Catching Up with the Bruins

I'm back to work today, and I missed a few busy days for the Bruins on the weekend, so here's a quick recap on the latest going ons in Bruins land.

On the ice the Bruins picked up a pair of divisional wins as they crushed Notre Dame 9-1 on Friday night, and then Saturday night they recorded the first win in the Horizon Credit Union Centre in Melville with a 3-2 win over the Mils.

The Bruins were looking for redemption against Notre Dame, and judging by the score I would say mission accomplished. Dylan Smith lead the scoring charge with a pair, Eric Baldwin scored his first SJHL goal, as did Tyler Kauk.  Rookie goalie, Steven Glass picked up his first win in the SJHL as he made 20 saves for the win.

The Bruins then headed to Melville for their second meeting with the Mils this season. Despite giving up the first goal, the Bruins would rebound and tie it up on a Calder Neufeld power play marker. Then in the third the Bruins opened the scoring with a pair of goals from Dylan Smith and Matt Dochylo in a 2:05 span to grab the lead and hang on for a 3-2 win.

The Bruins will meet the Mils tomorrow night at Spectra Place for their third meeting of the season, and then the Bruins will have a pair of home and home series with Weyburn and Yorkton before the SJHL Showcase comes to town.

Off the ice the Bruins also picked up some hardware as Calder Neufeld was named the Player of the Week in the SJHL for October 3. Neufeld finished the week with 5-goals and 2-assists in 3-games played, his linemates Dylan Smith and Cole Olson were honorable mentions.

Neufeld was also named SJHL player of the month for September, the Carrot River product scored eight goals in just five games, including three games where he posted multiple goal efforts.  He finished with 12-points, which was good enough for a tie for the SJHL scoring lead on September 30th.

And the Bruins swung a deal with the Portage Terriers that sent 20 year old Goalie Shea Cooper and 20 year old Forward Chris Daniels in exchange for the playing rights of 20 year old defenceman Josh Dufrense and future considerations.

Cooper is looking for a fresh start after a difficult preseason where he suffered a injury that kept him out of the lineup for the past couple of weeks. With 19 year old Derek Tendler and 18 year old Steven Glass in the Bruins net, Head Coach Keith Cassidy moved the 20 year old in Cooper.

Chris Daniels got caught in the numbers game with the Bruins electing to trim their roster to 14 forwards, and Cassidy opted to move a 20 year old, rather than a 19 or 18 year old. Daniels was one of the top Bruins in training camp, he did pick up a pair of goals in the regular season. Daniels will get a chance to finish his Junior A hockey career closer to home in Manitoba.

The Bruins will now look to extend their winning streak to 4 games when they host the Mils tomorrow night, opening faceoff is 7:30.