The Estevan Bruin stopped their three-game losing slide in dramatic fashion on Friday, December first. They opened the month of December with a 3-2 victory over the Battlefords North Stars.

Jake Fletcher scored the winning goal and Matt Lukacs turned aside 21 of the 23 shots he faced in the Bruins victory. Jerzy Martin and Hayden Guilderson also scored. The win got Estevan off the three-game slide and evened their season series with Battlefords at two wins apiece. 

"That was playoff hockey and maybe a little bit more," said Bruins assistant coach Aren Miller. "We've kind of had a rivalry with these guys over the last couple years and it's been amped up by the games we've had this year. I thought the guys stepped up huge. We had a good effort last game but tonight was just over the top."

Martin got the scoring started in the game off some great work in the trenches by he and his linemates Matthew Chekay and TJ Irey. After Chekay and Irey were both robbed in tight, Martin picked up the rebound and slipped it past a sprawling Taryn Kotchorek.   

The Bruins were down 2-1 for much of the middle part of the game, however. The North Stars tied it up before the period was out, then took the lead after an early second-period goal by Layne Young, which he bounced in off a Bruins skate on the rush. The Bruins got a shot in the arm when Chekay dropped the gloves with Owen Lamb and laid a thumping on him immediately after throwing a big hit on Conor Jensen. 

"We've talked to the boys about a little pushback," said Miller, adding that the Chekay fight sparked the team. "Teams come in here and sometimes control us physically but tonight we had a big first period physically. Cheks doing that, it gives everyone a little more energy and then Kinger (Austin King-Cunningham) doing it too put the finishing touches on it. We're not gonna get pushed around in our rink."

Austin King-Cunningham won a fight of his own in the third period, putting a beatdown on Blake Fennig after the two exchanged slashes in the neutral zone. By then, the Bruins had already tied the game thanks to a Jake Heerspink shot on the power play that Guilderson redirected in. Not long after, Fletcher provided the winner on a blistering slap shot off the rush. 

"It was just an unbelievable pass by Holty (Kaelan Holt) to sauce it over the guys stick wide to me," Fletcher said. "People have been telling me to shoot more so I just buried my head and pit as much effort into it as I could and it ended up going over his glove. It felt amazing."

"I don't want to say anyone was nervous," Fletcher said of ending the losing skid, "but we knew we had to get back on the winning page and get back to playing the right way and today it resulted in a W. It shows we can beat the best team in the league."

The Bruins have a week off before squaring off with Yorkton once again in a home-and-home. The road game on December ninth will air on Rock 106.

GAME NOTES

Kaelan Holt had two assists to continue his point streak and increase his standing in the SJHL scoring race. He sits fourth in SJHL scoring with 39 points in 29 games. 

Jake Heerspink has 22 points to sit fifth in the SJHL among defenseman. He is one of just four Bruins to play in all 30 games this year. He played in 30 games all of last season and finished with one goal and 11 points.

The Bruins and North Stars have played four games this year. Estevan has won one game at home and one game on the road against Battlefords, while losing one each at home and away from Affinity Place as well. All but one game has been decided by a single goal.

Prior to the game, Estevan trimmed its roster by trading Brendan Mark to Yorkton for Shane Sherban and future considerations. Sherban was almost immediately flipped to Melville for future considerations.