Midget Bruins’ win over Fort marred by ugly hit
By Brad Brown
of The Mercury
The Fort Qu'Appelle Falcons knew they were in tough after Game 1 of their first-round midget A provincial hockey series with the Estevan Sherritt Coal Bruins.
What they couldn't have known was how difficult Game 2 of the two-game total-goals series was going to get.
Having lost four players to a variety of season-ending injuries, the Falcons arrived in Estevan for Monday's contest down 6-2 and with just nine skaters - two of them same-day call-ups from the Fort Qu'Appelle bantam ranks.
The result was predictable. The Falcons started strong before fatigue got the best of them in an 8-2 loss at the Civic Auditorium.
"These are tough circumstances so my guys, honestly, considering the score in the game, played a pretty remarkable game," said Falcons coach Darryn Brooks.
The Falcons' woes got worse - frighteningly so - with less than five minutes to play, when Bruins defenceman MacKenzie Selk left his feet and hit Fort Qu'Appelle forward Andrew Williams from behind into the boards.
Williams lay virtually motionless on the ice for several minutes before leaving the ice with the assistance of two teammates.
Selk was given a match penalty for intent to injure on the play.
"The part that really, really upset me was the reaction of the Estevan players and the Estevan coaches," said Brooks. "When I headed out on the ice it was a joke. They were laughing, they were smiling, the kid that did the penalty was in the penalty box with his helmet off.
"They're laughing and they're joking in the penalty box ... it was treated like a joke and, honestly, that's serious stuff."
Police arrived at the arena in the third period amidst reports of drunken fans and remained as players, coaches, and fans became embroiled in a number of heated exchanges after Selk's hit.
Williams was reported Tuesday morning to be quite sore but was not expected to suffer any lasting damage as a result of the hit.
"I don't know who that doctor was that ran down there, but I'm glad he did," said Brooks. "I've got my first aid but that was a little more than I wanted to handle ... so that was very reassuring to have him take charge."
The ensuing verbal jousting match between Brooks and Bruins assistant coach Craig Kickley ended with Brooks nearly kicking down the glass between the opposing benches. Kickley received a game misconduct for his role in the altercation.
After a lengthy delay that nearly saw the rest of the game cancelled, play resumed peacefully and the teams shook hands without incident after the game.
"I can't control what one player might do," said Estevan head coach Gary Earl. "I can only tell them, and I was all game, get away from that stuff. Stay away from it ... I'm kind of wishing nothing would have ever come about in the game like it did, but I thought the boys handled it pretty well."
Dallas Kickley and Brad Tomiski scored twice apiece for the Bruins, who also got goals from Selk, Cole Blischak, Cole Stevenson, and Torey McKellar despite being hit with 14 minor penalties in the game.
"We thought that we could outskate most any team anyways and that was our game plan, was to keep skating, skate hard, work the corners, and it paid off in the third period when we started scoring some more goals," said Earl.
The Bruins will face the winner of the Churchbridge-Weyburn series in the Saskatchewan Hockey Association's south semifinal.