The Estevan Meter peewee AA Bruins aren’t likely to score lots of goals in a game, but this weekend showed they weren’t going to give a lot of goals up either.
Strong defensive play helped the Bruins allow only 12 goals in four games in their home tournament, but they only scored six as well, dropping the third place game 4-3 in overtime to the Weyburn Red Wings Sunday at Affinity Place.
The Bruins were down 2-1 going into the third period but came back twice to tie it up and eventually send it into overtime, where they lost after about a minute of three-on-three hockey.
“I think our whole weekend was good (even though) our record doesn’t indicate how well we played,” said Bruins head coach Aren Miller. “We never gave up more than four goals in a game. We told the kids that three-on-three here is getting the game over with because we’re tight on ice time. If we had kept playing five-on-five I think we win that game for sure.”
Miler said the kids didn’t quit and competed to the end, with Kade Phillips scoring the Bruins’ last goal to tie the game with 17 seconds left. Ryder Mathison and Turner Knockaert scored the Bruins’ other goals.
Ty Fehrenbach got the start in the final game, and both he and Ryder Davidson played well between the pipes. But it was also a good performance by the defence, who allowed only 20 shots in the contest.
“We’ve got six really good d-men and they’re getting better every game,” said Miller. “They’ve buying into how we want them to play and I think on this big ice surface it’s to our strength. Our D had a good weekend and our centremen did a good job down low. We didn’t score enough goals and that’s something we can work on.”
Miller said they knew going into the season that scoring goals wouldn’t come easy for the Bruins.
“We don’t have the firepower to score five or six goals per game so we’ve been really preaching defence and taking care of our own end,” Miller said.
The Bruins poured over 40 shots on Weyburn goaltender J’Anne Colbow, who played well to keep that many pucks out.
The Bruins lost 4-2 to the Regina Buffalos Friday, won 2-1 over the Regina Mustangs and lost 3-0 to the Minot Wolves in Saturday’s games.
The Bruins’ next action in the South Saskatchewan Peewee AA Hockey League is a pair of games Saturday and Sunday in Swift Current against the Broncos.
