The Estevan Blue Rock junior midget Bruins took advantage of home ice in Game 1 of their league playoff semifinals as they defeated the Regina Blue 9-3 on March 15.
Estevan opened up the scoring in the first period when Zach Holzer found the back of the net. Wyatt Haux and Shae Little had the assists. The Bruins held the Blues scoreless in the period.
In the second, Little extended the Bruins lead to 2-0, and Holzer and Haux contributed with the helpers.
Regina got on the board shortly after the Little goal to cut the lead in half.
The Bruins finished the period by scoring four straight goals. Holzer, Haux and Little connected again as Holzer earned his second goal of the game and the other two assisted the play.
Shortly after that goal, Haux netted one to give the Bruins a 4-1 lead. Terran Holzer and Little had the assists.
With 4:53 remaining in the period, Keaton Tarnes, fromZach Holzer andKylar Ward, connected to add to the Estevan lead. Nineteen seconds later, Preston Brodziak scores and Hunter Piche had the helper.
Going into the third period, the Bruins had a 6-1 lead. Three minutes into the frame, Quintin Davidson made it 7-1 and Garrett Mehler had the assist.
Later in the period, Regina scored two consecutive goals, but that’s all they would get. The Bruins continued to light the lamp, scoring two more times. Little had the second last goal of the game and Tarnes earned the assist. Derian Pratt scored the final goal of the game.
Coach Sabe Holzer was impressed with his second line throughout the game as they contributed to four of the nine goals scored.
“I really hope those guys can stay healthy and stay together because they’re going to be tough to deal with,” Holzer said. “We’re going to have two back-to-back really, really strong lines going out there.”
Overall, Holzer was impressed with the way his team stepped up their game and basically controlled the whole matchup.
For Game 3 tonight, Holzer said that his team needs to keep doing that and to stay out of the penalty box.
“We need to do the same thing we did in Game 1, come out firing on all cylinders right off the bat and just keep our foot on the gas the whole time,” he said.
