The Estevan Apex midget AA Bruins quest for the South Saskatchewan Minor Hockey League (SSMHL) championship came to an end in the league final. The midget AAs dropped a pair of 2-1 games to the Yorkton Terriers on the weekend. The first defeat was in Game 3 on Saturday night at Affinity Place, and the other was on Sunday afternoon in Yorkton in Game 4 of the best-of-five final. The Terriers won the series in four games, and will now compete in the provincial final. In Game 3, Ethan Evanovic scored with 6:39 to play in the first period to give the Terriers a 1-0 lead. JD Gervais notched a power play goal 1:41 into the second period to tie the game, but Ashton Shewchuk’s goal midway through the second restored
the Terriers one-goal advantage. Neither team scored in the third. Bryson Garton made 31 saves in Game 3. The Bruins jumped out to a 1-0 lead in Game 4, with Jacob Parlmer scoring 6:43 into the second period. It appeared his goal might be enough, but Carter Lake tied the game 2:12 into the third period, and Michael Coleridge scored the winner with 6:19 to play to lift the Terriers to victory. Ethan Veroba stopped 30 saves for the Bruins. Jamieson said the effort in Game 4 was what he expected from his team with their season on the line. “We answered the call and played really well,” said Jamieson. “We carried the play in the first and second period.” Yorkton had more
jump in the third period, and Jamieson said Lake’s early goal gave them some momentum. “We had lots of chances to score, but we couldn’t execute, which was the difference,” said Jamieson. The final was what it should be, he said, with the first and second place teams battling for a league championship. It was a tight-checking final, too, as the two teams combined for just 14 goals in four games. “There was great goaltending on both sides,” said Veroba. “Both of our guys played well. Their goaltenders did, too. They’re two very similar teams. We both worked hard, and we both played extremely well.” The team made big strides since the start of the year. Jamieson admits he wouldn’t have thought at the start of the season that they would be in the league final. The midget AAs also
won a tournament in Prince Albert, and they had the best record in the SSMHL during the regular season at 29-4-3, which left them one point ahead of Yorkton. Jamieson said the coaches are very proud
of the players, and the improvements they have shown. The Bruins have a few players graduating in Veroba, Brady Long, Josh Skjonsby, Jacob Chalus, Preston Audet, Kale Mar
tens and Hunter Piche, and Jamieson expects some of the players eligible to return will move onto midget AAA. But they should still have a good contingent of players back for next season.
