And then there were four.
The CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins were eliminated from the Crescent Point Energy Western Canada Cup (WCC) playoffs at Affinity Place on Tuesday with a 2-1 loss to their SJHL rival Melfort Mustangs.
The Mustangs (1-2) faced a 1-0 deficit heading into the third period, but right wing Justin Boyer evened the score 31 seconds in on the power play. He also notched the winner with the Mustangs on the man advantage with just over four minutes to go in the game.
“It’s plays by Mayan mostly on both of them,” said Boyer. “He throws one out front and Frei puts it to the net and all of a sudden there is a rebound there and I just got my stick loose and tapped it in. The next one Frei made a good play behind the net to get it to me and he made a good pass out front and I was just coming to the net and was able to put it in.”
The Bruins (0-3) controlled the play in the second period wiring 17 shots on goal compared to eight for the Mustangs. Kaelan Holt got the Black and Gold on the scoreboard 5:08 into the frame when he gloved down a clearing attempt in the opposition zone and fired a slap shot from the hash marks into the top corner of the Mustangs’ net. Thanks to four straight Mustangs’ penalties after the goal the Bruins dominated the play for the rest of the period, but Melfort goaltender Richard Palmer kept it close.
“Palmer’s been huge for us all week,” said Boyer. “He stood tall back there. We haven’t been able to give him the goals to get the wins so far, but tonight he held us in there when we needed him to and even at the end of the game they made a little bit of a push and he stood tall for us every time we needed him.”
Both teams came out flying in a hard-hitting first period with the Bruins earning the first quality chance just over three minutes in when Keaton Longpre tried to jam home a pass from the corner by Zach Goberis at the top of the crease, but was stoned by Palmer. The Bruins earned another chance 18 minutes into the first on a Josh Rieger chance in close where the defenceman popped a bouncing puck in the slot towards the net only to have Palmer snag it out of the air.
“We wanted to push the pace to them and make them play our game,” said Holt. “I thought we did a pretty good job of that, but then it came down to special teams and our penalty kill wasn’t there when we needed it.”
