Bruins Alumni Game Tomorrow

It's a big day for the Estevan Bruins Alumni tomorrow at Spectra Place, as the Bruin Alumni will look for their third straight win in the Alumni Game with the Weyburn Red Wing Alumni, opening faceoff is 1:00.

I had a chance to speak with Bruins Alumni President Brad Pierson earlier this week about all of the events that are going on tomorrow.

  Bradpiersondec30 by bruinsvoice

Bruins End 2011 In Defeat

It was a tough lesson last night for the CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins as they ended off 2011 with a 6-1 loss to the Weyburn Red Wings.

The bounces went Weyburn's way right from the opening faceoff as a bad bounce for the Bruins lead to Keegan Bruce on a clear breakaway and Bruce scored to give the Red Wings a 1-0 lead 13 seconds into the first period.

The Bruins would respond with chances over the next few minutes, but couldn't get anything past the Red Wing's Mitch Kilgore. With just over 5 minutes remaining, the Red Wings would score a pair of goals in a 39 second span as Ryan Whitell and Lane Harbor scored for the Red Wings, as they skated in to the locker room with a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes.

Weyburn went back to work early in the second as Miguel Pereria took advantage of a turnover and buried it top shelf to extend the Red Wings lead to 4-0.

Later in the second period, Jesse Ross added his 29th goal of the season on a breakaway, Whitell added his second goal of the night late in the second period to give the Red Wings a commanding 6-0 advantage.

Late in the second, the Bruins Cole Olson found Tanner Froese in front and he scored to get the  Bruins on the scoreboard as they trailed 6-1 after two periods.

Neither team scored in the third period, as both teams will have a day off before meeting back in Estevan on New Year's Day at Spectra Place. You can catch the game on CJ1280 and Discoverestevan.com beginning at 2:50.

The Alumni game between the Bruins and Red Wings will start the festivities at 1:00.

Bruins vs Red Wings Tonite

The Bruins will look to end 2011 the same way it started, a victory in Weyburn. Yesterday I talked to the Bruins Matthew Dochylo to preview tonight's game.

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Top Bruins In the First Half

Throughout the first half of the season, I've been naming players of the week, and to end off the first half of the season (or the pre Christmas play since only 19 games remain) I thought I would provide my Players of the First Half.

Unsung Hero of the First Half.

Derek Whitehill.

Whitehill was a late addition to the Bruins roster in August, and when the 20 year old arrived to camp he suffered a shoulder injury that sidelined him for the early part of the season. But when Whitehill got back in to the lineup he provided the Bruins with a lot of leadership and solid two way play. Whitehill's contribution wasn't marked on the score sheet every night, but Whitehill would make a decisive play in every game that would help the Bruins pick up the two points. In the month of December, Whitehill became more of an offensive threat when he formed a line with Taylor Reich and Tanner Froese. The three were probably the Bruins best forwards in December as they provided some consistent secondary scoring.


Defencemen of the First Half.

Austin Yano and Tyler Kauk.

This one was so hard to call so I simply called it a draw. Both 18 year olds have played beyond their years in the first half of the season. Yano has shown all of his offensive abilities from the first day of the season, but his defensive responsibilities also continue to get better. Meanwhile, Kauk has always been solid inside of the defensive zone and will likely see more minutes in the final stretch of the season. Both players scored huge goals for the Bruins, back in October when the Bruins were down by 3 goals to Melville Yano provided a end to end goal that would spark a Bruins rally.. While Kauk delivered a game winner of his own a couple of weeks ago against Notre Dame in Assiniboia. The Bruins have a bright future ahead of themselves and a big part of it is because of Yano and Kauk on the blue line.

Rookie of the First Half.

Taylor Reich.

Reich has played more roles for the Bruins in the first half of the season than most players in their entire Junior careers. At the beginning of the season Reich  played on an Energy type line with players like Matthew Dochylo and Josh Jelinski. Later in the first half, Reich spent some time playing on the top line with Cole Olson and Dylan Smith. To end off the first half, Reich found success on a scoring line with Derek Whitehill and Tanner Froese. Reich is one of the standouts in a strong rookie class for the Bruins. With players like Froese, Kauk, Yano, Ben Johnstone, Steven Glass and others, it's not hard to believe that the SJHL's Rookie of the Year will come from Estevan.

Player of the First Half

Dylan Smith.

There was a lot of heavy expectations on Smith heading into the season, and he has met those expectations on the score sheet, as Smith leads the Bruins in goals, assists and obviously points.  
Smith, along with Calder Neufeld and Cole Olson formed one of the most consistent lines in the SJHL as the three have been lighting up the goal light since opening night in September. Smith is one goal back of Battleford's Blake Tatchell in the SJHL goal race, and also trails Tatchell by a point for the scoring chase. Smith is one of the biggest reasons the Bruins have the best power play in the SJHL with 22 power play points. Smith will be expected to continue his strong start in to the final six weeks of the season where he could find himself winning some league hardware.

Back To Work

Happy Holidays everyone, I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas holidays with their family and friends. I've been off since December 18 and it's really hard to believe that it's already December 29, Christmas holidays always go by way too fast.

-- Over the next couple of days there will be plenty of Bruins stuff on the blog, I'll look over the first half, preview the second half of the season and the home and home set with the Weyburn Red Wings, and look ahead to the Bruins Alumni game on Sunday at Spectra Place.

-- A quick glance back at my holidays, like I said before, I was off since last Sunday and I enjoyed all of my holidays in the Saskatoon and Humboldt area visiting with family and friends. There were a lot of people who I didn't get a chance to visit with and a lot of activities that I didn't get to do, but that's typical for any holiday.

-- My favorite thing about the Christmas holidays is the World Junior Hockey Championships, and it's pretty cool that Jaden Schwartz is this year's captain. It seems like yesterday that he was playing with the Notre Dame Hounds of the SJHL.

-- I'll be back a little bit later today with the thoughts of the Bruins first half to the season.

Bruins Come From Behind against Melfort In Overtime Thriller

The CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins ended off the first half in thrilling fashion as Tyler Paslawski scored in overtime to give the Bruins a 4-3 win over the Melfort Mustangs.

The Bruins had a strong start in the first period but Jesse Wilkins played terrific for the Mustangs keeping it scoreless until Brendan Tash scored  to give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.

The Bruins would strike back in the second as Dylan Smith scored his 30^th goal of the season to tie the game, the Mustangs would regain the lead a minute later to take a 2-1 lead. The Bruins would tie the game before the end of the period as Josh Jelinski scored to tie the game at 2-2. 

In the third period, the game remained tied with 2:58 remaining until Matt Saunderson scored to give the Mustangs the lead. With 26 seconds left Smith would score his 31^st of the season to send the game into overtime. 

At the 2:08 Austin Yano found Paslawski all alone and he broke in with a breakaway and scored to give the Bruins a 4-3 win.

The Bruins now head into the Christmas Holidays winners of their last two, the Bruins return to action on Friday December 30 when they meet the Weyburn Red Wings, and you can catch the game on CJ1280 and discoverestevan.com beginning at 7:20.

Bruins 7 Hounds 5

The Estevan Bruins ended their three game losing streak with a come from behind win against the Notre Dame Hounds in Assiniboia last night 7-5.

There were plenty of goals in the first two periods, as the Hounds lead 3-2 after the opening 20 minutes. Dylan Smith and Dominic Perrault scored for the Bruins. 

In the second, the Bruins tied it up after Smith scored his second goal of the night, his 29^th of the season, but the Hounds would respond with a pair of goals to get a 5-3 lead. But late in the second, Cole Olson scored off a nice pass from Matt Brykaliuk to cut the lead to 5-4 heading into the third. 

In the third period, the Bruins took over, Derek Whitehill scored two minutes into the period to tie the game at 5-5 and then 1:14 later, Tyler Kauk scored to give the Bruins the lead. Taylor Reich sealed the win with a empty netter. 

The Bruins will finish the first half of the season with a home game tonight against the Melfort Mustangs, opening faceoff is 7:30 at Spectra Place.

Locker Talk Tonight with Taylor Reich and Denin Boesch

Tonight will be the final edition of Locker Talk for me in 2011, and I'm going to be joined with Taylor Reich and Denin Boesch from the Estevan Bruins.

We talk about the ups and downs the two Bruin rookies have experienced in their rookie season, the other  rookies on the Bruins, the Bruins giving back to the community, the upcoming World Junior Hockey Championships and Boesch's hair. (Have to tune in to understand what I'm talking about)

Here's a preview with Boesch and Reich.

Denin Boesch

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Taylor Reich

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 You catch Locker Talk on Access 7 in Estevan at 6:30 tonight and Saturday at 12:00.

Christmas With the Bruins

Not even a howling wind of 50 km/h could slow down the Estevan Bruin players and fans from celebrating the end of the Halliburton's Back the Bruins week with the the Christmas Party at Rusty Duce Park.

Santa Claus made an appearance at the party and offered horse drawn sleigh rides to all of the kids. While some of the kids took advantage of the sleigh rides, the other kids jumped at the opportunity to play street hockey with the Bruin players. (and one play by play announcer)

Even though the evening was aimed for the kids, the Bruins players found themselves feeling the Christmas spirit. Assistant Matthew Dochylo felt like a kid again at the party. "A lot of us aren't with us aren't with our family and friends, so we come out to an evening like this with the kids and we had a good time."






Dochylo felt the evening is a great way to encourage kids to come to the Bruins games throughout the season. "We get were playing street hockey with the kids and they'll tell their mom and dads they want to come to our games so it was a lot of fun."

Bruins Defenceman Denin Boesch felt the entire Halliburton Back the Bruins week was a worthwhile experience. "Little kids are always looking up to us, so doing anything in the community is good. We have a lot of sponsors in the community who supports, so it's good to give back."

Taylor Reich is one of three Bruins who are from Estevan and feels it's very special visiting schools, like Bruin players did in the past. "Once in awhile you get a memory of a Bruin player visiting you at school and giving you tickets for the weekends game and it's really nice to do the same for the kids now."

The Bruins will have one more home game this week before they enjoy the Christmas holidays with a matchup against the Melfort Mustangs on Saturday. The Bruins first home game after the Christmas holiday will be on Sunday January 1 against the Weyburn Red Wings.

After the Xmas party I had a chance to speak with Matthew Dochylo

  Matthewdochylodec14 by bruinsvoice

My hockey gloves, the players were giving me a hard time on old they are. Denin Boesch and Cole Olson were happy to sign them.

Bruin Weekly Winners Dec.5-12

It was an up and down week for the Estevan Bruins as they ended up going 1-3 over the last seven days. The Bruins started off on a high with a 3-1 win over the Melville Millionaires. The Bruins then went on the road for three games up north. On Friday, despite playing well the Bruins lost 3-1 to Flin Flon, on Saturday the Bruins lost again 7-4 to Flin Flon. Then the Bruins weekend ended off with a 6-0 loss to the Nipawin Hawks.

Player of the Week

Derek Whitehill

Whitehill spent the beginning part of the season playing a big defensive role for the Bruins, but lately Whitehill has been asked to anchor the second line for the Bruins. This week Whitehill provided the Bruins with steady play and formed chemistry with Taylor Reich and Tanner Froese. Whitehill picked up three assists this week and spent more time on the power play.

Defenceman of the Week

Tyler Poskus

Poskus got back into the Bruins lineup on Tuesday against Melville after missing a significant amount of time with a head injury, and had a solid game on the Bruins back end and assisted on the game winning goal in the win against the Millionaires. Poskus played solid inside of his zone throughout the weekend in Flin Flon and Nipawin, he picked up another assist in Friday’s loss to the Bombers. 

Rookie of the Week

Tanner Froese

Froese had a solid week with a pair of goals. On Tuesday he scored on the powerplay in the Bruins win in Melville, and scored again in Saturday’s game. Like many of the Bruin rookies, it has been an up and down year for Froese but it seems like Froese is starting to hit his stride with the Bruins once again.

Unsung Hero of the Week

Josh Jelinski 

Jelinski returned to the lineup on Friday, and even though the Bruins didn’t pick up a win on the weekend, the Captain provided a much needed spark to the Bruins lineup. In his second game back in the lineup, Jelinski got back on the power play and penalty kill units. There’s no doubt Jelinski will be an impact player for the Bruins in the second half of the season.

The Bruins have two more games before the Christmas holidays, on Friday they finish off their season series with the Notre Dame Hounds in Wilcox and then the Bruins will meet the Melfort Mustangs at Spectra Place on Saturday.

Halliburton's Back the Bruins Week

The Bruins will spreading some holiday cheer this week as we approach the holiday season, Halliburtion's Back the Bruins week will see the Bruins out and about in the community as the team volunteers with a series of  events.

Monday December 12th
Serving Coffee: Tim Horton’s and McDonalds 1:00pm-3:00pm
Salvation Army Christmas Kettles at Wal Mart: 12:00-4:00pm
Volunteering at the Pure Energy Learning Center; Estevan Day Care 3:30pm-4:30pm

Tuesday December 13th
“Games Day” with residence of Creighton Lodge 1:30pm-3:30pm
Bagging Groceries at Sobeys 4:30pm-5:30pm

Wednesday December 14th
School Visits at Elementary School 1:00pm-3:00pm
CHRISTMAS WITH THE BRUINS 7:00pm-8:30pm RUSTY DUCE PARK|

The Christmas with the Bruins on Wednesday night  will see Christmas Lights, a visit from Santa Clause, Horse Drawn Sleigh Rides, Christmas Carols, Autograph’s, Playing Hockey with the Bruins, and free hot chocolate, refreshments and snacks.

Bruins Open Road Trip With Loss

The Bruins dropped their first game of their three game road trip to the Flin Flon Bombers 3-1 last night at the Whitney Forum.

Josh Jelinski and Connor Milligan looked good in their return to the lineup, Jelinski was flying around making hits and brought a lot of energy to the Bruins lineup, while Milligan looked good inside of the Bruins zone. Both played in limited roles, but over the next few games expect both players to get more ice time and make a bigger impact.

Sometimes the shot clock is a very misleading stat and last night that was the case. The Bombers out shot the Bruins 33-26, but the Bruins had several shots that went wide of the net. The Bruins outplayed the Bombers in the final 30 minutes but couldn’t find the equalizer to tie the game at 2-2. 

Dylan Smith scored his 27th goal of the season in the loss for the Bruins.  Steven Glass had another strong game with 30 saves in the loss.

Eric Baldwin could be back in the lineup this weekend; the only problem is finding the right spot in the lineup. Dylan Schellenberg was out last night with an illness, he could return as soon as tonight.

The Bruins will look to split the two game set in Flin Flon tonight, you can catch the game on CJ1280 and discoverestevan.com beginning at 7:20.

Bruins vs Bombers For the First Time

It’s funny how a SJHL schedule works sometimes, the Bruins finished their season series with the Melville Millionaires on Tuesday and tonight they will meet the Flin Flon Bombers for the first time this season at the Whitney Forum.

Both teams are heading into tonight’s game fresh from victories; the Bruins defeated the Mils on Tuesday 3-1, while the Bombers beat the Melfort Mustangs 10-4. 

The Bruins have played a complete game in their last two wins over the Mils and Yorkton Terriers. All 12 forwards were productive for the Bruins, they got strong games from their young defencemen like Denin Boesch on Sunday and Tyler Poskus on Tuesday. And of course Steven Glass has been unbelievable for the Bruins making 30+ saves in both wins.

The Bombers have plenty of fire power up front as they’re lead by Riley Storzuk who has 41 points on the season. The Bombers have three other players who have already hit the 30 point plateau in Dylan McCombie and Brett Penner. The Bombers added another big piece to their team last week with the trade of Jesse Mysiorek.  Devin Buffalo has been one of the top rookie goalies for the Bombers this season, with 9-8-2 record with 3.44 GAA and 904 SV%

The Bruins are hoping to get Eric Baldwin and Connor Milligan into the lineup tonight. Both are game time decisions. 

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

Bruin Goalies..Past and Present. (Joel Danyluk and Steven Glass)

After a long day on the road, we have arrived in Flin Flon. The team will go for a morning skate tomorrow before tomorrow night’s game against the Bombers. I’ll have a preview and other thoughts tomorrow. 

During the 2^nd intermission for tomorrow’s and Saturday’s game you’ll hear my interview with former Bruin goalie Joel Danyluk. In tomorrow’s game me and Danyluk talk about his trip to Europe as apart of winning the SJHL Community Player of the Year. If you miss tomorrow’s game, that interview should be up on the SJHL website in a few days.

 

Just below you can hear me and Danyluk talk Augustana and some of his highlights in Junior Hockey. Most of it will be on air during Saturday's game.

  Danyluk2 by bruinsvoice

 

And yesterday afternoon, I spoke to current Bruins goalie Steven Glass. Glass is probably the biggest reason the Bruins have won their last two games against Melville and Yorkton. Glass made 30+ saves in both victories, and as Keith Cassidy mentioned after the win in Melville, the Bruins might be giving more starts to Glass in the future.   

  Stevenglassdec7 by bruinsvoice

Signing off from Creighton, we’ll talk to you tomorrow.

Bruins Win Second Straight 3-1 Over Melville

The Bruins turned in their second straight strong effort as they defeated the Melville Millionaires 3-1. With the win the Bruins finish the season series with a 5-1 record against Melville.

The Bruins opened the scoring in the first when Tanner Froese scored for the second straight game on the power play to give the Bruins the 1-0 lead.

Melville would respond as Michael Sagen blocked a Dominic Perrault shot and then took the puck on the breakaway to tie the game 1-1.

In the second the Bruins would get the only goal as Dylan Smith scored his 26^th goal of the season to give the Bruins the lead at 2-1.

In the third period, both Steven Glass and Blake Voth stood on their heads to keep the score at 2-1, but with 23 seconds left, Cole Olson would put the game away with an empty netter to give the Bruins a 3-1 win.

Glass had another stellar game for the Bruins making 30 saves in the win. Tyler Poskus picked up an assist in his first game back and also had a solid game on the blueline for the Bruins.

After the game I spoke with Head Coach Keith Cassidy

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The Bruins are back in action on Friday when they face the Flin Flon Bombers you can catch the game on CJ1280 and discoverestevan.com.

Bruins vs Mils..For the Final Time

Hard to believe, but tonight's game will be the final matchup between the Estevan Bruins and the Melville Millionaires this season.

The Bruins have already claimed the season series with four wins, but the Mils took the last contest on Nov. 5 in Melville.

That game was a real physical encounter with Connor Milligan getting injured in the opening minute of  the game. Milligan hasn't been in the Bruins lineup since that game.

Matthew Dochylo also got hurt that game with a high hit late in the game and I spoke to Dochylo to preview tonight's game.

  Mattdochylodec6 by bruinsvoice

Johnstone Named SJHL Rookie of the Month

The SJHL handed out it's player of the month award winners today. Claiming the Rookie of  the Month from the Estevan Bruins Ben Johnstone.


Here's what SJHL.ca had to say about Johnstone's play in November.
Ben Johnstone (Carlyle SK) scored 5-goals and 4-assists in 12-games played during the month of November.  Despite a stature of just 5'7” and 160 lbs, Johnstone finds a way to elude bigger, stronger, and older defenders to carve out his offensive niche.  For the season, Johnstone goes into December with 8-goals and 6-assists in 29-games.

The big highlight for Johnstone in November was back on November 2 when he scored a hat trick in the Bruins win over Notre Dame in his home town of Carlyle.


The Bruins also had a pair  runner ups for rookies of the month, Austin Yano and Taylor Reich.

 

Bruin Weekly Winners Nov.25-Dec.4

The Bruins struggled on their recent stretch of games as they 1-4-1 starting with a pair of losses to the Weyburn Red Wings on November 25 and 26, but ended the week with a 4-3 win over the Yorkton Terriers.  The Bruins still remain in second place of the Sherwood Conference with 17-15-0-1 record, they’re 8 points back of Weyburn of first and two points ahead of Melville, the Mils do have four games in hand on the Bruins.

Player of the Week

Dylan Smith.

With the Bruins over the half way point of the season, Smith has probably been the top Bruin forward this season. Smith managed to register in six of his last seven games, and could’ve had a few points but had a few open net shots just go wide. Smith is one of the biggest reasons why the Bruins have the league's best power plays in the SJHL.

Defenceman of the Week

Denin Boesch.

With the injury to Connor Milligan and trades to Jeff Bartel and Lyndon Soper, Boesch had to play a lot of minutes for the Bruins this week. Boesch responded to the increased ice time with some of his best play of the season, especially in the Bruins Sunday win over Yorkton.

Rookie of the Week

Taylor Reich

 

Reich and Derek Whitehill were two of the best Bruins forwards during their recent road trip and their strong play continued on Sunday when the two formed a line with Tanner Froese and were on the ice for two of the Bruins three goals in the Bruins 4-3 win over Yorkton. Reich is currently on a 5 game point streak.

Unsung Hero of the Week

Dylan Schellenberg

Schellenberg has been welcomed addition for the Bruins since being acquired by Drumheller with his gritty play. In one shift in the Bruins win in Yorkton, Schellenberg had three solid hits. In the seven games with the Bruins, Schellenberg has dropped the mitts in 5 games.

The Bruins this week will take on the Melville Millionaires tomorrow, followed by a three game northern road trip with a pair in Flin Flon and a Sunday night game in Nipawin.