ESTEVAN - Brady Wilson scored the final three goals of the game in the Estevan Bruins' 4-3 overtime win over the Weyburn Red Wings Saturday night at Affinity Place.
Wilson took a pass from Kent Moors on an odd-man rush and beat Red Wings' goaltender Dazza Mitchell 26 seconds into extra time.
After a scoreless opening period, Jaxson Ruthven opened the scoring 31 seconds into the middle frame for Weyburn. Kaelen Whittingham tied the game just over four minutes later with a point shot that found its way through a screen on a Bruin power play.
Liam Fitzgerald scored for Weyburn 1:40 after Whittingham's goal and Ruthven's second of the game in the third gave Weyburn a 3-1 advantage.
Wilson responded with his first of the night shortly after Ruthven scored, and sent the game to overtime when he scored late in the third. Then he had the overtime winner.
He noted it started with a great defensive play by Whittingham, who advanced the puck to Kent Moors.
"Moorsey is an unbelievable player," said Wilson. "He picked up the puck and we go down two-on-one, and he makes the pass and it's just a tap-in. It's easy to play when you have good guys out there with you."
He believes his previous hat trick was at the U13 during provincials.
Wilson added an assist for a four-point night, and Whittingham assisted on two goals to finish with three points.
Wilson, who missed several weeks to start the season due to injury said his game has been coming along since he returned from injury.
"I'm feeling better with every single game, and I'm hoping I can just keep building on my game and keep improving. The team's winning games, so it's fun to play," said Wilson.
Benjamin Polhill made 33 saves for the Bruins, including several big stops when the Bruins were down 2-1 and 3-2. Mitchell had 28 saves for Weyburn.
"We knew at the start of the year … that this kid [Polhill] is going to be pretty good, and we had [Kyle] Kelsey, who's a 20-year-old, and Benny probably learned some things from him as well, so even with Kesley here, we were pretty confident in Benny at the same time. Now the net's his, and it's all his opportunity, and he's doing a great job," said Bruins head coach and general manager Jason Tatarnic.
Tatarnic thought the club was more physical and had more offensive zone time in the third period. The turning point in the game was the 3-2 goal.
"Give Brady credit. He had a great third period and overtime," said Tatarnic.
A night earlier, the Bruins defeated the Notre Dame Hounds 4-3 in a shootout during a neutral-site game in Carlyle.
Liam Hunks opened the scoring for Notre Dame just over five minutes into the first period, but Michael Carter tied the game less than two minutes later. Neither team scored the rest of the first period or in the second, even though the Bruins fired 31 shots at Notre Dame goaltender Spencer Borsos.
"We had a little slow start, but I thought we were really good in the second half of the first period, and really good in the second period. I thought the score could have been a little bit more. We had a lot of chances we didn't capitalize on," said Tatarnic.
Ewan Rennie scored three minutes into the third to put Estevan ahead, but Damian Metastasio replied 88 seconds later. Anthony Nolan put the Hounds ahead just before the midway mark of the third, but Moors knotted up the game again 20 seconds later.
Moors had the lone goal in the shootout.
Polhill made 30 saves for the Bruins, while Borsos finished with 45 stops for Notre Dame.
The announced crowd was 578 spectators. Most of them were rooting for the Bruins, even though Notre Dame was the designated home team.
"We enjoy going there," said Tatarnic. "It's a neighbouring community, it's a great thing to do. It's an away game that's really a home game for us, so we don't mind doing it at all."
Estevan (9-9-2-1) has a northern road trip coming up. They will visit the Melfort Mustangs on Dec. 4, and the Nipawin Hawks on Dec. 6 and 7.
