ESTEVAN - The Eagle Sky Estevan Bruins had to settle for a win and an overtime loss in their weekend home games with the Kindersley Klippers.
The Bruins lost 5-4 in overtime to Kindersley on Jan. 24 – a game Estevan led 4-2 with under a minute to play. They recovered to defeat the Klippers 7-4 the following night.
The Jan. 25 win was the first for the club with Drew Kocur serving as the club's acting coach and general manager. He moved into the role on Jan. 19 after the club parted ways with Jason Tatarnic.
The games also marked the Bruins' parents and billets weekend, and the Bruins came out flying both nights. Steven Steranka scored 1:38 into the first and Brady Wilson tallied less than two minutes later n Jan. 24. Estevan also hit a post, controlled the play and outshot Kindersley 12-5 in the frame. Kindersley's Cobe Perlinger had the lone goal of the second, pulling his team to within one.
Kent Moors scored 4:18 into the third to restore the Bruins' two-goal lead, but Brock Evans responded just over three minutes later for the Klippers. When Carter Onrait scored with 4:22 to play in the third, it appeared to be the necessary insurance goal for Estevan, but Evans scored with 47 seconds to play, and Will Christian tied the game with 11 seconds remaining.
Mason Bueckert scored the winner 58 seconds into overtime.
Beck Boiteau had 23 saves for Estevan, while Brett O'Halloran had 27 saves for the Klippers.
As for the Jan. 25 game, Ewan Rennie scored 1:43 into the first period and added the 2-0 goal a few minutes later. Wilson scored to give the Bruins a 3-0 lead less than eight minutes into the first. Goals by Rylan Wieler and Perlinger 23 seconds apart pulled the Klippers to within one with just over five minutes to play in the first.
Steranka and Moors scored 35 seconds apart midway through the second period to give Estevan a 5-2 lead, and Rorey Elson's goal early in the third put the Bruins up by four. Goals by Christian and Zakery Anderson midway through the third made the game interesting again, but Steranka's empty-net goal with 91 seconds to play wrapped up the scoring.
Zach Shaughnessy made 26 saves for Estevan, while Cody Jaman and O'Halloran shared the goaltending duties for Kindersley.
Estevan (13-19-4-1, 31 points) will host the Weyburn Red Wings on Jan. 31 at 7 p.m., and visit Weyburn the following night.
