Sunday, March 6, 2011

Bruins Comeback Falls Short

The Estevan Bruins struggled early as the Yorkton Terriers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period. Yorkton held off a late Bruins charge to win 4-2.

The Bruins looked like a tired team early on, if it wasn't for Shea Cooper, the Bruins would've been down more than 3-0. All 3 goals were near impossible for Cooper to stop. A beautiful pass from Brent Struble to Jeremy Boyer for the first goal. Riley Paterson had a tap-in after a puck squeezed through Cooper, and Craig Eisenhut scored with one of the best wrist shots I have ever seen, his shot destroyed Cooper's water bottle.

The Bruins battled back as Calder Neufeld scored on the powerplay late in the second, and then in the third Jonathan Ceci scored after splitting the d to cut the lead to 3-2. But the Bruins couldn't get the big tying goal and the Terriers would add an empty netter to make the final 4-2.

I think the Bruins were simply tired, they didn't have the jump last night, and maybe that's expected after basically playing 6 games over the last week. The Bruins also made a lot of mental mistakes, which I thought was a result of them being tired.

Shea Cooper was great in the first period. He made some outstanding saves and he deserved a better fate. Will Cooper start in Game 2? I'm not sure, I just know before the end of the series Joel Danyluk will be in net.

Yorkton's a fast team and used their speed to their advantage in Game 1, but back in the small Civic Auditorium in Game 2, I'm not sure if that's going to be an advantage.

I still feel confident this series will last at least 6 games.

Game 2 tomorrow, can be heard on CJ1280 and discoverestevan.com beginning at 7:15..looking forward to the 2nd intermission guest, former Bruin Colton McPherson. Looking forward to catching up with the former Bruins captain.

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