Quick Thoughts After Game 2 of the Trip

After watching last night’s game there’s no doubt why the Battleford Northstars are the best team in the SJHL as they beat the Bruins 5-1.

Blake Tatchell opened the scoring last night 26 seconds in with his 26 goal of the season, and would later add his 27^th goal later in the evening. 

The Bruins did have a chance to tie up the game at the second when Tanner Froese hit the cross bar, Battlefords would come back moments later and scored to give them a 3-1 lead.

Steven Glass had an excellent game even though he gave up 5 goals. The Northstars did a great job of moving the puck around that there was very little Glass could’ve done to stop the Northstars on their goals.

The line of Taylor Reich, Derek Whitehill and Tyler Paslawski had a strong game for the Bruins. Reich scored for the second straight game on the powerplay, but 5 on 5 the line did a great job inside of their zone.

The Bruins will now head to Humboldt to face the RBC Cup host tonight at the Elgar Petersen Arena. The Bruins had success again the Broncos with a pair of wins against them this season. 

You can catch the game on CJ1280 and discoverestevan.com beginning at 7:20

Quick Update from Battlefords

Last night was a disappointing night for the Bruins as they were defeated by the Kindersley Klippers in a 3-2 shootout. Ex-Bruin, Brandon Stone played excellent for the Klippers as he made 35 saves and made a pair of shootout saves.

I thought the Bruins played an excellent 40 minutes to start the game. The power play was clicking with a pair of goals, and the team was doing a good job defensively, as Kindersley didn’t register many scoring chances in the first two periods.

In the third period, the Klippers dominated the opening 10 minutes, it seemed like the Bruins were playing on their heels which allowed the Klippers to tie the game at 2-2. 

In overtime, with Dominic Perrault taking a holding penalty, it was difficult for the Bruins to register any scoring chances with the Bruins shorthanded for nearly half of the extra frame.

With the Bruins fast start to the season, people have forgotten that the Bruins are still a young team, and hopefully last night the team learned a lesson about killer instinct. The Bruins could have put the Klippers away with a goal in the third period, but Kindersley would come out in the third with plenty of jump and were rewarded with the tying goal.

Tonight the Bruins will meet the Battlefords Northstars, the top team in the SJHL. The last time these two teams met, the Northstars picked up a 4-1 win, back on November 19 in Estevan. I thought the line of Paslawski, Calder Neufeld and Derek Whitehill were the best line for the Bruins last night and I’m expecting that will continue tonight.

I’m not expecting many changes to the Bruins lineup tonight with the exception of Steven Glass getting the start in net for the Bruins.

You can catch the game tonight on discoverestevan.com and CJ1280 beginning at 7:20 from the Civic Centre in Battlefords.  

Frustrating Night for the Bruins

 

You can’t blame an Estevan Bruin player, coach or fan being upset after the Bruins were defeated by the Weyburn Red Wings 3-2.

The first two periods was a great hockey game between the two Highway 39 rivals, but unfortunately everyone will be talking about the third period. The Bruins took six questionable penalties in the final frame, which allowed the Red Wings to score two times to come from behind, Weyburn only had one penalty in the third period.

 To make things worse for the Bruins, Tyler Poskus took a questionable hit from Thomas Carelton and likely suffered a concussion; Carelton wasn’t penalized on the hit.

The Bruins had a strong opening two periods, Ben Johnstone played like a raging bull hitting everything that was red. Cole Olson and Dylan Smith did a great job of creating scoring chances, and Steven Glass had another great game between the pipes, but like I said everyone is going to be talking about the third period.

Smith and Johnstone got the goals for the Bruins, while Glass made 26 saves in the loss. The biggest stat of the night was power plays, the Red Wings power play 2 for 12, the Bruins 1 for 4. 

Obviously after the game Head Coach Keith Cassidy, and the Bruin players were upset at what happened tonight, and you can’t blame any of them.

The Bruins return to action on Monday as they kick off a three game road trip in Kindersley, I’ll have the call on CJ1280 and discoverestevan.com beginning at 7:20.

Red Wings 4 Bruins 2

The bounces literally didn’t go the Bruins way last night as they were defeated by the Weyburn Red Wings 4-2.

The Wings second goal was a Jesse Ross pass that went off a skate in front and deflected past Derek Tendler. The third goal for Weyburn,  Coltyn Sanderson threw the puck in front on a wraparound and it hit a Bruins skate and went in the net.

The Red Wings did out work the Bruins for the majority of the game and the challenge for the Bruins tonight is match the Wing’s work effort in the rematch at Spectra Place.

Dylan Schellenberg and Tyler Paslawski didn’t look out of place in their debuts with the Bruins, Schellenberg played on the line with Derek Whitehill and Matthew Dochylo. Schellenberg was in one scuffle and I’m sure he’ll be making his presence felt in the back end of the home and home set. 

Paslawski showed some chemristy with Calder Neufeld throughout the evening and it won’t be long before he finds the back of the net.

Dylan Smith and Ryan Ostertag got the goals for the Bruins in the loss.

Rematch tonight in Estevan, Opening faceoff is 7:30 at Spectra Place, if you can’t make it I’ll have the call on the webcast tonight.

Bruins vs Wings Tonight

The Estevan Bruins and the Weyburn Red Wings will meet for the third time this season at Crescent Point Place tonight.

The Bruins continue to be active on the trade front as they dealt Goalie Brandon Stone to the Kindersley Klippers today in exchange for future considerations. Stone's last game with the Bruins was a week ago in the 6-3 win over the Klippers. The Bruins are in Kindersley to face the Klippers in their opening game of their three game road trip on Monday.

The Bruins and Red Wings split their home and home set back in October, but the Red Wings have been a much improved lineup since as they went 13-4-1 since the last meeting between the Bruins and Red Wings. The Red Wings have been lead by Jesse Ross who has moved into third spot of the SJHL points race with 45 on the season.

Tonight's game will kick off a busy stretch for the Bruins as they we will be playing 7 games in the next 10 days.

I'll have the call on CJ1280 and discoverestevan.com beginning at 7:20.

Elecs Football Award Recap

The ECS Elecs Football wrapped up their season with their awards banquet. The team said good-bye to the graduating class and recognized the highlights of the past season.

The offensive back of the year went to Running Back Dustin McCuish. McCuish started off the season as rookie running back who had never played a down of high school before. After some injuries to starters like Nick Flegel, McCuish was moved into a starter’s spot and he took advantage of the opportunity with a strong season.

Receiver of the Year was awarded to Ian Ferguson. Ferguson became of the favourite target for the Elecs passing game throughout the season. Ferguson will return to the Elecs next season as he was a Grade 11 this season.

Offensive Lineman of the year was awarded to Tyson Wilhelm. Wilhelm spent the season playing a variety of positions including Right Tackle. Wilhelm was also a key part of the Elecs powerful running game. Wilhelm won the award last season.

The rookie of the year was awarded to Kolby Fleury. Fleury had to spend his rookie season as the starting quarterback for the Elecs. Even though he was only playing in his first season with the Elecs, Fleury became a leader of the team and is expected to be a big part of the Elecs future.

The Who Are We Award went to Brody Slykhuis. Slykhuis and a group of players from Carlyle travelled an hour everyday to Estevan to be a member of the Elecs football team. Slykhuis was very respectful to his coaches and teammates. Slykhuis is one of many Elec players who have the chance to play in the next level.

The Most Valuable Player Award went to Stefan Seipp. Seipp played on three sides of the ball this season. On defence Seipp played Defensive End and Linebacker. Seipp provided constant pressure as a Defensive End and also grabbed a couple of interceptions. On special teams, Seipp was the long snapper for the squad, and on offence at the end of the season, Seipp became one of the teams running back. Seipp says he'll be attempting to play next season in the post secondary level.

The Special Team Player Award went to Kyle Hovind. Hovind was the top punter and kicker in the Moose Jaw High School league this season. Hovind had about a 33 yard punting average and was able to connect on field goals close to 40 yards. Hovind is another Elec who has the potential of playing post secondary football as a kicker and punter.

The Linebacker of the year went to Elijah Watchman. Watchman was named the top defensive player of the year in the Moose Jaw High School Football Defensive Player of the year. Watchman played outside linebacker, and was definitely not afraid to make a tackle.

Defensive Lineman of the year went to Chris Strongeagle. Strongeagle played defensive tackle and was a constant force in the other team’s backfield for the entire strength. Strongeagle did this despite double teams throughout the season. With his size and talent, Strongeagle may have the best shot of playing post secondary football on the Elecs. 

Defensive Back of the Year was awarded to Jaren Prokrop. Prokop was on the original Elecs team back in 2009 and played cornerback this season. Prokop developed a great knack of creating a turnover whether it was by an interception or creating fumble. Prokop also helped out on special teams by playing returner.

The Elecs will be losing 18 players due to graduation, but will be returning a solid core of players next season.

Locker Talk with Eric Baldwin and Lyndon Soper

After a couple of weeks being away due to a sickness, I return with another episode of Locker Talk. This week I'm joined by teammates with the Bruins and with the Central Plains Capitals of the Manitoba AAA Midget Hockey league, Eric Baldwin and Lyndon Soper.

We talk about Baldwin's second season with the Bruins, the latest on his injury, the move to forward and with Soper we talk about the rookie's first season with the Bruins.

Also with a couple of good Manitoba boys we talk about the return of the Winnipeg Jets and the Grey Cup on Sunday with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers taking on the BC Lions.

Here's a some preview of what you can expect tonight as I talked with Baldwin.

  Ericbaldwinnov22 by bruinsvoice





Locker Talk can be seen at 6:30 on Channel 7 on Thursday Night and replayed at 12:00 Saturday afternoon.

ECS Awards Banquet Preview With Marco Ricci

It will be a special night for the ECS Elecs Football team as they hold their awards banquet tonight.

The Elecs will be handing out awards for the top position players, along with MVP, Special Teams, and leadership awards.

I had a chance to speak with Elecs Head Coach Marco Ricci to preview the evening.

  Marcoriccinov23 by bruinsvoice

I'll be handing out the Defensive Lineman Award which only makes sense since I coached the D-Line. If you're in Estevan, hope to see you out tonight.

Bruins Acquire Schellenberg

The wheeling and dealing continued for the Estevan Bruins yesterday.

The Bruins acquired 1993 forward Dylan Schellenberg from the Drumheller Dragons of the AJHL in exchange for future considerations.

Schellenberg had 1 goal and 1 assist with the Dragons this season, this is Schellenberg's third season with the Dragons he has picked up 6 goals and 4 assists with 306 penalty minutes in his time in Drumheller.

The Bruins acquired Tyler Paslawski and Tyler Poskus from Nipawin on Sunday.

The Bruins are back in action tomorrow night in Weyburn against the Red Wings and you can catch the game on CJ1280 beginning at 7:20.

Bruin Weekly Winners

The past week the Bruins played 4 games. (I included the Nov.12 games against La Ronge since that was the Bruins only game of the week) The Bruins had a even 2-2 record with wins against Kindersley and Notre Dame and losses against La Ronge and Battlefords.

Player of the Week

Ryan Ostertag
3 goals and 2 assists.

In the early part of the season the line of Calder Neufeld-Cole Olson-Dylan Smith provided the majority of the scoring for the Bruins, but it was only a matter of time before the secondary scoring showed up for the Bruins. Ostertag may have the best shot on the team and when he is playing with confidence he's hard to stop.

Defenceman of the Week

Austin Yano
1 goal and 3 assist

After sitting out a couple of weeks with a groin injury, Yano returned to the Bruins lineup without missing a beat. He had another strong game against Notre Dame with a goal and 2 assists. Yano and Tyler Kauk are probably the two biggest  reasons why Eric Baldwin will likely be moved to forward when he comes back from injury.

Rookie of the Week

Steven Glass

It may be a difficult situation with the Bruins carrying three goaltenders, but everytime Glass gets in net for the Bruins he takes advantage of the opportunity. He was in net for the Bruins win on Tuesday and played excellent in the Bruins loss to Battlefords on Saturday. There's a good chance we could more and more of Glass in net down the stretch drive.

Unsung Hero of the Week

Michael Hengen

It's been a long recovery for the local product after suffering a season ending knee injury last October. He also had to miss a couple weeks another knee injury. But Hengen came back with a pair of goals this week, one in Notre Dame and another in the win over Kindersley. Hengen, Ostertag and Ben Johnstone have been stepping up with some much needed secondary scoring for the Bruins over the last couple weeks.


It's a big weekend for the Bruins as they meet the Weyburn Red Wings for home and home set, before kicking off a three game road trip through Kindersley, Battlefords, and Humboldt starting on Monday.

Bruins and Hawks Make a Deal

The Estevan Bruins and Nipawin Hawks once again found themselves to be trading partners as the teams got together for a 5 player deal. From the active rosters the Bruins ship centreman Jesse Bernard to the Hawks in exchange for RW Tyler Paslawski  and D Tyler Poskus.

Bernard arrived in Estevan with a lot of promise as the leading scorer in the Manitoba AAA Midget league last season. Bernard did struggle with the adjustment to Junior A as he recorded no points in 20 games with the Bruins this season.

Paslawski is a 19 year old forward who has 6 goals and 8 assists on the season with Nipawin. Paslawski will add some size to the Bruins as he stands over 6 feet tall.

Poskus is a 18 year old defenceman who is just under 6 feet tall and has picked up an assist with the Hawks.

The Bruins are about to enter a very busy portion of their schedule, starting on Friday in Weyburn the Bruins will be playing 8 games in 12 days.

Along with Paslawski, if the Bruins get Captain Josh Jelinski and Eric Baldwin back in the lineup this weekend, the Bruins will be getting a lot bigger as they head into a grueling portion of the schedule where the size is needed. Both Paslawski and Poskus will be heading to Estevan tomorrow.

The Bruins still have to play Nipawin four times this season.

Best of luck to Jesse in Nipawin, and welcome to the Tylers to Estevan. 

Bruins Lose To North Stars

It wasn't the Bruins night as they were defeated the Battlefords Northstars 4-1 at Spectra Place last night.

I mentioned on my twitter feed that the Bruins have only scored first 5 times this season, and that was a stat that had to change in order for the Bruins to pick up the win. Unfortunately for the Bruins, the Northstars opened up the scoring in the first on an odd man rush with Brett Tatchell setting up Braeden Johnson for the opening goal.

The Bruins top line of Cole Olson-Calder Neufeld-Dylan Smith had their chances last night, but only factored in the Bruins only goal scored by Tyler Kauk. There were a couple chances that just couldn't get past Connor Creach.

The Bruins made some mistakes inside of their zone, and as Keith Cassidy mentioned in the postgame the most frustrating aspect of that it was by players who usually don't make those mistakes.

Steven Glass played great in net and did a great job of keeping the Bruins in it. The highlight was a no look glove save that Glass made in the second period.

The Bruins will have the week off before they begin a stretch of 8 games in 11 days. They kick off that stretch with a home and home with Weyburn, and you can catch Game 1 of that set on Friday when the Bruins visit Weyburn on CJ1280 and discoverestevan.com.

Bruins Double Up Klippers 6-3

Once again the Dylan Smith-Calder Neufeld- Cole Olson line had a breakout game to lead the Bruins to a 6-3 win over the Kindersley Klippers.

It's unbelievable to watch the chemistry of Smith-Neufeld-Olson. It's one thing to be a solid line for a couple weeks or even a month, but these guys have been lights out since day 1 of training camp. Smith was the finisher tonight with three goals, including a couple of late goals in the first and second period goals on the power play.

I had a chance to talk with Smitty after the game.

  Smittynov18 by bruinsvoice

Neufeld, Taylor Reich, and Michael Hengen also scored for the Bruins.

Brandon Stone picked up the win for the Bruins in net. He made some unbelievable saves, and he really got into a groove after giving up the first goal in the first minute. 

The Bruins will have much stiffer test tomorrow tonight when they host Battlefords. This game has the makings to be a beauty, action begins at 7:30 at Spectra Place.

Bruins Host Parents, and Klippers Tonight

It's a very special weekend for the Bruins as they play a pair of games back to back at Spectra Place.

Off the ice this weekend it's parents weekend as the parents of all the Bruin players will be in town to watch both tonight and tomorrow night's hockey game. There will also be some social activities for with the team and parents throughout the weekend.

The most positive trait of the Bruins team this season is their character, and Bruins Head Coach Keith Cassidy believes the players parent's deserve a lot of the credit for that.

I know a lot of the parents for the Bruins and always enjoy talking with them. For the ones who I haven't met, I'm looking forward to meeting you this weekend.

On the ice, it looks like the Bruins will have the same lineup as they did on Tuesday night when they got a 7-2 win over Notre Dame. Eric Baldwin, Josh Jelinski, Connor Milligan and Matt Brykaliuk will likely be sidelined again for the weekend.

The positive on Tuesday night, was the entire teams effort, everyone had a real strong game after a sluggish start. The Ostertag-Johnstone-Hengen was really clicking in that game, and as well the Reich-Dochylo-Whitehill line was great. It's impossible to replace an energy type forward like Josh Jelinski, but those three did a great job.

The Bruins host the Kindersley Klippers tonight, the first of six meetings this season. Of course we remembered the last time these two teams met in Estevan. There was a lot of bad blood, and words were exchanged with everyone, even the coaches Rockie Zinger, and Chad Leslie.

I'm not expecting much of that bad blood to carry over tonight, but I know that the players from last year haven't forgotten about the Klippers celebration from the end of the season.

I'll have the webcast tonight beginning at 7:30, hope you can tune in.

Bruins Beat Hounds 7-2

Estevan Bruins used the powerplay to their full advantage last night as they defeated the Notre Dame Hounds 7-2. The Bruins went 4 for 8 on the extra man advantage.

The Bruins started off slow as they trailed 1-0 halfway through the first with Dayton Shaw scoring on the powerplay for Notre Dame.

The Bruins would respond with a pair of goals in a 36 second span, on the powerplay, Cole Olson gave Calder Neufeld a perfect pass in front and Neufeld scored his 21st goal of the season to tie the game at 1-1. The following Taylor Reich chased down the puck, and buried it underneath Hound's goalie Ty Reichenbach to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.

Notre Dame tied the game early in the second as Brandon Kuse fired a shot past Steven Glass to tie the game at 2-2. But the Bruins got the lead back 55 seconds later, as Ryan Ostertag got around Hounds d-man Carson Grolla and the buried a backhand shot top shelf and gave the Bruins a 3-2 lead.

The Hounds fell into penalty trouble in the second, they got a pair of penalties on the same play and the Bruins took advantage as Ostertag gave a pass to Michael Hengen in front and Hengen scored his first goal since last October to give the Bruins a 4-2 lead.

1:58 later the Bruins were on the powerplay again and Cole Olson knocked in a bouncing puck make it 5-2 after two periods of play.

The Bruins would put the game to ice in the third as Austin Yano scored his 5th goal of the season on the extra man advantage and Ostertag would put the finishing touches with his 8th of the season to make the final 7-2.

Steven Glass has a solid game making 34 saves for the victory. The Bruins have now scored 33 goals against the Hounds in their four victories.

The Bruins will move on to face the Kindersley Klippers Friday night at Spectra Place with an opening faceoff at 7:30.

Bruins vs Hounds Round 5

The Estevan Bruins will return to action tonight as they hit the road and face the Notre Dame Hounds in Wilcox.

The Bruins have lost their last two games after being defeated by the La Ronge Ice Wolves on Saturday and the Melville Millionaires the previous Saturday in Melville.

The Bruins are battling the injury bug right now, on Saturday they were without Josh Jelinski due to a minor concussion, Austin Yano with a groin injury, Connor Milligan with a head injury, and Matt Dochylo was out with the flu. Good news is Yano and Dochylo should be good to go for tonight.

The Bruins have had success against the Hounds this season with a 3-1 record. The Bruins have scored 26 goals in their three wins against Notre Dame. Their last matchup was on November 2 in Carlyle with the Bruins winning 8-3 and Ben Johnstone scoring a hat trick.

The Bruins will meet the Hounds one more time after tonight's game, once again in Wilcox on December 16.

You can tune into tonight's game beginning at 7:50 on CJ1280 and discoverestevan.com.


Also during the second intermission I'll have a new feature that will throughout the season updating on the latest on some of the Alumni of the Bruins. Today I'm starting with some of the most recent Bruin alumni who spent some time in Estevan this season before moving on. Tonight the Alumni Update will feature, Austin Daae, Shea Cooper and Chris Daniels. 

Bruins Lose 4-2 to Ice Wolves

The CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins couldn’t get anything going Saturday night as they were defeated by the La Ronge Ice Wolves 4-2 at Spectra Place.

The opening period was dominated by the goalies as Derek Tendler and Alex Rajotte each kept the other team off the scoring board in the opening period. 

La Ronge would gain control in the second period as they scored three times. Last year’s MVP Marc-Andre Carre opened the goal scoring with his first of the season to give La Ronge the lead. The Ice Wolves would waste little time to add to their lead as 1:21 later, Graham Smerek would he score his 5^th of the season to make it 2-0.

Midway through the second it appeared the Bruins cut the score to 2-1, as Calder Neufeld deflected a Dominic Perrault shot in, but after the referees discussed it, they ruled that Neufeld deflected it with a high stick so the score remained 2-0. Moments later, Nathan Boyer scored for La Ronge to extend their lead to 3-0. In the second period, there was a 20 minute delay as they had to fix a hole in the ice.

Newly acquired Zac Ashdown scored 1:35 into the third period, to make it 4-0 for La Ronge.

The Bruins tried to make a game out of it in the third as Neufeld scored his 20^th of the season on the powerplay to make it 4-1, and then Ryan Ostertag scored a pretty goal as he buried a shot top shelf to make it 4-2. The Bruins pressed to cut the score to a one goal deficit but weren’t able to get another past Rajotte.

The Bruins next game is Tuesday when they head to Notre Dame and face the Hounds in Wilcox. You can catch the game on CJ1280 and discoverestevan.com beginning at 7:20.