The Estevan Century 21 Bruins find themselves down by one game in the best-of-three Hockey Regina bantam A division final.
The Bruins dispatched of the Regina Jets in the semifinal on Thursday, and lost 5-2 to the Prairie Storm in the first game of the final on Sunday at the Civic Auditorium.
The teams were tied after the first period, but three Prairie Storm goals in the second broke the game open.
The first-period goals came courtesy of the Storm's Jared Legien, at the 7:47 mark, and Estevan's Matthew Bill, just 46 seconds later.
Griffin Keller put the Storm ahead 2-1 on a goal 13 seconds into the middle frame. Hudson Hansford added another marker six minutes later.
Dayton Westerman scored about a minute later, at the 7:29 mark, to narrow the lead to 3-2.
But Carter Hausermann replied just 10 seconds later for the Storm to take control of the game for good.
The Storm would add another goal from Hansford with 44.8 seconds remaining in the third.
Game 2 of the league final is tonight in Pilot Butte. If the Bruins win that game, the third and final game is Friday in Carlyle, due to the lack of ice time in Estevan during the Strippers tournament.
The third game of the semifinal against the Jets was a chippy affair which resulted in a 6-4 win for the Bruins.
Estevan took a 3-1 lead after the first period on goals by Cory Peloquin, Kyle Seipp and Dayton Westerman.
The Jets' lone first-period goal came from Joshua Marcia.
Karson Whitman scored 32 seconds into the second period to put the Bruins ahead 4-1. The Jets responded midway through the period on a Bryce Platt marker.
Estevan managed to regain its three-goal edge going into the third when Cam Biette scored with 21 seconds left, taking the puck from behind the net and tucking it inside the near post.
Early in the third, the Jets scored twice in a span of 1:49 courtesy of Matt Orekay and Robbie Wilkes.
The first goal came on a 5-on-3. On the second, the Jets were killing a penalty when the puck squirted loose into the Bruins' end. Wilkes beat Bruins goalie Landon Audet to the puck, swept past him and scored.
The Bruins managed to hang onto their one-goal lead until J.J. Holma scored with less than six minutes remaining to clinch the series victory.
