Ben Johnstone put on a show-stopping performance that was too good to be scripted Wednesday, scoring a hat trick to lead the Estevan Bruins to an 8-3 win over the Notre Dame Hounds in his hometown of Carlyle.
The hat trick doubled the rookie forward's goal total, with one of them coming late in the first period to give the Bruins a 3-2 lead, and the other two coming in the third.
"I just came out and worked hard in my home barn and everything worked out well for me. It's like the hockey gods helped me out a bit," said Johnstone, who played at the Carlyle Sports Arena for the first time since bantam. "I just came to the rink not getting nervous because I knew I would be if I thought about it a lot."
Ryan Ostertag added two goals for the Bruins (13-7) and Josh Jelinski, Dominic Perrault and Tyler Kauk also scored. Brandon Millin, Ben Morgan and Catlin Foley supplied the Hounds' offence.
