Kauk Named Defenceman of the Week

A big week for one rookie Bruin defenceman has landed him a weekly award from the SJHL as Tyler Kauk was named this week's winner of defenceman of the week.

Kauk picked up six assists for the Bruins last week during their three game road trip in Kindersley and Battlefords. Kauk picked up 4 assists in the Bruins loss to Battlefords on Friday.

On the season Kauk has 4 goals and  19 assists. Austin Yano was a runner up for defenceman of the week.

Ian McNulty of Melville was the winner of player of the week as the Bruins Calder Neufeld and Dylan Smith were runner ups.

Davis Jones of Nipawin was the winner of goalie of the week.

Four games on the SJHL schedule tonight, the Drilling Estevan Bruins will be back in action tomorrow night when they meet the Yorkton Terriers.

Opening faceoff is 7:30.

Bruins End Road Trip With 5-2 Loss to Kindersley

The Estevan Bruins wasted a golden opportunity to gain some ground on the Melville Millionaires as they were defeated by the Kindersley Klippers 5-2 last night, giving the Klippers their first regulation win since November 26.

The Bruins and Klippers each had a slow first period as only registered four shots. The lone highlight came from Cole Olson. With the Bruins on the powerplay, Olson did a spin-o-rama back hand pass to Dylan Smith in front of the net who buried it for his 36^th goal of the season to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead after the first period.

In the second period, the score remained 1-0 until Colby Daniels banked a shot off a Bruins defenceman past Tyler Ross to tie the game at 1-1. For the Klippers that snapped a shutout streak of 117 minutes against the Bruins over the last three games. Daniels wasn’t finished as 5 minutes later scored to give the Klippers the lead. Before the end of the period Travis Geislinger extended the Klippers lead to 3-1. 

In the third period, the Bruins needed a spark to get back into the game and when they went on the powerplay with 13 minutes remaining they were hoping to cut the gap to one goal, instead Bradley Buckingham got a breakaway and scored shorthanded to put the game away at 4-1. Smith would deflect a Tyler Poskus shot past Brandon Stone late in the third period as the Bruins trailed 4-2 before Alex Laird added an empty netter to make the final 5-2. 

The Bruins ended their road trip going 1-1-1 and now sit four points back of Melville for third place with the Mils having a pair of games in hand. The Bruins allowed 5 valuable points slipped from their hands this week with regulation losses to Battleford and Kindersley and a shootout loss to the Northstars which may cost them the chance to finish out of the Survivor Series.

If the Bruins would win their remaining 5 games, Melville would have to get 7 points in their final 7 games in order to finish ahead of the Bruins. 

The Bruins are off until Wednesday when they host the Yorkton Terriers at Spectra Place at 7:30.  

Bruins Lose A Thriller In Battlefords

In a game for the ages the Estevan Bruins were defeated by the Battlefords Northstars 7-6 in the 9th round of the shootout.

The Bruins got off to a strong first period, with the Bruins northern connection scoring for Estevan. Matthew Dochylo (Christopher Lake) opened the scoring 38 seconds into the first period to give the Bruins an early edge. Dylan Smith (Big River) added to the Bruins lead with his 35th of the season and Calder Neufeld (Carrot River) capped off the scoring with a power play goal in the final minute giving the Bruins a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes of play.

The Northstars came back in the second period with a pair of goals with Kyle Hall scoring a shorthanded goal to make it 3-1 and then Blake Tatchell scored his first of the night to cut the lead to 3-2. But before the period came to an end Neufeld scored his second powerplay goal of the night and his fourth powerplay goal of the road trip to give the Bruins a 4-2 edge after two periods of play.

In the third period, the Northstars took advantage of an early powerplay as Tatchell scored his second of the night to make it a one goal game once again. Minutes later, Cole Olson sniped his 15th of the season and the Bruins once again had a two goal lead. The Northstars cut the lead to a one goal margin as Robbie Newton scored for Battlefords on a loose rebound making it a 5-4 score.

Lady luck gave the Bruins a break as Dochylo shot the puck from the red line and some how went past the Northstar's Connor Creech and the Bruins lead 6-4 with 7:20 remaining. That was just enough time for Battlefords to come back  as Tatchell scored his 40th goal of the season with 3:15 remaining to narrow the gap at 6-5.

With the goalie pulled, the Northstars managed to get a loose puck in front of Glass and with four seconds left Braden Johnson scored for Battlefords to send the 1,550 fans into a frenzy as the Northstars tied the game and send it to overtime.

Overtime settled nothing sending the game into a shootout. Neufeld scored for the Bruins to give Estevan the edge. But Tatchell scored for Battlefords to tie it up in the shootout. Austin Yano had the best chance for the Bruins to end it as it  appeared he had Creech beat on the stick side with a deke but at the last second Creech reached back and stopped Yano's shot with a stick save.

The shootout lasted until the 9th round as Brody Luhning beat Steven Glass to give the Northstars the lead in the shootout. Tyler Paslawski had a chance to tie it up but was shut down by Creech and the Northstars prevailed 7-6.

Even though the Bruins only walked away with one point last night's game was one of the best efforts from the Bruins this season. Dochylo and Neufeld have each scored four goals during this road trip. Dochylo (now with 10 goals this season) along with Jelinski and Paslawski continue to do a solid job for the Bruins 5 on 5 and have provided the Bruins with solid starts in every period. Tyler Kauk ended up with  4 assists and Steven Glass made 31 saves with 7 more in the shootout.

The Bruins will be looking to end the road trip with 5 points as they face the Klippers for the second time in three nights tonight. You can catch the game on CJ1280 and discoverestevan.com beginning at 7:20.

Bruins Blank Klippers 4-0

On Sunday the CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins gave up four third period goals in a loss to the Battleford Northstars, but tonight the Bruins exploded for four third period goals of their own on their way to a 4-0 win over the Kindersley Klippers.

Steven Glass started in his first game for the Bruins since injuring his knee back on Jan.8 against Humboldt, and didn't look out of place as he made 31 saves to pick up the win. Glass did get some help as the Klippers hit the post twice in the second period.

After 40 minutes of play the Bruins and Klippers were scoreless before the Bruins line of Matthew Dochylo, Josh Jelinski and Tyler Pasklawski took over for the Bruins. Dochylo opened up the scoring as he managed to get on a breakaway and beat Justin McDonald to give the Bruins a 1-0. The Bruins added to their lead when they got a 5-3 powerplay and Calder Neufeld scored his 30th goal of the season to extend the lead to 2-0.

The Bruins would get insurance goals as Josh Jelinski buried a goal top shelf past McDonald to give the Bruins a 3-0 edge and 12 seconds later Dochylo tapped in his second goal of the night to give the Bruins a 4-0 win.

The Bruins will be looking for redemption tomorrow night as they take on the Battlefords Northstars and you can catch the game on CJ1280 and discoverestevan.com beginning at 7:20.

Weekly Winners/Quick Est-Kin Notes

After some delay I finally got some internet at the hotel in Kindersley.  I won't provide much of a writeup for this week's winners since I'm tight for time. But this weeks winners cover the Bruins last three games (Jan.20 8-1 win over Kin. Jan.27 3-2 win over Nipawin Jan.29 5-3 loss to Battlefords)


Player of the Week- Tyler Ross
Defenceman of the Week- Zach MacLellan
Rookie of the Week- Matt Brykaliuk
Unsung Hero - Tyler Poskus

The Bruins will kick off their final roadtrip of the season tonight in Kindersley against the Klippers. The Bruins have gone 2-1 this season against Kindersley and will meet them again on Saturday and next Friday.

The Bruins trail the Melville Millionaires by 5 points for third spot in the Sherwood Conference heading into tonight's game, Melville does have one game in hand on the Bruins. The Bruins will likely have to win 7 if not all of their remaining games in order to pass Melville in the Sherwood Conference. No other games in the SJHL tonight so the Bruins don't have to worry about scoreboard watching.

For the most part the Bruins are healthy heading into this road trip. Steven Glass is good to go after sitting out the last three weeks with a knee injury, he did dress as a backip in the last two games for the Bruins. Eric Baldwin is still battling an ankle injury and is listed to day to day.

Kindersley hasn't won a game in regulation since Nov.26 although they're coming off a big shootout win in Yorkton on Sunday.  Former Bruins goalie Brandon Stone picked up a shootout win against the Bruins back in November but his last game against the Bruins on Jan.20 didn't end well as he was pulled after giving 5 goals in the first period.

You can catch tonight's game on CJ1280 and discoverestevan.com beginning at 7:20

Estevan Hosting 2012 SJHL Hall of Fame Q&A With Bill Chow

It was announced earlier this week that Estevan would be hosting the 2012 SJHL Hall of Fame ceremonies sometime next time season.

I had the chance to speak with SJHL President Bill Chow about the latest event coming to Estevan.

Estevan To Host 2012 Hall of Fame Ceremonies and other SJHL News

The SJHL Hall of Fame will be making a stop in the Energy City this year as the league announced today the 2012 SJHL Hall of Fame ceremonies will be held in Estevan next season. 

The SJHL Hall of Fame was first introduced in 2009 in Weyburn with ceremonies being held in Humboldt in 2010 and in Yorkton 2011. Each year the inductees into the Hall of Fame have ties to the city to where the ceremonies are taking place.  The Hall of Fame weekend includes a Hall of Fame game along with Hall of Fame ceremonies. A date for the SJHL Hall of Fame ceremonies still has to be set, as the league has said that it will be set sometime in early fall. 

Plenty of other changes were announced by the league earlier today. Starting in 2012-13 the maximum number of 20 year old players will be reduced to 8 and then in 2013-14 the maximum of 20 year olds will be reduced to 7. 

The league announced that the schedule will be reduced to 54 games next season with teams playing 40 games within their division and 12 against non conference teams, for example the Bruins will now play 8 games against Weyburn, Yorkton, Melville, Notre Dame and Kindersley and a home and home set with the Bauer Conference along with the two games at the SJHL Showcase. The league also announced that the SJHL Showcase will be held in Melfort on the weekend of December 14-16.

The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League has agreed upon 3 year contract and a 1 year option with Sher-wood to be the supplier of Equipment and Sticks.

The Official Helmet Supplier will be Cascade Sports with the M11 the Messier Project, the helmet appears to be the helmet that will protect the players the best.

Training Camps are set to begin on September 5 for SJHL clubs; the league also announced that the majority of the games next season will be played on weekends to allow younger players to play in the league next year while focusing on their education.

Heartbreak to End Homestand for the Bruins

Through the first 48 minutes of last night's game it looked like the Bruins were going to cap off their six game home stand with a big win over Battlefords, but after a third period collapse where they gave up four goals, the Bruins are now looking for answers thanks to a 5-3 loss to the Northstars.

The Bruins took advantage of Battlefords playing their third game in three nights as they took the play to them in the first 40 minutes. There was so much to like about the Bruins play in the first 40 minutes. They played a strong physical game as they took the body to a tough Northstars team. The Bruins created a lot of chances offensively, and defensively they did a solid job shutting down an offensively gifted Northstars team.

But in the final 12 minutes of the third period, the Bruins eased off mentally and that allowed the Northstars to come back and score 4 goals to pick up the win.

Yesterday's loss puts the Bruins in serious danger of falling into the Survivor Series with Notre Dame, the Bruins trail Yorkton by 6 points in the Sherwood Conference with 8 games remaining. The Bruins almost have to win out to catch the Terriers, since the Terrier's have a magic number of 5 of clinching a Top 3 spot. (thanks to Craig Stein for that stat)

Last night Bruin fans were reminded that this is a young team, that has a lot of skill, grit and the talent to be one of the best teams in the SJHL. The biggest challenge over these next 8 games is to buckle down mentally, not allowing mistakes to cost them. If the Bruins can correct their mental mistakes, there's no reason why they can't make a post season run in a tight Sherwood Conference, even if they have to go through the Survivor Series.

The Bruins are off until Thursday when they kick off a three game road trip in Kindersley and you can catch the game on CJ1280 beginning at 7:20.

Bruins Close Homestand Tonight

The Estevan Bruins have beaten every team in the SJHL at least once this season with the exception of the Battlefords Northstars. The Bruins get their chance to beat the Northstars tonight as they Battlefords at Spectra Place at 6:00.

The Bruins will be wrapping up their six game home stand this evening with the Bruins going 4-1 in the first five games of the home stand. The Bruins won their last game in dramatic fashion against the Nipawin Hawk, Calder Neufeld scored with less than a minute remaining before Dylan Smith ended the game in overtime.

Neufeld said after the game on Friday that Battlefords would be a tough matchup for the Bruins, so they had to take advantage of the home ice and play a physical game and take advantage that the Northstars are playing their third game in three nights.

Tyler Ross picked up his fourth straight win for the Bruins, Steven Glass made his return to the Bruins lineup on Friday night as was the back up for the Bruins against Nipawin. Tonight's game will be the first time Zach MacLellan will get a crack against his old team. Opening faceoff is 6:00

Bruins Beat Hawks 3-2 In OT

The CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins had to pull out some dramatic flare on their way to picking up a 3-2 overtime win over the Nipawin Hawks extending their winning streak to four games. 

Both the Bruins and Hawks battled to a scoreless first period, there were plenty of penalties in the first period as the Bruins had four power plays while the Hawks had a pair of their own but neither team could take advantage of it. 

In the second period the Hawks would get on the scoreboard when Wheaton King’s pass went off a Bruin skater past Tyler Ross and gave the Hawks the early lead.  The Bruins got a bounce back as Tyler Poskus shot that went along the boards took a funny bounce to the front of the net and Calder Neufeld scored to tie the game. Darius Cole would score before the end of the period to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead.

In the third period there was no scoring until a minute remaining when the Bruins pulled their extra attacker and Neufeld scored to tie the game at 2-2 and sending it to overtime. 

In the extra frame, Zach MacLellan carried the puck in deep and put a shot on net, Dylan Smith took the rebound and scored his 33^rd goal of the season to make the final 3-2. Tyler Ross had 22 saves in the win.

The Bruins return to action tomorrow night when they host Battlefords at Spectra Place with an opening faceoff at 6:00.