A strong four-minute penalty kill late in the second period propelled the Estevan Westmoreland peewee AA Bruins to a third-period breakout in their 3-0 win over the Moose Jaw Warriors at Affinity Place on Saturday.
“We were all pretty scared that we were going to let in a goal,” said Bruins defenceman Austin Davis, who made a series of quality defensive plays on the kill including swatting down a dangerous Warriors cross-ice pass before clearing the zone as the home side attempted to protect the one-goal lead. We were “just trying to get it down and trying to waste time.”
The Bruins (10-4-1) controlled the play in the Warriors (1-14) zone through the first 20 minutes with leading scorer Kaden Chrest and feisty second-line centre Ty Hoste each earning good opportunities to open the scoring only to have Moose Jaw goalie Jayden Watterson bar the door at the final second. Bruins right wing James Mann helped put the Warriors shutout attempt to a stop early in the second stanza splitting the Moose Jaw defence and firing a shot low corner with Boden Dukart pouncing on the rebound to put the Black and Gold up by a goal 21 seconds in.
Estevan put the pressure on the Warriors defence over the next 10 minutes of the second period, but Watterson battled through the traffic making a number of strong saves to keep his team in the game. The Bruins got into penalty trouble late in the final seven minutes of the middle frame allowing high scoring Warriors forwards Liam Fitzpatrick and Caleb Newkirk to pepper Estevan netminder Jackson Miller’s net, but the penalty kill unit wouldn’t break.
Mann put the Bruins up 2-0 on the power play a little over two minutes into the third period corralling a Chrest pass in the slot before spinning and firing the puck low corner on Watterson. The Bruins forward notched the insurance marker also on the man advantage with 2:54 to play on a shot that deflected off the crossbar and into the back of the net.
“We played way better (than last night),” said Mann, referring to the team’s 6-2 win over the Warriors at the Civic Auditorium on Friday. “We were moving the puck more, skating better and skating faster.”
Davis said the two post-Christmas wins show the team they’re on the right track despite falling 4-1 to the Yorkton Canadian Western Bank Terriers (8-7) on the road in their final game before the holidays. He said the Terriers can expect a tougher match this weekend when the Bruins welcome Yorkton to the Energy City for a return engagement.
We’ll “play harder,” said Davis. We'll “get the puck to each other and score goals.”
