The second game of a home-and-home series between the Estevan Bruins and Weyburn Red Wings ended with a Wings victory and an angry Bruins squad looking for answers.
Following a 4-2 loss in Weyburn on Friday, the Bruins took a one-goal lead to the third period on Saturday at Spectra Place before allowing a pair of power play goals en route to a 3-2 loss.
The anger resulted from the officiating of referee Sheldon Dean in the third period. Dean called six penalties on the Bruins in the period compared with one for the Red Wings, including several calls that had a crowd of nearly 1,500 up in arms.
"Let's just say I don't think what happened (Saturday) was remotely fair, to put it lightly," said Bruins head coach Keith Cassidy. "I think when you've got two good teams out there having a game like we had, which was a fantastic game of hockey to watch when that kind of stuff happens, it really takes away from what this game's supposed to be all about. I think it was terrible what happened."
The boiling point came with 5:37 left in regulation when Weyburn forward Thomas Carleton delivered a
high hit on Bruins defenceman Tyler Poskus, who was making his team debut.
When Dominic Perrault retaliated with a shove, he was handed a roughing penalty, while the original hit was not penalized.
The turn of events gave the Wings a lengthy two-man advantage, during which Coltyn Sanderson scored the game-winner off a deflection.
Cassidy was irate with the non-call on Carleton. The hit gave Poskus a concussion.
"Yeah, Dominic went up and talked to the guy. He had his hand on his shirt. That pales in comparison to a kid sitting in the room right there that doesn't remember being traded here. He's got no clue what happened. How you miss that is beyond me," Cassidy said. "I'm definitely going to send it in to the league. This is the fourth uncalled head shot and the previous three have resulted in suspensions. I don't know how that happens. I really don't.
"Head shots are supposed to be something we're getting out of here. This is our fourth concussion this year. And we're supposed to be protecting our players? I don't think it's right," he continued.
"I thought we were getting away from this 'let's beat the shit out of one another every night.' We're here to play hockey. It doesn't seem like the message is sinking in with the people who are entrusted with protecting our players."
The Bruins led 2-0 after the first period thanks to a pair of late goals. Dylan Smith buried a backdoor pass from Cole Olson on the power play at 18:49, and 44 seconds later, a pass attempt by Michael Hengen went off Ben Johnstone's stick and past Weyburn goalie Brett Teskey.
The Wings got on the board 15 minutes into the second period on a Sam Williams goal. They tied it at the 11:18 mark of the third when Sanderson fired the puck out front from the corner and it deflected off Keegan Bruce and past Bruins starter Steven Glass.
Cassidy said he was happy with how his team responded from the loss on Friday and that telling players not to worry about things they can't control is difficult after Saturday's finish.
"When you do that and then something beyond your control absolutely steals a game from you, it's tough to go in there and tell them to keep their head up. It plain sucks, is what it does," Cassidy said.
Glass, who stopped 26 of 29 shots, said the level of emotion was high in the third period but that the Bruins managed to keep their cool.
"I definitely think you probably saw it. We were just trying to keep our heads. It was up there. We wanted to win this game," he said.
Weyburn outshot Estevan 29-25. On Friday, the Bruins fell behind 2-0 after the first period and struggled to execute plays despite a third-period comeback. Jack Kennelly opened the scoring at the 2:30 mark and Jesse Ross gave the Wings a 2-0 lead late in the frame.
Coltyn Sanderson pushed the lead to three goals nearly 13 minutes into the second period.
Ryan Ostertag got the Bruins on the board early in the third, poking in a Michael Hengen rebound that was bobbled by goalie Mitch Kilgore. But the Wings responded just 39 seconds later on a goal by Carleton to take away that momentum.
"You gotta know that when you score a goal, the next shift is the biggest shift of the game," said Cassidy. I was expecting that the line we put out there would go out there and build off that, but it didn't turn out that way."
Smith added a second goal midway through the period on a feed from Reich in the crease.
Friday's game marked the debut of newly acquired forwards Tyler Paslawski and Dylan Schellenberg.
Cassidy said he was impressed with both, especially Schellenberg, acquired Wednesday from the Drumheller Dragons.
Paslawski played on a line with Calder Neufeld and either Ben Johnstone or Tanner Froese. Cassidy said that line will stay together and Taylor Reich will stay alongside Cole Olson and Dylan Smith in an attempt to create two consistent scoring lines.
The Bruins lost their fourth straight game on Monday, a 3-2 shootout defeat to the Kindersley Klippers. Taylor Reich and Calder Neufeld scored for the Bruins, with D. Jay McGrath and Bradley Buckingham replying for the Klippers. Colby Daniels scored their shootout winner.
The Bruins (16-12-0-1) are now tied for second place in the Sherwood Conference with Melville, seven points behind Weyburn. They were set to visit Battlefords last night and will play in Humboldt tonight.
