Another Heated Battle With Bruins and Hawks as Nipawin wins 1-0

The CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins and the Nipawin Hawks have developed a very heated rivalry over the past years and last night was another example. The Bruins were defeated by the Hawks 1-0. 

There was plenty of physicality in the first period as the Bruins Leighton McLachlan stepped up with a big hit on the Hawks Garrett Lockeridge. Moments after the hit the two players dropped the mitts which set the tone for the evening.

Late in the first period McLachlan delievered another crushing hit on Lockeridge as McLachlan caught him with his head but this time the referees called a hit to the head penalty with less than 2 minutes remaining in the period.

With 11 seconds left in the period, Taylor Balog deflected a shot from the point and scored for Nipawin to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead.

Despite a heartbreaker to end off the first period, the Bruins came back strong in the second period as they dominated the shot 14-4 and several quality opportunities but were unable to score.

The third period was much of the same as the Bruins had opportunites to tie the game but were either denied by the Hawks Jordan Liem or they would have a shot trickled wide of the net. The line of Hudson Morrison, Darcy DeRoose and Tyler Paslawski had a strong game with opportunities but were unable to capitalize.

At the end of the game the two teams began to do some pushing and shoving inside of Nipawins end which lead to even more pushing and shoving in front of the players bench. This lead to altercation between Hawks Head Coach Doug Johnson and Bruins Assistant Coach Cole Zahn. Bruins Head Coach Keith Cassidy said it appeared that Johnson was talking to the Bruins players after the game and Zahn took exception to what was said and confronted Johnson.

In regards to the game Cassidy said it was one of the best efforts he has seen from the Bruins over the past couple of years.  He said the Bruins a lot of things right including defensive play inside of their own zone, they moved the puck out, they had speed through the neutral zone, they were forechecking and they had great chances. But Cassidy said sometimes you can do everything right but not end up in the right side of the scoresheet.

The Bruins remain one point back of the Kindersley Klippers for 4th spot in the Sherwood Conference. The Bruins will meet the Klippers in back to back games this weekend starting on Saturday in a game you can catch on CJ1280 and discoverestevan.com beginning at 7:20.