The Estevan Meter peewee AA Bruins went undefeated at their home tournament this weekend.
The peewees opened the tournament with a pair of 2-2 ties against the Regina Royals on Friday afternoon and the Regina Buffaloes on Saturday morning. Then they broke out offensively in a 9-3 rout over the Weyburn Wings Saturday afternoon.
The peewee Bruins wrapped up the tournament with an 8-1 blowout victory over the Royals.
There wasn’t a gold medal game for the tournament. Rather, the teams played a round robin on Friday and Saturday, and then had one more game Sunday.
Coach Aren Miller wasn’t disappointed the tournament didn’t have a gold medal game.
“Early on like this, I think it’s important that teams just play games, and compete against teams that are right there with you,” said Miller.
The two Regina teams didn’t want to come to Estevan to play each other twice, nor did Estevan and Weyburn want to play each other twice, since they play five times in league play. So Miller wanted to see Estevan and Weyburn each have a second game against a Regina team on Sunday.
Miller was impressed with the team’s competitiveness, their speed and their conditioning.
They were also excited to score 17 times in the final two games, but their big focus this past week was on the defensive side of the game.
“I thought they really bought in. We didn’t give up very many goals this weekend.”
Miller is confident the performance in their home tournament will give the peewees a confidence boost as their attention shifts from early season tournaments to league play. They have played just one league game thus far, but now they’ll be playing league games steadily until Christmas.
“I think the kids are learning what it takes to win at this level,” said Miller. “We had some tough games last weekend, and I think the kids really learned what it takes to win at this level. Having some success this weekend is a good sign for us coaches that they’re believing and buying in, and when they play the right way, we’re going to have a lot of success.”
All of their lines and their defence contributed during the home tournament, and the goalies played great.
“When you get things clicking like that, it’s a good recipe for success,” Miller said.
