty sloppy game, but sometimes that's expected with a home opener with all the excitement around it,” said Douglas. “It's pretty tough to keep the emotions down, but we did find a win and we'll take it.”
Lewgood said Fuhr cannot be faulted on the four goals against and the close score can be attributed to the skaters suffering a few breakdowns while adjusting to new systems. He said the team also let their guard down a bit after convincingly beating the Millionaires 5-2 Thursday night at the Horizon Credit Union Centre in the SJHL season opener.
“We told a little story before the game about how when you win a game handily you're not going to make many adjustments, but the other team has all the advantages,” said Lewgood. “They'll take your game plan and adjust to it. Although we threw a few wrinkles in (Friday), we didn't do a good job adjusting because we were so happy with (Thursday's win).”
Douglas said the team did manage a lot of good scoring chances in their home opener, but ran into a goalie on the top of his game. He said they kept working, tried not to get frustrated and found that greasy goal for the win and now they want to continue that run.
“We want to make a statement to all the other teams in the league and make sure they know we're for real,” he said. “We want to keep up on ourselves. We got a good start and want to keep rolling with a win streak.”
