The Estevan Sherritt Coal midget A Bruins made up for a disappointing loss in their league final by winning the provincial Midget A championship banner on Saturday in La Ronge.
The Bruins edged the La Ronge JRMCC Braves 5-4 in the second and final game of the provincial final to win the series 8-6 and earn the crown of SHA champions.
Despite the long trip up to La Ronge, the Bruins were able to score first and then hold off the Braves goal for goal throughout the game.
"It was a pretty tough game to win up there," said Bruins head coach Bruce Palmer. "They had a one-goal deficit throughout their provincial playoffs going into their rink and they ended up winning them. We knew that, so we had a couple of practices there where we had to shut down their offence and we were able to do that."
The team travelled to Prince Albert on Friday, but still had to make the remainder of the trip Saturday and then play.
Bruins captain Landon Lavoie opened the scoring just 43 seconds in to give Estevan a 1-0 lead after the first period.
Mitchell McPhail scored 5:45 into the second for La Ronge, and Ryan Casper put the home side on top just 22 seconds later.
"We got into a bit of penalty trouble and they got two goals in the second period. It was a pretty intense game going into that third period," said Palmer.
But the Bruins countered just 27 seconds after the Casper goal, as Tyson Price found the back of the net to tie the game and take a 5-4 lead in the series.
Lavoie scored his second of the game less than five minutes into the third, and Austin Spencer added to the lead about three minutes later.
But La Ronge got a goal from Colton Roberts only 15 seconds after the Spencer goal, drawing within one in the game and two in the series.
Jayden Storozuk would score two minutes after the Roberts marker to all but put the series away.
"The guys kept their composure very well and stuck to the game plan and played hard. We had a couple of lucky bounces," said Palmer.
La Ronge got a fourth goal from Roberts with only 0.2 seconds left on the clock.
The Bruins had lost the Moose Mountain Minor Hockey League final in the third game of the series last Wednesday in Redvers, and Palmer said that made the provincial win even sweeter.
"It was a great way to finish the year off. The kids were a little disappointed that we didn't come out on top in the league final, so they wanted this one a little more."
In Game 3 of the league final, the Bruins led 4-1 after two periods but allowed four goals in the third en route to a 5-4 loss.
Lavoie scored twice for Estevan, which also got singles from Braxton Palmer and Price.
Dakota Rose scored twice for Redvers, with Colby Potapinski, Cody Real and Kyran Lachapelle adding singles.
