At the tournament they hold every year at this time, the Estevan Westmoreland Bruins peewee AA hockey team won a couple of games and lost a couple as well.
It's what they lost as well as the games that might be most concerning.
The Bruins lost captain and leading scorer Carson Birnie to an apparent wrist injury that might leave him shelved for a while this season.
“Overall we went 2-and 2 on the weekend and we're pretty impressed by the performance,” said Bruins head coach Kris Hollingshead. “We're going to have to play through adversity but the players rallied (Saturday) around it and they ended up pulling off a win and I think they bounced back.”
The Bruins opened the tournament with a 8-5 victory over the Regina Tigers. Jordan Marcotte scored a hat trick and Birnie added a pair of goals, with Declyn Henderson, Ty Hoste and Sam George adding singles. Tallan Howie took the victory in net.
The Bruins then lost 7-4 to the Regina Mustangs in their second game. Birnie, Tate Kasick, Macade Ochitwa and Strahn Douglas each scored singles. The Bruins rounded out the round robin part of the tournament with a 4-2 win over the Regina Blues. Kasick scored a pair, and Hoste and George scored singles.
With their record, the team earned the third place game against the Weyburn Red Wings and ran out of gas in a 7-0 loss.
This tournament has been run for a few years now and it's a good chance for the peewees to get the experience of playing in a lot of games without the expense of having to travel for a few days outside the city.
“We play Weyburn back to back next weekend,” said Hollingshead. “That's what we were foucusing on (Sunday), trying to get ready for that. We've seen what we're up against and they're a good team so we're going to practice this week and get prepared for next weekend.
“One of the things we've got to work on is obviously staying out of the box and the easiest way to do that is if we have control of the puck. We've got to beat the other team to the puck.”
The Bruins' next action is back in the South Saskatchewan Minor Hockey League's peewee AA division when they play Weyburn at 2:15 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday at Affinity Place.
