MELVILLE - Mitch Kohner scored with 18 seconds to play in overtime to lift the Estevan Bruins to a 5-4 victory over the host Melville Millionaires on Sunday night.
Melville came out flying, scoring three times in the opening 11 minutes and outshooting Estevan 24-6. Cooper Chisholm, a former member of the Estevan Steelhaus U18 AAA Bears, opened the scoring 2:48 into the first period.
Carter McKay doubled the lead, and Bruins head coach and general manager Jason Tatarnic pulled starting goalie Cam Hrdlicka, who stopped 10 of 12 shots he faced. Jackson Miller entered the game, but it didn’t change the momentum of the game, as Isaac Suppin scored 2:11 after McKay.
Melville had additional chances to score before the period was finished.
The Bruins came flying in the second, outshooting Melville 19-6 and getting goals from Owen Barrow and Kade Runke to pull within one. The Mills had penalty problems in the second and into the third, too.
Evan Forrest tied the game 26 seconds into the third period, and Ilia Chmelevski scored on a Bruins’ power play 84 seconds after Forrest’s goal to give the Bruins their first lead of the night.
But then the Bruins ran into penalty problems, and Louis-Frederic Theberge scored on a Melville power play to tie the game. The Mills outshot the Bruins 13-3 in the frame.
Kohner scored the winner on a breakaway.
Miller stopped 30 of the 32 shots he faced to get his second victory in five days. Clement Labillois had 25 saves for Melville.
Estevan (19-14-0-1) will visit the Yorkton Terriers on Tuesday night. The next game for Melville (8-18-3-1) will be Wednesday when they visit the Melfort Mustangs.
