ESTEVAN - The first showdowns of the season in the Highway 39 rivalry between the Estevan Bruins and the Weyburn Red Wings went to Weyburn.
Weyburn defeated the Bruins 6-2 on Friday night at Affinity Place in Estevan and edged the Bruins 2-1 in a shootout Saturday in Weyburn.
Estevan came out firing on Friday night, as Ilia Chmelevski scored 48 seconds into the game to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead. Weyburn tied the game two minutes later when Jacob Visentini scored on a power play. Blake Heward's first goal as a Bruin less than four minutes later restored the Bruins' advantage.
Max Monette scored midway through the first period to tie the game again and wrap up the offensive activity in an eventful opening 11 minutes.
Estevan had a chance to take the lead in the second with an extended 5-on-3 advantage, but couldn't convert. It remained a tie game until late in the middle frame when Rocco La Cara's power-play goal with 3:43 to play put Weyburn ahead, and Jerome Maharaj doubled the lead on a break 57 seconds later.
Goals by Dallen Oxelgren and Bradley Banach in the final five minutes of the third wrapped up the scoring for the Wings.
Cam Hrdlicka made 32 saves for the Bruins, while Dazza Mitchell stopped 35 shots for Weyburn.
The win was Weyburn's first in regulation in Estevan since February 2020.
Estevan again had a lengthy two-man advantage in the first period on Saturday, but couldn't convert, and 15 seconds after the second penalty expired, the Wings opened the scoring on a goal by Jaxson Ruthven.
Neither team scored again until midway through the third period, when Alameda's Spencer Copeland scored to tie the game for Estevan. It was his first goal in the SJHL.
While it was a low-scoring game, it wasn't from a lack of chances. Both goalies were sensational, as Hrdlicka made 33 saves for Estevan while Mitchell had 43 for Weyburn, including four in overtime.
Visentini had the lone goal for either team in the shootout.
The games were also the first two in the 2023-24 Highway 39 Cup, which is part of an annual wager between Estevan Police Chief Rich Lowen and his Weyburn counterpart, Jamie Blunden. The team that has the better record in the six regular-season matches between the two teams wins the cup, and the chief of the losing community has to wear the winning team's jersey for a day.
The Bruins will be back on the ice when they host the Kindersley Klippers on Oct. 6 and 7. Both games will start at 7 p.m. Then they will host the Melville Millionaires on Oct. 9 at 2 p.m.
