Bruins trounce North Stars 7-2 to take 2-0 series lead

“After they scored 18, 19 seconds in, we hit the panic button,” North Stars head coach Brandon Heck said. “We didn’t stay patient, which was our game plan to limit their chances and hopefully our offence would take over. We tried to get individualistic.

“Our response and maturity level isn’t what it needs to be right now and what we’ve shown in the past. Our playoff emotions are getting the best of us. We need to fix it or it’s over.”

Tanner Manz scored twice for Estevan in the first 10 minutes of the game, before Arthur Miller chased North Stars starter Taryn Kotchorek from the crease at the 11:04 mark of the first. Kaelan Holt found the back of the net on a wild crease scramble not long after to make it 4-0 early on.

North Stars captain Layne Young gave the home side a sliver of life when he scored on a power play at the end of the opening frame to cut the Bruins lead to 4-1.

“Oftentimes, and we’ve had this before too, when you get a four-goal lead and a team scores one or two, you start to tighten up,” Heck said when asked what the message was in the first intermission, down 4-1. “So our gameplan was if we get that next one, they’re going to tighten up and feel more pressure than normal. But they scored and we started panicking again.

“We were embarrassed, not only by the way we were playing, but by the penalties and selfishness going on and not listening to teammates.”

Heck admitted this is unchartered territory for the team, who never gave up seven goals in a single game in the regular season, and who only lost by more than three goals once all year long.

“We’re saying the right things and our hearts are in the right place, it’s just our brain isn’t,” he said. “Everyone truly cares and wants what’s right for the team, they’ve just got to realize it has to be a collective effort. There’s a time and place to chip a puck rather than a toe drag or to back off and retreat to play good ‘D’. You saw us run around in our d-zone. We haven’t run around like that since the start of the year.”

By the end of the game, the North Stars were outshot 34-29, but that wasn’t indicative of how slanted the chances really were, because the North Stars outshot the Bruins 13-3 in the third period when the game was basically already over. Estevan outshot Battlefords 31-16 in the first two periods of play.

Bruins forward Tanner Manz ended up completing his hat-trick in the third period, while Miller finished with two goals. Michael McChesney also scored for Estevan. Parker Smyth had the second North Stars goal in the third period.

With the North Stars down 2-0 and no longer with home ice advantage, they are now fighting an uphill battle, and don’t have much time to reflect before game three.

“I don’t want to take any credit away from Estevan, because they’ve certainly earned it, but we haven’t been ourselves,” Heck said. “[Our] players need to look in the mirror. That’s the big thing. We were pointing fingers tonight and it’s unlike us.”

Games three and four in the best-of-7 series will go Monday and Tuesday night in Estevan.

“I know our 20-year-olds don’t want this to be the last game they play in front of the fans, so we’ve got a day to regroup,” Heck said. “We’ve got to win that first game. We haven’t played to our strengths enough. We’ve got to make some adjustments and control their neutral zone and speed.”

Puck drop for both games is set for 7:30 p.m., with NorSask North Stars hockey getting underway at 7 p.m. with the Ultra Print pre-game show on CJNB/CJNS.

nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @NathanKanter11

by Nathan Kanter

Bruins trounce North Stars 7-2 to take 2-0 series lead

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