The Estevan Bruins season didn’t open as they had hoped.
The Bruins were defeated 2-0 by the Weyburn Red Wings Friday night in Weyburn in the opening night of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) regular season.
Estevan carried the play early on in the game, and had chances to score, but couldn’t beat Weyburn goaltender Aaron De Kok. Weyburn opened the scoring with 3:57 to play in the first on a power play goal by Braden Birnie.
The Bruins had some of their best chances to score in the first half of the third, most notably when Tyler Savage hit the post and crossbar with a shot during a power play about six minutes into the final frame.
Ben Hiltz put the game away for Weyburn when he scored into an empty net with a minute remaining.
De Kok stopped 30 shots to get the shutout in his first start in the SJHL.
Keenan Rancier made 22 saves in his first start with the Bruins.
“He was very good for us. He made a lot of big saves,” said Bruins head coach and general manager Chris Lewgood. “The one that they did score wasn’t on him, they went back and forth, east-west twice on him, and it was a penalty killing issue and not a goaltending issue.”
Forward Isaiah Thomas, who was named one of the Bruins alternate captains before the game, said they had a lot of chances to score, but couldn’t convert.
“We have to be better at bearing down,” he said. “Not every goal is going to be pretty, so we have to get better at putting the greasy ones in the net.”
But he also pointed out that a lot of their chances were from the perimeter areas of the ice.
“We didn’t get many Grade A scoring opportunities. It looked like he played well tonight, but we have to get better shots, and we have to get better scoring opportunities.”
It’s early in the season, and Thomas is excited to see what the Bruins will accomplish.
Not only was it De Kok’s first game in the SJHL, it was the first time the Bruins had seen a lot of Weyburn’s players, as only five Wings are back from last year’s team.
They also have a new head coach in former NHL defenceman Rich Pilon.
“Any time you have a team with a new head coach, there’s not a lot of pre-scouting,” said Lewgood. “You don’t really have an idea of what they’re going to run for systems, and you could see it on their first power play goal. We didn’t know what to expect from their power play.”
Lewgood said Weyburn’s goalie made some big saves, but he thought the Bruins weren’t strong in front of the net, which limited their ability to get second and third chances.
The Bruins were scheduled to play their home opener Tuesday night against the Yorkton Terriers. (Results were not available at press time). Be sure to visit www.estevanmercury.ca, or watch this week’s edition of Southeast Lifestyles, for more on the game.
Up next for the Bruins will be their first northern road trip of the season. They will visit the Kindersley Klippers on Sept. 20 and the Battlefords North Stars the following night.
Then they will play in the SJHL Showcase, with games against the Humboldt Broncos on Monday afternoon and the Klippers on Tuesday.
Lewgood said they will be rotating players in and out of the lineup in the coming games until they find the right mix.
