For almost the entire season, the Midget AA Estevan Bruins have been on top of the Saskatchewan AA Hockey League, and for almost that entire time the Prairie Storm AA team has been right behind them. Given how close they are in the standings, it’s fitting that the first meeting of the season between the two teams, on Sunday, December 8, went to extra time.

Cade Bendtsen sniped the winner with 1:47 to go in overtime and Jackson Miller steered aside 30 of 32 shots as the Bruins downed the Prairie Storm 3-2. The Bruins poured 42 shots toward the Prairie Storm net in a physical, high-energy game.

“I thought it was a good game,” said head coach Riley Hengen. “We knew we were going to have a tough test with these guys, they’re right up there with us in the standings and we’ve had some time off, it’s been two weeks since we played. You never want to deal with any rust but I thought we had a good first period and then kind of carried on from there.”

The Bruins did start well in the first, outshooting the Prairie Storm by a narrow margin and out-hitting them as well, but they couldn’t find the icebreaker. It was their opponents who found that, then found an insurance goal midway through the middle frame. But with good persistence, a net-front battle, and a short-side laser by Chase Gedak, they tied the score before the period was out.

“We stayed up on the bench, we didn’t get down on ourselves,” Hengen said. “We’ve got a good group, a good, mature group. We’ve been down before at times this year and we’ve found ways to come back. We just put our noses down and kept working.” 

The hard work continued in the third but despite several power play chances and pulling away on the shot clock, the Bruins couldn’t put the Prairie Storm away. The two teams went on to three-on-three overtime, where Bendtsen, sent in alone on a breakaway, rifled one high glove to wrap the game up. 

The win pulls the Bruins back ahead of the Prairie Storm, who passed them in points due to four additional games played during the Bruins layoff. The Bruins will be at home all December long, including a two-game schedule next weekend. They host the Notre Dame Argos at 1:15 on Saturday, December 14 at Affinity Place.