The Estevan Apex midget AA Bruins stumbled out of the gate to start the season but head coach Riley Hengen feels the team is better than the 0-2 start they got off to at Affinity Place Saturday and Sunday.
The Bruins lost 6-3 to the Notre Dame Argos Saturday and 4-1 to the Notre Dame Hounds on Sunday to drop the puck on their 2018-19 South Saskatchewan Midget AA Hockey League campaign.
“We weren’t happy with the effort on Saturday’s game,” said Hengen. “We kind of let it get away from us in the third period and we gave up two early ones (Sunday) in the first to get behind.”
The Bruins’ only marker on Sunday was a rebound by Tayce Miller underneath Notre Dame goaltender Trey Olson-Deobald.
“The effort was there and I think we had a comeback in us but we just couldn’t put that puck in the net,” Hengen said.
The last half of the game was controlled well by the Bruins even if they couldn’t solve the Notre Dame netminder.
“We just didn’t get down on ourselves,” Hengen said. “We made sure nobody was getting down on each other or themselves. We knew if we could get a couple of passes going, we’d just start rolling and their goalie played good…
“Overall it sucks going 0-2 to start the season but we’re pretty happy with today’s effort.”
Sunday, Zane Winter shone in stopping all but three pucks – the Hounds’ fourth goal was into an empty net.
Adrien Riddell, Dylan Hull and Kieran Stewart scored the goals Saturday for Estevan against the Argos. Morgan Wanner stopped 34 of 40 shots in net.
After hitting these games following an intense pre-season schedule, the Bruins will now have a full week of practice before their next game.
“We’ve really only had one practice since the team’s been picked, from tryouts and exhibition,” said Hengen. “Things happened pretty quick here for us. We’ll get a chance to work on some stuff in practise and get our power play nailed down here and a couple of D-zone mistakes that we made. Just shore up our end and I think we’ll be good going forward.”
The Bruins’ next action is Saturday at 4 p.m. at Affinity Place when they battle the Weyburn Wings.
