The offences came alive, however, the Terriers dropped the opening game of their semi-final series to the Estevan Bruins 7-4. Kruska Kruska had a pair of goals, Kishaun Gervais had a pair of assists, while Olivier Pouliot led the way for Estevan with two goals and three assists.
Pouliot opened the scoring for the Bruins with a shorthanded marker. He out-muscled a Yorkton defender before sliding the puck through the legs of Kael DePape to make it 1-0 Estevan. The Bruins extended their lead before the end of the period. Jamie Valentino received a pass from Pouliot before picking the top corner from the left face-off circle for his first goal of the postseason.
The Terriers responded in the second period. Less than two minutes into the frame, a point shot from Tyson Janzen went off the boot of Kruska past a surprised Boston Bilous to make it a 2-1 game. A power-play goal tied the hockey game for the Yorkton Terriers. Zach McIntyre finished off a tie-tac-toe passing play between him, Erik Boers and Gervais to make it 2-2. It was the first power-play goal the Bruins gave up in the postseason. Estevan regained the lead on a power-play of their own. After Cade Kennedy got ejected for a checking from behind major, Nolan Jones struck by stepping down from the left point, and firing a shot past a screened DePape. Estevan added one more goal before the end of the frame. Eric Pearce slid the puck to a wide open Mikol Sartor at the top of the Yorkton crease, and the 20-year-old from Winnipeg out-waited DePape to make it 4-2 Bruins.
Estevan made it 5-2 early in the third period. Mark Rumsey wired a cross-ice feed from Pouliot past DePape for his league leading 6th goal of the playoffs. The Terriers would not go away. Logan Cyca won an offensive zone face-off to Tyson Janzen, who ripped a shot through Bilous to make it 5-3. However, the Bruins continued to pour on the offence. Valentino stepped into the left face-off and unleashed a slap shot that beat DePape for the Thompson, Manitoba product’s second goal of the game to make it 6-3 Estevan. Pouliot made it 7-3 with his fifth point of the night, as he tapped home a back-door pass from Nolan Jones. Kruska rounded out the scoring with his second goal of the night, as he one-timed a feed from Gervais to make it 7-4.
Power-plays were a factor in the hockey game, as the Estevan Bruins went 2-for-6 on the man advantage, while the Terriers were 1-for-6. Game 2 will take place at Affinity Place Saturday night. GX 94 will broadcast the game with play-by-play kicking off at 7pm.
