The CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins captured an important four points in the SJHL standings on the weekend by beating their Viterra Division rival Melville Millionaires 6-1 and 3-1 in a home-and-home series.
“It’s huge,” said Bruins goaltender Daniel Wapple, who earned SJHL goalie of the week honours for his 57-save performance over the two games. “We need to get on a bit of a roll here before playoffs. We’re hosting Westerns, so we need to be ready and all these games are just leading up to that. I think we’re making some pretty good strides here this weekend.”
After plundering the Millionaires’ net at Melville’s Horizon Credit Union Centre on Friday, the Bruins got off to a slow start at Affinity Place on Saturday. Melville jumped out to a 7-1 lead in shots seven minutes into the frame before a Millionaires’ penalty allowed Estevan to get back in it.
It would take until the 10-minute mark of the second period before the Bruins first bulged the twine thanks to a Zach Goberis shot from the middle of the faceoff circle that skidded under Millionaires goaltender Brandon Wells’ pad. Two minutes and 21 seconds later, Estevan’s Landon Gross made it 2-0 on a wrist shot from the slot that went top corner blocker side.
Melville’s Keegan Milligan brought them to within one 6:36 into the third period on the power play, but Wapple barred the door after that making a number of saves from in close with the Millionaires applying pressure in the final 10 minutes of the game. Keaton Longpre scored the insurance marker into an empty net off an unselfish feed from Tyson Predinchuk with 21 seconds remaining.
“Everybody just worked a little bit harder,” said Wapple, noting the games against Melville were the first time he felt like himself in net after going through an adjustment period to the new team and league since joining the Bruins from the WHL’s Vancouver Giants on Jan. 10. “We had some games with a couple of letdowns and everything like that. We had a hard week in practice and we’re always working hard and it showed.”
Chris Lewgood, head coach and general manager of the 25-18-0-3 Bruins, said the two games against the Millionaires (14-28-1-1) are matches they expect to win. He said they accomplished the task through simply playing their game and not losing a period all weekend.
“You count on these ones,” said Lewgood. “They’re a lower seeded team who are in a different place in their longterm plan than we are, so we expect to win in these games. If you don’t get them then you step back, but every game is important and division ones like this are a nice win.”
