In a game full of momentum swings, the Estevan TS&M Bruins couldn't come up with one final push.
The bantam AA Bruins were eliminated from the Saskatchewan Bantam AA Hockey League playoffs on Sunday after a 9-5 loss to Melville in Game 2 of their first-round series at the Civic Auditorium.
Melville had won the first game 4-1 on Friday in Melville.
The Bruins had held leads of 3-1 and 5-4 on Sunday, but in the end, the Millionaires' powerful offensive attack was too much.
"The thing that makes me hold my head the highest is if you weren't from Estevan or Melville and you came to watch, you were probably pulling for us. I thought we played with class and we went hard. Our team's come a long way," said Bruins head coach Dan Pratt.
Bryson Mayer got Estevan on the board just over three minutes in, but the Mils would get that one back on a Donovan Neuls goal - his first of four on the day - at 9:33.
But Kaelan Holt would score twice before the end of the period, one coming 26 seconds after the Neuls goal, and the other with 1:42 left in the frame.
The Bruins held their lead through the first 12 minutes of the second period and then it vanished quickly as Melville's Tyler Kreklewich scored two goals 101 seconds apart to tie the game.
With less than four minutes left in the period, Neuls scored on a low point shot to give his team their first lead, which they would take to the buzzer.
Holt evened the score at 5:46 of the third with a hat trick goal from a bad angle on the left wing.
Then, 23 seconds later, Brady Third scored on a breakaway to put the Bruins back on top and send the crowd into a frenzy.
But it was the last goal the Bruins would score as the Mils found their second wind.
Koal Roberts tied the game only 21 seconds later on a shot from the top of the left circle.
"I think the fifth one was one of the heartbreakers. We just made a couple of bad mistakes and we overcommitted on a couple of plays," said Pratt. "The emotion of the game, I think, got to a couple of players where we made bad choices running around a bit.
"Sometimes there's a fine line in hockey where you're working almost too hard and you're not thinking anymore. I think we hit that point a couple of times."
Three minutes after the Roberts goal, Bruins goalie Cameron Lavoie went out to play the puck only for it to take a bad hop off the end boards back into the crease, leaving an easy goal for Dakota Boutin.
"The thing about playing in the Civic is the bounces. You're never really sure which way they're going to go. There were a few that didn't go our way," said Pratt.
And the Mils didn't stop there. Just 31 seconds after that break, Neuls' shot from the right point beat Lavoie glove side to give the visitors a 7-5 lead.
Evan Armstrong scored with 3:22 left on a shot that trickled in despite Lavoie stopping it with his pad, and Neuls would add his fourth of the game with less than two minutes remaining.
"At the very end there, we got into a weird funk where it was 7-5 and we were running out of time and I was surprised to see it go to 9-5," said Pratt. "That sixth goal that we never did get could have been the season-turner. I have a feeling if that one would have been another hour, it would have finished 21-20. It was just that type of game."
Pratt said Friday's game was a more sloppy effort by both teams.
"Neither team played a strong game. There wasn't a lot of good passing. There were some blown scoring opportunities by both clubs."
Melville took a 3-1 lead after the first period and that was the way it would stay until they picked up an empty-netter in the third. Tanner Jeannot had the Bruins' lone goal.
Pratt said he's happy with the way his club played a strong Melville team and hopes to see all his players back next year.
"I'm proud of our effort. The kids played well, played disciplined. That's a good team we lost to and if we played them another couple of games I'm thinking we could have had a couple of wins," Pratt said.
"I certainly hope to see all those kids in some way, shape or form next year back here in a Bruin jersey. Our first-year guys can be real influential (leaders) next year on the bantam AA team."
