After 14 years of waiting, the Estevan Bruins will be meeting their Highway 39 rivals the Weyburn Red Wings in the postseason. Heading into tonight's game the Bruins will get Eric Baldwin back into the lineup, while Matthew Dochylo is still sidelined with a neck injury. The Bruins and Red Wings are well acquainted with each other as they have faced each other 8 times already this season, Weyburn won the season series 5-3. Here's a quick look on the two teams and how they matchup against each other.
Goalies
Steven Glass maybe an 18 year old rookie but he has been playing like a seasoned veteran for the Bruins since returning from his knee injury. Glass was the best player in the Survivor Series with a 2.58 GAA and a 927 Save PCT. The future is very bright for Glass, but he's turning the future into the present with his strong play this post season.
Mitch Kligore is among the best goalies in the SJHL, he lead the league in wins and had a 906 Save PCT with a 2.90 GAA. Kilgore is a workhorse of a goalie and has plenty of experience of being with the Red Wings last season and watching from the sidelines a couple of years ago.
Defencemen
The Bruins blue line has grown a lot since the opening weekend in September, and they will need to turn in a big series against the Red Wings if they would like to advance. At times this postseason Tyler Kauk and Dominic Perrault have been paired together and the pairing gives the Bruins two d-men who are nasty inside of their zone and can rush the puck from the own end into the other teams zone. I think Kauk and Perrault will be seeing a lot of the Ross-Bruce-Sanderson this series. Connor Milligan and Zach MacLellan have been solid additions to the Bruins sqaud and have added a veteran presence on a young blueline and will probably see some minutes against the Wings top lines. Austin Yano is one of the best offensive d-men in the SJHL and Tyler Poskus has quietly put together a solid season for the Bruins and could possibly be the Bruins biggest surprise this season.
There's plenty of depth on the blueline for the Red Wings featuring Ryan Whitell who will provide offensive punch from the point. Carter Struthers, Tyler Borstmayer, Braden Kmita and Jens Johnson will be solid at both ends of the ice. Weyburn loves to utilize the long pass from the own end to the other team's blue line and it all starts with their d-men.
Forwards
There's plenty of depth on both teams up front. For the Bruins they will be relying on the Josh Jelinski- Tyler Paslawski- Derek Whitehill line at both ends of the ice. Dochylo would be skating with this line if he was healthy but Whitehill fits right in as a replacement. This line will likely be matched up with the Red Wings top line if the Bruins have their way. The Olson-Neufeld-Smith line will be counted on to provide plenty of offense this series both at even strength and on the powerplay. It seems like when the Bruins get goals from Matt Brykaliuk, Tanner Froese, Michael Hengen and Ben Johnstone they always win, and while Eric Baldwin likely won't be a factor on the scoresheet, he's a team player who's going to bring a lot of energy to the Bruins.
The Red Wings are lead by their top line of Jesse Ross- Keegan Bruce and Coltyn Sanderson. Ross lead the league in points and was named the player of the year this week. If the Bruins want to beat the Red Wings in the series they will need to limit the scoring from Weyburn's line. The Red Wings depth up front has been a surprise this season with guys like Miguel Pereria, Jack Kennelly and acquisitions of Jordan Hoffman and former Bruin prospect Kyle Oleniuk all can put the puck in the net at a steady pace.
Full coverage of the series begins tonight on CJ1280 and discoverestevan.com beginning at 7:15 from the CPP in Weyburn.
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