What We Know and What We Need to Find Out About the Estevan Bruins

It's hard to believe but the season kicks off for the Estevan Bruins on Saturday against the Melville Millionaires. With the Bruins holding their final preseason game tonight against Notre Dame, I thought I would take a look at the things we know about the Bruins and what we need to find out.

Forwards

What we Know: If they handed out a preseason MVP, the Bruins recipient would likely be Calder Neufeld. Neufy has been lighting up the lamp since the beginning of training camp leading the team with 4 goals. Neufeld will likely start the season on a line with Dylan Smith and Cole Olson. Chris Daniels has been impressive this camp, spending more time playing centre, as he's looking to improve on a disappointing season last year. Matt Dochylo is another 20 year old who's been having a good camp. The rookies have been a key part to the Bruins success in the preseason especially the line of Matt Brykaliuk, Tanner Froese and Jesse Bernard. Taylor Reich and Ben Johnstone have also had been impressive and are likely going to make the team.

What we need to find out: A couple of players who have been limited due to injuries have been Derek Whitehill and Ryan Ostertag, but both should be back soon, possibly in time for Saturday's opener. A couple of the forward lines need to be settled, as well over the next couple days Keith Cassidy will have to decide how many forwards he's going to keep.

Defence:

What We Know: Dominic Perrault will be seeing plenty of ice this season, Perrault will be counted on to provide offence and defence along the blue line, and will be looked as the number one defenceman. Eric Baldwin keeps getting better and better, it's only a matter of time before he scores his first goal in the SJHL. Rookies, Tyler Kauk and Austin Yano have been everything as advertised, with Dallas Jorgensen, Denin Boesch, Lyndon Soper and Jeff Bartel round out the group.

What We Need to Know: At this point besides the defensive pairings, the only thing Cassidy has to decide is if he's going to keep 7 or 8 d-men.

Goalie:
What We Know: The Bruins have a good problem between the pipes, Shea Cooper, Derek Tendler and Steven Glass have all made cases to crack the squad. With Cooper suffering a leg injury, it allows for Cassidy to keep all 3 for the time being.

What We Need to Find Out: Who are the Bruins going to keep? It seems like the Bruins can't go wrong with any combination. With the Bruins only playing 5 games over 2 weeks, it might be until October before we find out which goalies the Bruins keep.