The Estevan Bruins wrote a familiar script in Weyburn on March 2, but there was to be no happy ending for the black and gold this time as they fell 5-4 to the Red Wings in the final game of the regular season edition of the highway-39 rivalry.

For the second game in a row in Weyburn, the Bruins surrendered three third-period goals, including the winner to Ben Hiltz with 1:07 left in the game as he poked it past Bo Didur as he tried to glove it down. Estevan had some tries at Arik Weersink in the Red Wings cage with the net empty, but couldn’t solve him the one more time they needed.

HIGHLIGHTS:  

Weyburn got off to a hot start, burying a power play tally just 43 seconds into the contest when Tyran Brown redirected a point shot by Mike Eskra past Didur. The Bruins responded at 6:36 of the period, however, on a power play of their own when Kaelan Holt snapped a backhander past Weersink out of a scramble. It was the last time the Bruins would trail for a long time.

Zach Goberis potted his 31st of the campaign just four minutes later, taking a bank pass from Michael McChesney who shot wide off the end boards and bounced it to Goberis at the side of the net. Weyburn soon answered on a 2-on-1 however, as Sean Olson broke in and lifted one past Didur’s outstretched blocker.

With Estevan on a power play late in the first, Jayden Davis solved Weersink and beat the clock with less than a second to go. Mark Edmands through the puck into Weersink’s crease and several Bruins had swipes at it before Davis finally cashed it in.

Only Kaelan Holt did any damage on the scoresheet in the second, taking a backdoor feed from Davis after Goberis’s stick exploded and the puck rolled right to him. Holt had the easy goal for his 30th of the year.

In the third it all came unraveled for Estevan, however, as Olson’s second of the game, a tap-in at the side of the net, got the Red Wings on a roll that never stopped. Hiltz scored the tying and winning goals, both from in tight. The final tally came with just 1:07 to go as Hiltz got a stick on the puck before Didur could cover it up and slipped it past him for the winning marker.

Weyburn was in desperate need of two points as they claw their way back within one point of Kindersley for the sixth spot and the final non-survivor series. Estevan is locked into first place in the division, and has the third spot set.

GAME NOTES

Kaelan Holt became the second Bruins player and fifth in the SJHL to score 30 goals. He has established a new career high.
Zach Goberis had a three-point night to move to 31 goals and 43 assists on the year. He is in his final year of junior eligibility.

The Bruins fall to 6-2 on the year against Weyburn. Both their losses have come 5-4 on the strength of last minute goals, and both have come in the last three games between the two sides, all three of which have finished 5-4.