The Estevan Power Dodge Bruins clawed back from 2-1 and 3-2 deficits to beat the Notre Dame Hounds 5-3 at Affinity Place on Friday.
The win ended a three-game losing streak for the Black and Gold and sends the club into the two-week Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) Christmas break on a positive. The match was also the third time the two teams had faced each other in a week and a half with the Bruins (24-11-0-1) taking the first game 2-1 at Wilcox’s Duncan McNeil Arena and losing the second 3-1 also on the road.
“We were starting to figure out who they were relying on more, what they were trying to do on their power play and their special teams,” said Bruins left wing Jake Fletcher. “That really played into it a lot. We were able to make better reads and just know how they play.”
Fletcher got the Bruins off to a quick start one-timing a kick-pass from Lynnden Pastachak at the Hounds goal before picking up his own rebound and tapping it past goalie Jordan Greenfield-Flemon. Despite Estevan controlling the play for the majority of the first period, Hounds centre Alex Hanson got the marker back with 25 seconds left to play in the stanza on a give-and-go break with Adam Dawe.
Notre Dame’s Conor MacLean then gave his team the 2-1 lead two minutes into the second period before Bruins defenceman Johnny Witzke tied the game with his third of the season by coming down the pipe and batting in a rebound through three Hounds defenders. The Hounds’ Egan Wolford restored the lead 6:06 into the third period on a three-way passing play with Dawe and Marshall Wilton culminating in the defenceman tapping the puck in low blocker side from the side of the crease only to have Bruins assistant captain Jason Miller tie the game once again on the power play just under two minutes later with a slap shot from the point.
Hounds head coach and general manager Clint Mylymok said teams can win 2-1 and 3-2 in this league, but they have to be able to pay attention to detail and protect their points in the standings to do it. He said Estevan played more abrasively than they did and came in with a purpose to get the two points and they didn’t do a good enough job of protecting the lead and winning the special teams' battle.
“Estevan is a good team,” said Mylymok, whose team moved to 15-14-3-1 with the loss. “They have got a lot of speed and tonight I thought the difference was they just came out with a little more physicality that helped them get into it and they seemed to thrive off of that.”
Bruins defenceman Josh Rieger notched the go-ahead marker while short-handed with 2:31 left to play. Despite the Hounds four-on-one on the puck in the Bruins zone during the play, Estevan centre Zach Goberis managed to come out with it before he raced down the wing and fed Rieger with a cross-crease saucer that the rearguard deposited five hole. Pastachak scored the insurance marker into an empty net with 1:02 remaining in the game.
“Especially having the skid before it was big to get this,” said Fletcher, who will step back onto Affinity Place ice with his teammates for a home game against the Weyburn Red Wings on Dec. 30. We “have some confidence going into the break and (we) ended it on the right note, so we can come back happy and ready to go.”
