When No. 23 scored 23 seconds in, it sent a message that this game would not be like the one two days earlier.
The CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins built off the momentum of Cole Olson's early goal to earn a 3-2 victory over the Weyburn Red Wings on Sunday in a game they never trailed.
The New Year's Day victory at Spectra Place came two days after a humbling 6-1 defeat in Weyburn, the team's first game after Christmas.
Olson, who was named SJHL player of the week, took a centring pass from linemate Dylan Smith and caught Wings goalie Mitch Kilgore by surprise with a quick short side wrist shot.
"We haven't been getting off to the best starts all year, not scoring the first goal, so that was definitely huge to get that one early," said Olson.
"It's definitely big any time you can get a win against them, especially when we're trying to chase them down in the standings."
Weyburn's Keegan Bruce tied it up five minutes later when a bad hop caught Bruins goalie Steven Glass out of his net for an easy goal.
Estevan regained the lead at 15:43 when Coltyn Sanderson went down to block an Austin Yano point shot. Yano's shot went off Sanderson's back and under the crossbar for a power play marker.
The eventual game-winner would come midway through the second period on Calder Neufeld's top shelf shot from the right face-off circle.
The Wings got close again eight minutes into the third when Yano was caught up ice and defence partner Tyler Kauk fell, giving Jesse Ross a clear breakaway on which he made no mistake.
"It was unfortunate because we were doing so many things well and then just a bad pass and an unfortunate trip out of nowhere. But we didn't let that faze us," said Bruins head coach Keith Cassidy.
Shots on goal were 34-25 for the Bruins, who earned Estevan a split on New Year's Day following a Weyburn win in the Challenge Cup alumni game.
"We started 2012 a lot better than we ended 2011. This is more of the effort and sacrifice that we expect night in and night out it was nice to be rewarded for our effort, that's for sure," said Cassidy.
He said limiting turnovers was the biggest difference from the loss in Weyburn.
"We still gave up a few that were pretty glaring, but at the same time, we gave up a ton the other night in Weyburn and it just killed us."
It was a rare game where the Bruins scored the first goal and Cassidy said his club must do it more often.
"It's a whole different mindset playing with the lead than playing from behind and we've been playing from behind for a long time. It doesn't matter how mentally tough you are, if you're having to climb out of a hole early in a game all the time, that starts to wear on guys."
The bad blood between the Bruins and Wings showed signs of spilling over in the first 40 minutes, but cooler heads prevailed and Cassidy said his players sent a message but controlled themselves.
"I was pretty proud of our guys for handling the situations the way they did. Nobody backed down from anybody out there. That's the aggressiveness and the grit we've wanted to see come out of guys."
Olson said the double-header created a unique atmosphere for the players.
"It's definitely a special day with the alumni game before (the SJHL game). There were a lot of people in the stands, it was a good atmosphere and it was fun to be a part of."
The Bruins are on the road this weekend, playing in Melfort on Friday, Nipawin on Saturday and Humboldt on Sunday.
