The Philippe Bond of Tuesday, January 7 and the one who took the crease for the Yorkton Terriers on Saturday, January 11 would barely have recognized each other. After being shelled for six goals on just 17 shots on Tuesday night, Bond stood tall on Saturday, taking the Estevan Bruins to overtime. 

Chantz Petruic scored twice and Bond stole two points for Yorkton with 56 saves on 57 shots as the Terriers downed the Bruins 2-1. Troy Hamilton scored the lone goal for Estevan, while Keenan Rancier stopped 24 of 26 shots. 

“I liked us basically from our blue line out,” said Bruins head coach and GM Chris Lewgood. “I didn’t think our d-zone was as good as it usually is today. We’re losing our guys, probably not enough communication, we seemed quiet today.”

The Bruins had the Terriers on their heels almost from the word go, and it easily could’ve turned into another blowout, but this time Bond held his ground. Late in the first, Brett LeGrandeur spun the puck out front and, after a couple of weird bounces, it settled down for Petruic. Petruic fanned on his first shot, but made his second one count, firing it past Rancier for the 1-0 lead. 

That lead survived the entire second period, and the shots were still piling up, favoring the Bruins at 32-20. It was a long time before the Terriers got shot number 21 as the Bruins really put the pedal down in the third. 

Hamilton finally brought the score back to even with 8:25 to go. He did a full lap of the offensive zone with the puck on his stick, holding off a Terrier defender and emerging at the far side of the net before lifting a backhander past Bond.

“I just kind of took it to the net hard,” Hamilton said of his goal, “and just tried to lift it as high as I could on my backhand and it went in.” 

The Bruins didn’t let up in the third, outshooting the Terriers 23-5 in the final frame but unable to solve him again. In overtime, the Bruins had two chances to score and would’ve had a third if Petruic hadn’t tripped Isaiah Thomas on his way to the net. The trip went uncalled, however, and not long after Petruic rushed into the Bruins and snuck one past Rancier as his shot sat on the Bruin netminder’s pad for a moment before dropping in behind him.

Despite the loss, the Bruins take the point and remain unbeaten in regulation in 2020. They’ll test that streak further when they face the Weyburn Red Wings on Friday, January 17 in Weyburn. You can listen to that game on Rock 106.