The Estevan Westmoreland Coal peewee AA Bruins learned a tough lesson in their 6-4 loss to the Yorkton Canadian Western Bank Terriers at Affinity Place on Saturday.
After jumping out to an early 3-0 lead on first period markers by Kaden Chrest, Colby Cuddington and Mason Kukura, the Bruins seemed to forget about the task at hand. Terriers captain Carter Dereniwsky took advantage of the let-up notching a power-play marker with 3:58 remaining in the first period.
Grady Hoffman then made the score 3-2 seven-and-a-half minutes into the second period before Dereniwsky tied the game 2:27 into the final stanza on a drive to the net where he roofed the puck top corner blocker side on Bruins netminder Jackson Miller. Estevan’s Boden Dukart got his team back into the lead on the power play four minutes later only to have Dereniwsky tie it once again 40 seconds later.
“We just need our goalie to make a stop there,” said Bruins coach Aren Miller. “The tying goal hits the middle of the net. He’s not ready. It’s the best player in the league coming off the wall. I think these guys have got to be aware when the top players from the other team are on the line and we weren’t today.”
Hoffman potted the go-ahead marker 10 seconds after the tying goal on a rush off the ensuing faceoff leading to Miller getting pulled for Talon Howie. The Bruins staged a pushback after the goal when Chrest enjoyed a good chance to score on a backhand in close with a minute-and-a-half remaining, but Terriers goaltender Landon Sorenson was up to the task. Dereniwsky scored his fourth of the game into an empty net with 24 seconds left to provide the insurance marker.
Miller said the kids have to understand they’re not going to continue to score eight or nine goals a game as the season progresses and other teams get better. He said they are going to have to win games 4-3 and 3-2 and that means they’ll have to exhibit a higher level of maturity when they come to the rink.
“We’re down to (eight) games left in the season now and it could come to a quick end,” said Miller. “This team learned that last year where we only played three playoff games and we don’t want to be done in February. So, we’ve got a good group of kids and a good group of coaches that are working towards the ultimate goal. It’s speed bumps like this that you hope they learn from and come back (ready) tomorrow.”
The Bruins (11-5-1) enjoyed a better result in the second match of their two-game homestand against the Terriers (9-8) on Sunday afternoon beating Yorkton 4-1.
