The Estevan Apex Bruins are marching on to the second round of the South Saskatchewan Minor Hockey League playoffs after getting past the Regina Flames in three games.
The midget AA squad defeated the Flames 5-2 on Sunday in Regina in Game 3 of the best-of-five series.
They had previously lost the series opener 5-4 on Wednesday in Regina and won Game 2 by a 4-2 score at home on Friday.
The Bruins now face the Moose Jaw Warriors in the second round. That series begins tomorrow in Moose Jaw and continues Saturday with Game 2 at 7 p.m. at Spectra Place. Game 3 had not been scheduled at press time.
On Sunday, the Bruins scored three third-period goals to eliminate the third-place Flames.
Kaelan Holt scored two shorthanded breakaway goals earlier in the game and completed a hat trick late in the third.
Tanner Jeannot and Steven Henderson also scored.
Apex Bruins head coach Dalton Giblett said his team's penalty kill excelled throughout the series and that it generated plenty of scoring chances in Game 3.
"Our penalty kill was really good. (On Sunday) we had two shorthanded goals by Kaelan Holt and we had chances to score on more," he said.
"Our second period is the one that we worry about," he added. "We were up 2-1 after two, so when it came to the third period, we felt very confident. The longer we stayed ahead, the more undisciplined they got and the more penalties they took."
In Game 2 at Spectra Place on Friday, Jolan Lingelbach scored the winning goal with 8:50 left in regulation.
The Apex Bruins scored the only goal of the first period, with Marc Shaw striking at the 6:35 mark.
Drew Kocur tied the game for the Flames at 3:41 of the second.
The score stayed that way until late in the second, when Preston Hutt put the Bruins back on top at 17:48, banging in a rebound.
Lingelbach scored the eventual winner at 11:10, cutting through traffic to bury a rebound.
Kocur scored his second of the game for Regina at 14:12, and Ryley Giblett would add an empty netter for Estevan with 1:09 remaining.
Giblett said goaltender Tanner Tytlandsvik was "very solid" in both wins.
In the series opener on Friday, the Bruins scored three unanswered goals in a failed comeback attempt after being down 4-0 and 5-1 earlier.
Giblett said that may have been the beginning of the club's comeback in the series after losing the opener.
"It just seemed to built momentum from there," he said.
Jaxon Flaman opened the scoring for the Flames late in the first period, and they continued to score in the second.
Josh Laframboise put Regina up by two at the six-minute mark, and Kocur extended the lead less than two minutes later.
Flaman's second of the game at 14:10 of the second put the Flames ahead 4-0.
The Bruins would tally their first goal of the game at 17:12 of the period, courtesy of Lingelbach.
But the Flames got that one back early in the third, with Cody Hegion scoring at 3:18.
That was when the Bruins began to rally.
Tyson Price made it 5-2 just shy of the seven-minute mark.
Less than five minutes later, at 11:14, Holt got the Bruins within two, and Jeannot scored two minutes later to make it a one-goal game.
Giblett said he likes his team's chances against the fourth-place Warriors (20-10-4), who finished three points ahead of the Bruins (17-10-7).
"If we come and play our game and do what we do best, I'm confident that we can do very well against Moose Jaw.
"They've got some high profile scoring guys and they've also got a really good goalie. If we capitalize on our chances, we'll be fine. We gotta shut them down. We limit their scorers' chances and we'll be fine," he said.
