The Estevan Apex midget AA Bruins got their nine-game homestand started off on the wrong foot this past weekend.
The Bruins (13-4-1) fell 5-3 and 5-2, respectively, in a two-game series against the Yorkton Kinsmen Terriers (12-3-1) at Affinity Place on Friday and Saturday. While the Terriers used a third-period comeback to knock off the Black and Gold in the first contest, the Bruins made sure they would not match their opposition’s feat a day later by taking a flurry of undisciplined penalties during the final 20 minutes of the second game.
“We weren’t working as hard (as we should have) and we started taking some penalties that we shouldn’t have been taking,” said Bruins defenceman Brady Long. “We were in the box for most of the third period and the play was in our end for most of the third period because of that.”
Bruins left wing Liam Rutten led off the scoring on Saturday corralling a pass at the hashmarks from Jacob Palmer before turning and firing a shot top corner blocker side on Terriers goalie Tyson Byman 6:38 into the first period. Terrier Carter Lake tied the match a little over a minute later on the power play with his teammate MacKenzie Flett potting the go-ahead marker at the 16:07 mark with a shot from the slot that beat Bruins netminder Bryson Garton five hole.
After Troy Bryksa made it 3-1 midway through the second period, Rutten notched his second of the night on a short-handed breakaway where he deked to his forehand in close and fired the puck into a bottom corner. Yorkton’s Vaughn Wilgosh restored the two-goal lead late in the middle frame shortly after the Terriers killed off two straight Bruins power plays. Colin MacDonald notched the only goal in the third period with the Terriers on a four-minute man advantage.
Long said their effort wasn’t there for either of the two games. He said the Terriers are a team they’re going to have to beat if they want to make any inroads when the playoffs come around, so they’ll need to start working harder and that starts this weekend when the team hosts the Swift Current K-Motel Broncos (9-8-1) on Saturday and the Regina Capitals (5-12-0-1) on Sunday.
“We’re going to have to be more prepared than these two games,” he said. “It sucks losing in our own rink.”
