Maybe a tilt against the hated Weyburn Red Wings was exactly what the doctor ordered.
Whatever it was, the Estevan Bruins overcame their early-season scoring woes on Saturday to pick up their first win at Spectra Place this year.
It was a game the Bruins dominated at times, especially in the second period, and unlike past games, they buried their scoring chances and put some distance between themselves and their opponents.
With the team missing first line sniper Calder Neufeld - to a sprained ankle that will keep him out for roughly another 10 days - the Bruins' depth of talent got the job done.
Rookie forwards Hudson Morrison and Wyatt Garagan accounted for three goals, with the others coming from Tanner Froese and Nick Weiss.
Morrison showed why he was a highly sought recruit, scoring his first two goals of the season, including a breakaway backhand to forehand move on the first one after goalie Curtis Martinu sent him a long stretch pass up the boards.
The Bruins certainly have more work to do to get back in the thick of it in the Sherwood Conference, but Saturday's performance was an encouraging sign and a glimpse of the team we expected to see this year.
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When I was young, I had a great uncle (well, still do) who lived just outside Baltimore. We always talked baseball when he came home and he always said that he'd cheer for the Blue Jays, except when they played the Orioles.
I did the same, and now I have a chance to cheer for them in the post-season for the first time since those days.
I am not unique in this, of course. Most of the baseball world is rooting on the O's, but that is because of who they're playing, not because of who they are.
The first two games of the series on Sunday and Monday were low-scoring, grind-em-out affairs.
In Game 1, after eight innings of an extended chess match, the Yankees exploded against Orioles closer Jim Johnson in the ninth to win the game.
National Post columnist Bruce Arthur put it best: the Yankees were a soul-crushing machine.
But Game 2 was different.
Rookie starter Wei-Yin Chen threw a gem for the Orioles that went into the seventh inning, and Johnson shut down the Bronx Bombers in the ninth with a tight 3-2 lead to protect.
Both teams left runs on the field. Most notably, Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy held up at third on a single to left field in the third inning that he easily could have scored on.
But as it turned out, Baltimore didn't need that run to win the game, and they sent the series back to New York with a split.
It won't be easy for them to grind out two wins at Yankee Stadium, but here's hoping anyway.
Josh Lewis can be reached by phone at 634-2654, by e-mail at [email protected], on Twitter at twitter.com/306 or on his Bruins blog at estevanmercury.ca/bruinsbanter. No, he didn't watch the Riders-Argos game on Monday, why do you ask?
