The Melville Millionaires presented the Power Dodge Estevan Bruins their first challenge of the season on Saturday at Affinity Place and the Black and Gold rose to the test.
One night after trouncing the Millionaires 5-0 at Melville’s Horizon Credit Union Centre to open the 2016-17 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) season, the Bruins beat their Viterra Division rivals 4-2 in front of a packed crowd of young and enthusiastic fans at their newly reopened home rink. Bruins captain Lynnden Pastachak and sophomore forward Kaelan Holt teamed up to get the crowd roaring 3:25 into the first period when Holt deflected a Pastachak pass five-hole on Millionaires goaltender Colby Entz from the top of the crease.
Neither of the team’s offences were able to generate much pressure over the next 35 minutes when suddenly the floodgates seemed to open. Millionaires forward Tyler Kreklewich tied the game 16:25 into the second period on a short-side shot that beat Bruins goalie Nathan Alalouf high. Bruins defenceman Tyler Hengen put the home side back up by one a little over a minute later with a seeing-eye shot from the point, which was quickly answered by Melville’s Taylor Kreutzer when he tipped in a Dryden Wust pass into an open cage.
“It was just some breakdowns and some stuff we’ll need to clean up as the season goes on,” said Bruins assistant coach Kyle Mulligan. “Those are going to happen early in the year when you’ve got as many rookies in the lineup as we do and guys learning how to play junior A hockey.”
Mulligan said the Millionaires’ comeback gave the Bruins an opportunity to decide what type of club they’ll be this season. He said they answered the bell, came together as a team and played a solid third period to get the win.
The final frame started out with each team engaging in a physical battle that boiled over 11:04 into the period with Bruins rookie Isaac Embree and Millionaires forward Tucker Scantlebury squaring off with Melville taking the extra two for a boarding call that started the fracas. Holt notched his second of the night and the eventual game-winner 19 seconds into the power play.
“I saw Josh Rieger try to go back door there (and he) got picked off,” said Holt. “I grabbed it and just threw it on net backhand, caught (Entz) by surprise and it sneaked in.”
Devin Windle, head coach and general manager of the Millionaires, said they shored up defensively on Saturday and gave a much better performance, but scoring only two goals on the weekend shows their offence is struggling a little bit to start the season. He said the second game, despite the loss, was a step forward for them after their home opener.
“I don’t think we were very good (on Friday),” said Windle, who was hired to replace Jamie Fiesel this past off-season. “We made a lot of peewee mistakes and it cost us dearly whereas (Saturday) I thought we performed hard, we competed (and) we skated faster. We did a lot of little things so much better and as a result we were competitive.”
Mulligan said the weekend showcased two young teams trying to find their identity and figure out the junior A game. He said a lot of hard work has been done in camp to get the team ready for the season and for them to answer the challenge in the third period means they are moving towards that goal.
“Our leadership group has done a very good job early in the season of bringing our rookies together and making them feel included within our team and within our organization,” said Mulligan. “And, last but not least, we had a 20-year-old goaltender play two very good games for us this weekend and he deserves a lot of credit as well.”
