A late Nipawin Hawks goal left the Estevan Power Dodge Bruins with nothing to show for a solid effort on the road.
The Bruins entered the Saturday night contest at Nipawin's Centennial Arena against the top-ranked Hawks (38-14-2-1) short two high-end forwards in Lynnden Pastachak and Jake Fletcher due to injury. Despite also losing Kaelan Holt after the first period to injury, the Black and Gold kept pace with the Hawks in the tight-checking game only to fall behind 3-2 with 3:34 remaining in the third period on a power-play marker by Grant Baetsen.
“We (were on) the forecheck and got caught with two guys deep,” said Bruins head coach and general manager Chris Lewgood. “We ended up taking a penalty in the neutral zone and they came down on the power play and had some good zone time. Our guys were doing a good job on the kill and we had a guy sort of get picked, accidental pick, and he lost his place on the penalty kill and they ended up scoring.”
Hawks forward Tanner Thompson scored into an empty net at the 19:30 mark to make the final 4-2. Nathan Alalouf made 47 saves in the loss, while defenceman Evan Scott and left wing Isaac Embree notched first period power-play goals for the Bruins.
Lewgood said losing the three forwards meant everybody had to pick up additional ice time, but they all worked hard and if some of their mistakes and turnovers could have been eliminated they had a good chance of winning the hockey game. He said that focus will continue through the final four games of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League regular season.
“We're not worried about rest right now,” he said. “We're worried about winning hockey games and playing the game the right way. Probably a little bit of a lean lineup against Yorkton (Feb. 28), but we'll make do. Got some guys out of position and that, but we'll do our best as is and then we'll refocus on Wednesday for Weyburn.”
