The losses continue to pile up for the CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins. So do the injuries.
The Bruins lost all four of their games last week, two of them being blowouts and the other two coming in shootouts.
The club (3-7-3) was hammered 9-0 by the Flin Flon Bombers on Oct. 15, then embarked on a three-game weekend road trip that was a bit more encouraging, but didn't provide much in the way of results.
The Bruins lost 4-3 in a shootout to the Humboldt Broncos on Friday, then suffered a 9-2 pounding at the hands of the Battlefords North Stars. They closed out the weekend with a 3-2 shootout loss to the Kindersley Klippers on Sunday.
The Bruins continued a swing of five road games in six nights on Tuesday against the Notre Dame Hounds. They will finish it tonight against the Melville Millionaires before getting an eight-day break.
"The reaction is the most important part. Whether you lose a game by 10 goals or one goal, it still counts for one loss," Bruins head coach Chris Lewgood said of the losing streak. "For me, the important part is the reaction of the guys. We're in a stage right now where we need to make sure we keep our heads above water and see the light at the end of the tunnel. There are a lot of positives to recognize."
With six forwards, captain Nolan Nicholas and starting goalie Brett Lewchuk currently injured, Lewgood said it will take some time before the Bruins get to where they want to be.
"I think time is going to help, first and foremost. We don't look at it as a complete overhaul, necessarily. We need to tweak the lineup a little bit. I need to make some changes. It's going to take some time. We're fairly confident with our core. It's just a matter of staying the course and battling some of this adversity."
Lewchuk took a puck off the knee in warmup before an Oct. 10 game against Weyburn. While Lewgood originally said the goalie was healthy, he is indeed injured. Lewgood said he can tolerate the pain, but the swelling in the knee prevents him from making certain movements. He is about a week away from being able to play.
In order to help backup Tyler Gutenberg carry the load, the Bruins acquired 18-year-old goalie Brandon Holtby from the Broncos on Saturday for future considerations.
Holtby started against the North Stars, but allowed four goals on 16 shots in the first period and was pulled.
"He's a young goaltender, a lot like Gutenberg, where the game doesn't come as easy for the guys that are new to it. We didn't play well enough in front of him," Lewgood said.
"We traded for his SJHL rights as a stopgap in our process. We felt it was unfair for Gutenberg to shoulder the load, as he has, for a first-year guy. It's going to be a little bit before we get Lewchuk back. We needed to find an opportunity to provide Gutenberg with a support system."
Nicholas is day-to-day with a shoulder injury.
The injured forwards include Taylor Ross (ankle, one to two weeks), Patrick Lyster (one week), R.T. Rice (abdominal, one week), Keaton Longpre (one week), Brad Arabia (one week), and Lynnden Pastachak (knee, day-to-day).
Pastachak was injured on his first shift in Saturday's game.
"Sunday was one of our leanest lineups we've had all year, as far as missing veteran players and key components. I'm really proud of the effort on Sunday. It might have been one of our most complete efforts of the season. Their power play got one late in the game and we don't compete real well right now in the shootout," Lewgood said.
Landon Gross opened the scoring for the Klippers on Sunday late in the first period.
The Bruins grabbed the lead in the second, beginning on a goal by Brandon Schaber three minutes in. Schaber was playing as a forward due to the injuries.
Kurt Sonne pulled Estevan ahead at the 13:25 mark on a power play.
With seven minutes left, Devin Case nabbed a power play goal to tie the game.
Gross and Stefen Seel both scored in the shootout for Kindersley.
The shots on goal were 39-27 for the Klippers.
On Saturday, the North Stars got two goals from Brenden Heinrich and singles from Robin Yew and Connor Vermeulen in the first period.
Matthew Saharchuk made it 5-0 early in the second.
The Bruins clawed to within three goals shortly afterward, as Jason Duret and Keegan Allison scored less than three minutes apart.
Kendall Fransoo made it 6-2 later in the period, and the Stars got tallies from Saharchuk, Jackson Bond and Reed Delainey in the third.
Shots on goal were 47-25 for the hosts.
"We couldn't generate much. Battlefords is a real good team, but we didn't push back hard enough. We changed our game plan a little bit based on our lineup and the adversity we're facing, but I didn't think we had the buy-in required to compete and face a team like Battlefords," Lewgood said.
"They scored a goal on every (fifth) shot. That's a problem to start with. When you start chasing the game and playing desperate, you open yourself up for further adversity."
On Friday, the Bruins jumped out to a 2-0 lead, as Sonne scored late in the first period and Duret added to the lead less than two minutes into the second.
The score remained that way until the third period, when Dylan Fluter and Thomas Stanislavski scored four minutes apart early in the frame to tie it up.
Allison put the Bruins on top again with 3:35 to play, but the Broncos replied quickly, as Michael Korol beat Gutenberg with 1:17 left in regulation.
Corey Dambrauskas scored the shootout winner for Humboldt.
"Friday night was a tough one. We played really well throughout the night and it was a fairly evenly matched game. We created a lot of opportunities for ourselves, carried the lead for most of the night and couldn't stave them off in the end," Lewgood said.
He added the team didn't bounce back from the Flin Flon loss the way he had hoped.
"Not really. I'd say we're in a funk right now and a bit of a tough spot. I would say we had two acceptable performances and one unacceptable one. As a result, we came up short of our goals for the weekend."
Although the Bruins have allowed the most goals in the SJHL by a wide margin at 52, Lewgood said he believes that "doesn't factor into anything," adding it's accounted for by three bad games.
Following the blowout loss to Flin Flon, Lewgood said it was not an acceptable effort in front of the home crowd.
"I'm not sure that we'll be able to erase this one (from our memory). It's one that we have to learn from. We cannot let this happen again. The people pay their hard-earned money to come watch us play and we've let them down two out of (the last) three games here at home. I don't believe we're a lazy team. I don't believe we lack work ethic and courage, or pride, but I'd have a tough time convincing some of the people who came to watch tonight."
Alex Smith led the Bombers with three goals and three assists, while Chris Rauckman scored twice and Dustin Perrilat, Rob Cameron, Tanner Lishchynsky and Lance Yaremchuk added singles.
The Bombers led only 1-0 after the first period, but added four goals in the second and four more in the third.
The final shots were 40-33 for Flin Flon.
"We didn't work hard enough. We didn't backcheck. We didn't hold ourselves accountable as individuals. And we were undisciplined. The frustration of the way things were going, it just snowballs when that happens. It was the same against Melfort (in a 6-1 loss on Oct. 7). The score looks so much drastically worse than it really was because of the snowball effect. You get frustrated, you take penalties and a team like this is going to be lethal on the power play," Lewgood said.
Fireworks erupted in the third period with the game out of hand, with three fights breaking out.
Patrick Lyster fought Evan Akkerman, Darcy DeRoose fought Michael Knaub and Lynnden Pastachak fought Austin Evans.
Lewgood said he wasn't impressed with the call on the one-sided Knaub-DeRoose fight.
"I'm a little disappointed that it takes that long to show the fire that it does. I was disappointed in the call and I thought DeRoose should have remained in the game. He was clearly jumped from behind. The guy was throwing punches before DeRoose knew what was going on and the referees I think missed that. We should've had an extended power play there instead of what we had."
He added that despite the team's lengthy list of walking wounded, the team cannot make excuses for the lack of success.
"We need to be better. We can talk about the injuries and the guys that are not in the lineup, but the guys that are in the lineup need to be accountable. That's the 20 players playing, that's the coaching staff, that's all of us. What I mean by that is we need to learn to be better and not make excuses. All of us. We can look for help elsewhere, but I don't think that's the answer. I think the guys that were here tonight are fully capable and we just gotta make sure it happens."
