The Estevan Westmoreland Coal peewee AA Bruins learned a few valuable lessons in their 12-0 and 9-1 home losses to the South Sask Minor Hockey League leading Swift Current Broncos on Saturday and Sunday, but now have to put those games behind them as they move on to an important regular season ending weekend homestand.
Tim Miller, coach of the Bruins, said the biggest things the players have to do after the losses is forget about them, keep their confidence up and believe in their teammates. He said the losses to the Broncos showed they have to stay focused on the task at hand and don’t let their emotions control their play.
The Broncos (24-1) showed the Bruins (11-11-3) what happens when a team takes penalties against them right off the bat on Sunday at the Civic Auditorium. Swift Current scored their first powerplay goal of the afternoon just 55 seconds into the opening frame on a point shot from Ryan McCleary.
Estevan settled down after that goal and began to put pressure on the Swift Current defence, but failed to beat Broncos goalie Justin Dueck. A short-handed marker by Hayden Wilm with 2:26 remaining made the score 2-0 heading into the second.
The Bruins began their steady trip to the penalty box at the beginning of the second period giving the Broncos the momentum. Before the game hit the 40-minute mark, Swift Current’s Noah Wills, Joe Arntsen and Cash Arntsen lit the lamp leading to Estevan pulling Jackson Miller from the net for Layne Gilroy.
Three of the next four Broncos’ goals came with the man advantage. Wills found the back of the net on the powerplay two minutes into the third, Wilm scored an even-strength marker a little over a minute later, Joe Arntsen potted another with the man advantage 11:24 into the period and Wills scored the Broncos’ fifth powerplay goal at the 13:10 mark. Estevan’s Riley Niven ruined Dueck’s shutout bid with just under five minutes left to play.
Miller said if the two teams meet in the playoffs their game plan will definitely involve staying out of the penalty box, moving the puck quicker and putting more pressure on the Broncos to force turnovers. He said they’ll start to implement those tasks this weekend against the second-place Melville Millionaires (13-8-3).
“There is four points on the line,” said Miller. “We get all four points we move up to third place. We’re in fourth right now, so next weekend is very big. Next weekend basically classifies as playoff games for us.”
