The Estevan Apex Bruins are making quite a name for themselves in Prince Albert.
The midget AA squad won the prestigious Kelly Dmyterko Memorial Tournament for the second straight year on Sunday in the northern city.
Estevan edged the Calgary Royals 5-4 in the A final, with defenceman Travis Holma scoring the game-winner on the power play with 7:31 left in regulation.
The Apex Bruins went undefeated throughout the 16-team tournament, outscoring opponents 44-10 in five games.
"We had a couple of games that were a little softer, not the competition that we wanted, but three out of five games made the kids play hard and they rose to the challenge and did very well," said head coach Tim Lequyer.
Estevan took a 2-1 lead after the first period of the final, getting goals from Ryan Frehlick and Dylan Lamontagne. Logan King replied with his first of two goals for the Royals.
Calgary tied it on King's second at 3:11 of the middle period, but the Bruins would pull ahead again about eight minutes later on a Kaelum Bieber marker.
Zach Paxman staked the Bruins to a two-goal lead less than two minutes into the third, but the Royals replied on a Bryan Huck goal at 5:02, and Duncan Pernal evened it up 4-4 with less than 10 minutes to play.
Paxman drew the lone assist on Holma's winner less than two minutes later.
"It was close all the way," Lequyer said of the final. "We were starting to run a little bit out of gas. It was a long weekend and the kids were getting pretty tired. It was a good, big, physical team we played. They maybe took it to us a little bit, but having said that, we were able to keep them to the outside and limit their good, quality scoring chances."
Levi Eiteneier earned his second straight win between the pipes after posting a solid outing in the semifinal.
"Levi was playing well in the round-robin, so we decided to go with him and it paid off. He was really sound in the final two games," Lequyer said.
The Bruins began the tournament on Friday morning with a 12-1 shellacking of the Norman Selects.
Dylan Herzberg paced the visitors with a hat trick. Chase McKersie netted two goals and Paxman, Holma, Frehlick, Bieber, Blaine Herzberg, Mason Benning and Branden Lequyer added singles.
The second game was a stiff challenge, but the Bruins handed the Turtleford-based Midwest team their first loss of the season in a 7-4 victory.
Estevan scored three goals in a span of four minutes early in the third period to secure the win.
Brad Tomiski's hat trick and Dylan Herzberg's pair of goals led the way. Lamontagne and Paxman also scored.
The third game was a 15-0 laugher against the OCN Blues that saw the Bruins stake a 6-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Six different players had two goals apiece: Bieber, Lamontagne, Tomiski, Lequyer, McKersie and Jason Hengen. Other goals came from Benning, Frehlick and Garrett Earl.
The Bruins then advanced to the A semifinal, where they handled the Winnipeg Sharks 5-1. It was a much closer game than the score would indicate, with the Bruins scoring four times in the final seven minutes of the third period to shatter a 1-1 tie. Tomiski (2), Frehlick, Dylan Herzberg and Josh Ferris had the Estevan goals.
Lequyer believes playing at and winning the tournament will have its benefits for the Bruins.
"It was definitely an advantage, going up there and seeing some different teams. The kids really came together and I think it's going to do nothing but help us the rest of the year," he said.
