This time it only took four minutes of overtime as a Dominic Perrault goal lifted the Estevan Bruins over the Melville Millionaires in game five, sending them into the next series.
Things didn't start particularly well at the Civic Auditorium in the fifth and final game of the survivor series on March 3. In front of more than 1,200 fans the Bruins outplayed their opponent in the first but had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard.
With the Bruins on the power play, a sloppy play at the opposition's blue line sent a Millionaire in all alone on goaltender Joel Danyluk, and the goal put the Millionaires up one after the first period. Down a goal, but outshooting their opponent 15-7, the Bruins would have to be a little more patient in order to keep things together heading into the second.
Lucas Stubel was back on defence after playing game four in Melville but sitting out a number of weeks before with a broken wrist. Josh Jelinski was also back in the lineup having missed game four due to injury.
Just two and a half minutes into the second period, Melville scored again to get a little separation before a Bruins power play would finally spark some offence for the home team.
Perrault didn't just end the scoring but started it for the Bruins on a shot from the point, with Troy Hunter and Jonathan Ceci collecting helpers.
Ceci tied it up at 17:21 of the second period and the Bruins went into the dressing room with some momentum. Dylan Smith and Matt Szpak provided assists on the tying goal.
The third period would prove to be light on the offence, each team accounting for seven shots and both goaltenders equaling that in saves. Game five was the fourth in the series to require extra time in order to find a victor.
After a lengthy overtime in game three that went 14 minutes into the third extra frame, Perrault's goal, four and a half minutes into the first overtime might have seemed anti-climactic, if not for the significance of the marker. The win sealed the Bruins ticket to the next series against the Yorkton Terriers.
After the game, head coach Chad Leslie commented on the pros and cons of playing a long series before going up against Yorkton.
"There's two ways to look at it, obviously it wears you down a little bit. Yorkton's been sitting there for 14 days," he said. "But it also gives us a little momentum to go into that series on a high."
Fatigue is a possibility, but Leslie said it's not a concern moving forward.
"This late in the season every day could be your last. You just have to grit it out. We're a hard-working team that gets things done.
"We just have to keep doing what we're doing and take advantage of our home rink."
