ESTEVAN - For the second time in a week, the Estevan Bruins used a four-goal period to propel them to victory over the Weyburn Red Wings.
The Bruins scored four times in the second period to defeat the Red Wings 5-1 Friday night at Affinity Place.
The win came six days after the Bruins scored four times in the first period in a 6-3 win in Weyburn on Oct. 2.
In Friday night’s game, the Red Wings held a 1-0 lead after the first period on a goal by Braden Birnie. That goal came moments after the Bruins thought they had the opening goal of the game, but the tally was waived off.
Head coach and general manager Jason Tatarnic said the replay showed it was a good goal, but the play happened pretty quickly, and he viewed the decision to waive off the marker as an honest mistake.
“I thought in the second period, we came out even stronger, and in the third, we played a pretty complete game,” said Tatarnic.
Estevan started to take control of the game in the second half of the first frame, and they were rewarded in the second period. Olivier Pouliot scored 1:42 into the second to tie the game. Local product Alex Von Sprecken scored 4 1/2 minutes later on the power play to give the Bruins a 2-1 advantage.
The big blow came late in the second, when Keagon Little and Griffin Asham-Moroz tallied 89 seconds apart for a 4-1 lead through two periods.
“That second period we just came out, and we made the decision that we were going to go to work.”
Asham-Moroz added his second of the game midway through the third period to round out the scoring.
“It was awesome to come here and win at home, especially against your rivals, your divisional rivals,” said Asham-Moroz. “it’s always nice to win in front of your fans at home.”
Estevan outshot Weyburn 42-22 on the night, including 31-14 over the final two periods. Boston Bilous stopped 21 shots for the Bruins.
Joseph Young made 37 saves for Weyburn.
The Bruins will host the Melfort Mustangs on Oct. 15 and the Nipawin Hawks on Oct. 16. Both games start at 7:30 p.m.
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The Bruins went 0-2 at the SJHL Showcase prior to the game against Weyburn.
Estevan opened the Showcase with a 5-2 loss against the La Ronge Ice Wolves on Oct. 5 – their first loss of the season. Antoine St. Onge scored in the first period to give the Bruins the lead, and Mark Rumsey tallied on a power play in the third to tie the game at twos. La Ronge scored three times in the final seven minutes, including twice in the final 90 seconds. Bilous stopped 33 of the 37 shots he faced.
Defenceman Nolan Jones was assessed a match penalty for a blow to the head with 4:06 to play in the third. He was then handed an 11-game suspension after the contest.
Less than 18 hours after the La Ronge game ended, the Bruins were back on the ice for a 3-2 loss to the Humboldt Broncos. Connor McGrath scored all three goals for the Broncos; the hat trick goal came 40 seconds into the third period. Caelan Fitzpatrick and Asham-Moroz had the goals for Estevan.
Cam Hrdlicka stopped 31 shots for Estevan.
“If you asked all of the players inside our dressing room, I think they were disappointed with our effort. But give credit to the teams we played, they played really well. We have to give a better effort the next time we play those teams,” said Tatarnic.
Forwards Rumsey, Asham-Moroz and Eric Houk, and defenceman Dayton Deics were among the Bruin players to draw a lot of attention.
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The Bruins also announced a series of trades last week.
The first saw the Bruins acquire 2002-born defenceman Kian Calder from the Portage Terriers of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League in exchange for forward Brenden Holba (’03) and future considerations. The deal completes the offseason trade for the rights to forward Joey Moffatt, who opted to play in the North American Hockey League.
Calder had four goals and an assist in five games for Portage last season.
“He’s a very good defenceman. He moves the puck well. He’s really going to help us. He’s a guy that we wanted here for a while now, and we finally got it done, and he’s going to get it done for us,” said Tatarnic.
The Bruins also acquired forward Prescott Senger (’03) from the Yorkton Terriers for a conditional draft choice. Senger had a goal and an assist for Yorkton this season.
“We really liked how he played against us in the preseason as well as the games in the regular season,” said Tatarnic.
The club dealt forward Jovan Maley to the Fort McMurray Oil Barons of the Alberta Junior Hockey League for a player development fee.
