The Eagle Drilling Estevan Bruins ran into a hot goaltender in Yorkton on Friday night. The Bruins fired 46 shots at Devin Peters, but the Terriers' goalie turned aside 44 of them in a 5-2 Yorkton win.
As the old saying goes, "You can't win them all," and despite the loss, Bruins coach Karry Biette said his team didn't play all that bad.
"It actually wasn't an off-night," he said. "We out-shot them, I thought we out-chanced them, but Peters played very well and their power play clicked. It was just a matter of a first game against a team in their rink, and that's always going to be tough."
The Terriers' power play went three for six, including the first two goals of the hockey game in the second period. By that point, with the Bruins in a two-goal hole and Peters playing the way he was, it was almost a foregone conclusion.
Biette said his team came out strong in the first period and put a lot of pressure on the Terriers, but weren't able to get one by Peters. In fact they didn't score their first goal until Troy Hunter notched his third goal of the season on the power play just over three minutes into the third period.
The Terriers added two more goals of their own in the third to make it 4-1, but Biette said his team didn't give up, even late in the game.
"We were in the hockey game. We battled back, it was 4-1 and we didn't quit," he said. "We made it 4-2, and we pulled the goalie and had a few good chances it was a good hockey game. We've got to learn to play a little better before we're down, but at the same time we're five games in and I'm pretty happy with the way things are going."
Dylan Smith scored the goal to make it 4-2, but the Terriers added an empty netter to make it 5-2 and sealed the deal.
Biette said he was happy with his club's overall effort in the loss as well as where they are at this point in the season.
"If somebody would have told me that at the end of September we'd be 4-2, I'd take it. I definitely want to push these guys, but at the same time peaking at the end of September, beginning of October, isn't the goal either," said Biette.
The loss in Yorkton comes after a 5-3 come from behind win over Melville at the Civic Auditorium on Tuesday night. Ryan Andersen recorded a hat trick for Estevan in that game, while Hunter and Mark Cross added the other two Bruin goals.
After the game on Friday, the Bruins took the rest of the weekend off and returned to the ice for practice yesterday. They're back on the road this Friday night in Weyburn. The Red Wings will be at home after a road trip that saw them play three games in as many nights this past weekend.
