Carter Winiarski scored two goals, including the game winner on a steal at the East Aurora blue line, to lead the Power City Bruins to a 3-2 win on the Classic Rink over the host Beast.
Joey Kinder also scored on a rebound, and AJ McCune had two assists to extend his team lead to 19. Winiarski also added a helper driving his total to 15 on the year, second on the Bruins.
As expected this game was impacted by special teams play. The Bruins yielded a power play goal in the second to fall behind, 2-0 before storming back to claim the victory. Winiarski's first goal was also with the man advantage, ending a 3-for-29 skid for the Bruins unit. The Bruins finished the game 1-for-5 with the man advantage and killed their final three penalties.
As a unit the Power City defense had a very strong game despite yielding 31 shots by the Beast. The Bruins did a good job of limiting most of the opportunities to the outside, and both Vance Graham and Jake Nobel took great angles throughout the game to push East Aurora forwards wide and limit additional opportunities. Derrek Wolski was strong in the corners for the Bruins positionally with one hit and jarring several pucks loose. Kamden Proper showed his bursts of speed through the neutral zone to keep East Aurora on their heels, and Dario Savard made a crucial block with under ten seconds to go in the game on the Beast last good opportunity.
Goaltender RJ Turner remained strong throughout, stopping 29 of 31 East Aurora shots. After ending the first with thirteen shots aside, East Aurora outshot the Bruins in the final thirty, 18-5. However the Bruins were able to bury three of their shots to come away with the win.
Benny Lazzaro led the way physically for the Bruins with five hits, and Brody Hockaday blocked three shots.
It was a gutsy effort played without both Hayden Hockaday and Jack Boddecker, the latter of which is day-to-day with an upper body ailment. It is unknown if he will be back when the Bruins next takes the ice, tomorrow night on the road at Holiday Rinks to take on the Buffalo Regals at 8pm.