The Estevan Western Star Signature Hotel atom tier 1 Bruins have moved on to the semifinal round in the South East Minor Hockey League’s playoffs.
The Bruins defeated the host Melville Millionaires 5-3 on Feb. 29 to sweep the best-of-three first round series in two games.
After Melville took an early 1-0 lead, Jaxson Orsted scored for Estevan to tie the game. Goals by Broden Henry and Cameron Milbrandt in the second gave Estevan a 3-1 lead after two; Milbrandt’s goal came with 33 seconds to play.
Boston Tait scored early in the third to add to Estevan’s advantage. Melville scored twice in the final minutes, while Tait added his second of the game late in the game to round out the scoring.
Addison Wanner was in goal.
Estevan was the fourth seeded team in the league after the regular season, while Melville was fifth. The Bruins will play either the Swift Current Broncos or the Weyburn Wings in the semifinals.
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The Estevan TS&M bantam AA Bruins season came to an end Feb. 28 in an 8-2 loss to the Regina Pat Blues at Affinity Place.
Declyn Henderson scored six minutes into the first period to give Estevan a 1-0 lead, but then the Blues notched four unanswered goals to lead 4-1.
Zack McGillicky tallied for Estevan to pull the Bruins to within two, but the Blues scored four more times to win by six.
Ty Fehrenbach stopped 36 shots in the loss.
The Bruins finished 11th in the Saskatchewan Minor AA Hockey League’s bantam AA South Division. The top eight teams make the playoffs.
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The schedule has been set for the Estevan Apex midget AA Bruins next round in the playoffs.
The Apex Bruins will meet the Yorkton Terriers in the Saskatchewan Minor AA Hockey League’s midget AA South Division semifinal. Game 1 will be played March 4 at Affinity Place, starting at 7:30 p.m. Game 2 will be March 8 in Yorkton, and Game 3 is slated for March 8 at Affinity Place, starting at 2:30 p.m.
Game 4, if necessary, would be March 10 in Yorkton and Game 5 would happen March 14 in Estevan.
Estevan reached this round by sweeping the Regina Rangers in three straight in a best-of-five series, while Yorkton needed four games to dispatch of the Regina Vics.
