ESTEVAN - The host Estevan Bruins won't be advancing to the playoff round at the Centennial Cup, presented by Tim Hortons.
The Bruins hopes of reaching the medal round ended Tuesday night when College Francais de Longueuil defeated the Red Lake Miners 6-1 at Affinity Place.
Estevan (1-2) can do no better than fourth place in Group A. Only the top three teams advance to the playoff round.
The Bruins, who won the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League title this season, will wrap up their season when they play the Alberta Junior Hockey League's Brooks Bandits on Wednesday night at Affinity Place, starting at 7:30 p.m.
Longueuil scored three times in the first period and added three more in the second in the win over Red Lake. Owen Stammer finished with four goals on the night, and Chris Roy had the other two markers. Longueuil's three goals in the second period came in a 2:37 span.
Jordan Baranesky had Red Lake's lone goal in the third.
Simon Berube was in goal for Longueuil. Sean Guerin and Jaxson Taupert split the goaltending duties for Red Lake.
Longueuil, who won the Ligue de Junior Hockey AAA du Quebec, will finish third in pool A with two regulations wins, a regulation loss and an overtime loss. The Miners, winners of the Superior International Junior Hockey League, went 0-4.
Also on Tuesday, the Brooks Bandits scored six power-play goals on their way to a 9-1 victory over the Pickering Panthers in a battle of the top two teams in Group A.
Brendan Poshak and TJ Huges scored in the opening 10 minutes of the first period for a 2-0 lead. Brooks took over in the second period, with Hughes scoring twice and Josh Zinger also scoring.
Dustin Hutton had Pickering's lone goal in the second period.
Goals in the third period were courtesy of Zach Bookman, Devin Phillips, Anthony Cipollone and Noah Hackett.
Zachary Roy and Andrew Ballantyne combined to stop 29 of the 38 shots they faced for Pickering. Ethan Barwick made 19 saves for Brooks.
Bookman, who was named the top defenceman in the Canadian Junior Hockey League this season, finished with a goal and three assists. He missed the first two games of the tournament due to injury.
The Bandits are the Alberta Junior Hockey League champions. They won the tournament the last time it was held in 2019, and were the top-ranked team in Canada for most of the season. With the win, they improved to 3-0 and will finish first in Group A, regardless of what happens in their final round-robin game against Estevan. The Bandits have advanced to the semifinals.
The Panthers, meanwhile, won the Ontario Junior Hockey League championship. They will finish with a 3-1 record (one win was in overtime) and will finish second in Group A.
The other game on Tuesday saw the Flin Flon Bombers beat the Dauphin Kings 2-1 in a shootout - the first time a penalty shot competition has been needed in this year's tournament.
Flin Flon opened the scoring 10:48 into the first period on a power play goal by Jacob Vockler. It remained a 1-0 game until a short-handed marker by Dauphin's Logan Calder 5:25 into the middle frame.
Both teams had plenty of power plays during the game, but couldn't add to their goal total. After the score remained deadlocked at ones through the end of the third period and the shootout, the Bombers outscored the Kings 2-1 on the penalty shots, with Vockler getting the winner.
Carson Cherepak stopped 40 of 41 shots he faced for Dauphin, while Cal Schell made 26 saves for Flin Flon.
The Bombers are the representatives of the SJHL, as they lost to the host Estevan Bruins in the league's final. Dauphin won the Manitoba Junior Hockey League crown.
Both Flin Flon and Dauphin have advanced to at least the quarter-finals. Flin Flon has won three of four games they played, although two wins came in extra time, so they have seven points. Dauphin has seven points as well on the strength of two regulation wins and an extra time loss, and they have one game remaining.
The Maritime Hockey League's Summerside Capitals are third at 2-1 with six points, and the Central Canadian Hockey League's Ottawa Junior A Senators are fourth with three points. The Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League's Soo Thunderbirds are fifth with zero points.
The round robin will wrap up Wednesday with three more games.The Maritime Hockey League's Summerside Capitals will play the Central Canadian Hockey League's Ottawa Junior A Senators at noon. Ottawa needs to win in regulation to advance to the next round.
Dauphin will face the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League's Soo Thunderbirds at 4 p.m.; and the Bruins will face the Bandits at 7:30 p.m. to conclude the round robin.
