A Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) Game 7 was played in Estevan for the first time in 14 years Tuesday night, and it provided all of the excitement and drama one would expect from a game with so much on the line for both teams.
Tristyn DeRoose scored 4:54 into overtime to lift the Power Dodge Estevan Bruins to a 3-2 victory over the Humboldt Broncos Tuesday night at Affinity Place. With the win in the elimination game, the Bruins advanced to the league’s semifinal round against the Melfort Mustangs, while the Broncos season is over.
The last Game 7 in Estevan was the 2005 Sherwood Conference final between the Bruins and the Yorkton Terriers.
Estevan jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first period on Tuesday night. Will Koop scored 7:40 into the frame to open the scoring, and 19 seconds later, Eddie Gallagher tallied to double the advantage.
The Bruins had a chance to take a 3-0 lead, but Humboldt goaltender Rayce Ramsay stopped Michael McChesney on a breakaway.
Humboldt notched two quick goals of their own in the second period to tie the game. Josh Patrician scored 1:26 into the middle frame, and Reagan Poncelet pulled Humboldt even 31 seconds later.
The Bruins controlled the play in the third period, outshooting Humboldt 10-4, and carried the momentum over into overtime until DeRoose scored, following some great work by TJ Irey.
"It was the end of my shift, (I was) dog tired, and Irey crossed the line with the puck, fed it to me on the side," said DeRoose. "I took a shot, the rebound came to him, he drove the net hard, a credit to him, and he shovelled the puck to the side of the net. He did a lot of the work, and I just had to tap it in."
DeRoose, whose older brother Darcy spent parts of four seasons with the Bruins, has been coming to games in Estevan since he was a young teen.
“Darcy played for the Bruins for a lot of years, and I take a lot of pride in playing for Estevan here,” said Tristyn DeRoose.
Head coach and general manager Chris Lewgood said it was fitting that DeRoose had the overtime winner in Game 7, since he played such a strong game Tuesday night. Lewgood also recognized Tanner Manz, who had the double overtime winner in Game 5 Friday night.
“Those are guys that err on the defensive side every time, defensively responsible players, guys that are patient and wait for their opportunities,” said Lewgood. “Tristyn tonight was quietly one of our best players. Dependable in the defensive zone and making good decisions in the offensive zone.”
Grant Boldt stopped 29 shots for Estevan, while Ramsay made 38 saves for Humboldt.
A capacity crowd of 2,662 fans watched the game at Affinity Place.
"The whole Estevan community is behind us, and it's awesome. It makes things more fun out there," said DeRoose.
The Bruins trailed the Broncos 3-1 in the series after an 8-4 loss in Humboldt in Game 4 on March 19. They were down 2-0 in the third period of Game 5 March 22, but they rallied for the 3-2 double overtime victory, and took Game 6 4-1 two days later in Humboldt.
“With the exception of after the first period, down 4-0 in Game 4, there was never really any doubt in our staff about our guys,” said Lewgood.
Defenceman Johnny Witzke, who is in his third and final season with the club, said the players bought into the team’s game plan for the final three games.
“We decided to play better defensively,” said Witzke. “We weren’t taking so many chances, and we were pressuring them and giving them less time in the offensive zone, and that took away from them using their speed. I thought that was a huge turning point in the series.”
Estevan will face a Melfort Mustang team in the semifinal round that they defeated in all four meetings during the regular season, and outscored 24-9. As Lewgood points out, Humboldt took all four meetings with Estevan during the regular season.
"As we saw in this series, the regular season doesn't mean a whole lot," said Lewgood. "We had some rough nights against Humboldt this year where maybe we didn't bring our best, and there were other nights where we couldn't get a bounce, and I believe the same goes for Melfort against us. We won four times against them convincingly, and they only lost 13 regulation games."
Witzke said the Mustangs are a quick team with a dangerous top line the Bruins will have to contain. But if they play solid hockey, then he believes the Bruins can prevail.
The way in which the Bruins won the series gives the team some confidence entering the next round, DeRoose said, but they know they can’t get too overconfident, because they’ll need to be even better than they were against Humboldt if they want to defeat the Mustangs.
Games 1 and 2 will be March 29 and 30, respectively, in Melfort. Games 3 and 4 will be at Affinity Place on April 2 and 3. Game 5, if necessary, would be April 5 in Melfort, followed by Game 6 April 7 in Estevan and Game 7 April 9 in Melfort.
