A potent second period fuelled the La Ronge Ice Wolves to a 4-2 victory over the Estevan Bruins on Saturday at Spectra Place.
The Ice Wolves (13-11-0-2) scored three times in the second and held off a third-period comeback effort from the Bruins (14-9), who dropped to second place in the Sherwood Conference, two points behind Weyburn.
Bruins head coach Keith Cassidy wasn't impressed with his team's attention to detail and questioned the fire of some of his players.
"It's the little battles all over the ice. The competitive edge, I guess, is what I'm looking for, the fire with these guys right now. At this point, that's my biggest concern," Cassidy said.
The Ice Wolves buzzed around the Estevan net for much of the first period but failed to beat Bruins starter Derek Tendler, heading to the intermission scoreless.
Their tide turned in the second though as they scored three times to take control of the game.
Reigning SJHL MVP Marc-Andre Carre, playing his second game since returning from a stint in the Central Hockey League, took a power play feed in the slot and buried it less than two minutes into the period.
"That was just a case of guys (not) picking up sticks in front. It's just the little things and we talked about that after the game. Those are the kinds of things we gotta get better at," Cassidy said.
Barely a minute later, Tendler lunged to make a spectacular stick save on Brett McNevin, but Graham Smerek followed up with a wraparound that found the back of the net.
Later in the period, shortly after a lengthy delay caused by an ice issue, Calder Neufeld tipped in a Dominic Perrault point shot, but it was deemed to have been deflected with a high stick.
Moments later, an errant Skyler Hladun shot glanced off Bruins forward Ben Johnstone and ricocheted toward the net. Tendler made the save, but Nathan Boyer was there to cash in the rebound.
"He's gotta get in the shooting lane and be square to the shooter. Those are fundamental things that, by this time, we should know," Cassidy said of Johnstone. "It was unfortunate for him; I know he was trying to get out there and block the shot."
The Bruins got off to a slow start in the third and the Wolves made them pay when recent acquisition Zac Ashdown made good on a Carre rebound to make it 4-0.
"Here we are, we got an opportunity to get back in the game with a minute on the power play, and rather than go out there and elevate our game, we go out there and we're awful. And then we get scored on," Cassidy said. "If you want to be in a big-time situation, then play a big-time game. I need to see that."
Wolves goalie Alex Rajotte ended his own shutout bid when he swatted at a puck in mid-air and inadvertently knocked it into his own net at 7:38. Neufeld was credited with the goal.
Less than two minutes later, at 4-on-4, Ryan Ostertag made it a two-goal game on a highlight-reel effort. The 19-year-old flew down the left side before flicking a lightning-quick shot into a small hole in the far top corner.
"It's nice to get a little bit of speed going and go wide and just try to chip it into a spot and hit the net," said Ostertag.
But it was largely an evening of missed chances for the Bruins, who got 34 shots on Rajotte compared with 39 for La Ronge.
"We had breakaways, we had great opportunities to score all over the place," said Cassidy. "You gotta give their goalie tremendous credit for the way he played. We had some quality scoring opportunities that just didn't go in."
The play of Ostertag's line with Johnstone and Michael Hengen was one of the few bright spots for the Bruins.
"I thought we worked really hard and dominated in their end and did pretty good defensively," Ostertag said.
With captain Josh Jelinski and defencemen Austin Yano and Connor Milligan out with injuries, and forward Matt Dochylo missing the game with the flu, some juggling was required.
Taylor Reich and Eric Baldwin joined Derek Whitehill on the checking unit and Cassidy said they set an example for teammates to follow.
"We had them playing against Carre and I thought they did a great job," he said. "I'm excited about the way (Baldwin is) playing up front. I think he adds a very dynamic aspect to our game in terms of his grittiness and his willingness to get in there and be first on the puck.
"There are some other guys in our dressing room who should probably take note of that."
Dochylo and Yano were day-to-day for last night's game in Wilcox, while Jelinski and Milligan were re-evaluated Monday and their status was less clear.
Carnduff native Blake McMillen, 17, was called up from the Yorkton Harvest and was paired with Perrault on the back end.
"I wasn't worried about having him on the ice at any time. He skates well, he's patient with the puck - which, for a 17-year-old, is very impressive - and he had no problem getting into the rough stuff," Cassidy said."
The Bruins are at home this weekend, hosting Kindersley on Friday and Battlefords on Saturday. Both games begin at 7:30 p.m.
