The Estevan Carlyle Motor Products atom AA Bruins evened up their best-of-three South East Minor Hockey League (SEMHL) championship series at one game apiece with a hard-fought 3-1 win over the Weyburn Panther Drilling Wings at the Civic Auditorium on Sunday.
“Tallan Howie was amazing again,” said Bruins head coach Derek Wilhelm about his last line of defence. “Their goalie played good too. We were just able to squeak two more by him than what they got by us and that was the difference in the game.”
After a back-and-forth start that saw Howie stone Weyburn’s Ty Mason with his blocker on a shot from the top of the crease followed by Ryan Hicks sticking out his pad on Bruin Nicolas Hins’ shot from the slot, Estevan’s Ty Hoste potted the first goal 14 minutes in when he backhanded a shot from the bottom of the circle top corner short side. The Bruins’ Carson Birnie made the score 2-0 late in the first on the power play by poking in a rebound from the top of the crease.
Wings forward Mason replied six minutes into the second when he skated out front from the back of the net and fired a shot from just above the goal line past Howie. Bernie answered that marker with his second of the night eight-and-a-half minutes into the middle frame when he picked up the puck in the neutral zone, skated it in down the middle and wristed a shot from the high slot past Hicks.
The Bruins then got into penalty trouble late in the second, but the Wings couldn’t capitalize on their chances. The whole Bruins team stepped up defensively in the third battling the Wings hard in their own zone eliminating any finishing opportunities.
“Their goalie played well,” said Wings head coach Willy Mason, noting the Bruins have been a tough test for them all season. “They were tight in their zone, lots of loose pucks in front of the net, but we just couldn’t get our sticks on them. They outmuscled us and their goalie kept them in the game.”
The Bruins and Wings match up in the third and deciding game of the series March 22 at Crescent Point Place. The Wings won the first game 7-3 at home on March 19.
Wilhelm said they suffered a bad second period in that first game of the series giving up five goals, but they battled back in the third to make the score a bit more respectable. He said a no-quit attitude is what they’ve strived on all season and that’s what they’ll need again in Game 3.
“We haven’t quit all year,” said Wilhelm. “We’ve got to show up and play a full 60 in their barn and hopefully win a championship.”
