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Bruins Gerry Aspen Cup goes down to the last minute

Although the Power Dodge Estevan Bruins tried their hardest with a late flurry of shots towards the net, the Bruins ended up being victorious in the annual Gerry Aspen Cup Saturday night at Affinity Place.
Aspen Cup
Tom Sweeney of Team Black goes into the corner against Aigne McGeady-Bruce of Team Gold in Saturday’s Gerry Aspen Cup match.

Although the Power Dodge Estevan Bruins tried their hardest with a late flurry of shots towards the net, the Bruins ended up being victorious in the annual Gerry Aspen Cup Saturday night at Affinity Place.

The Bruins won and lost in their annual intersquad game, which takes place at the end of training camp, with the black Bruins beating the gold Bruins 3-2.

Johnny Witzke, a defenceman who is likely to be one of the team’s leaders once the regular season starts in a week and a half, had been riding a two game winning streak from being on the winning team, but he fell on the short end of the stick this year.

“This is the future of our team and they’re just looking for guys willing to compete and play against each other,” said Witzke. “If you’re going to get hit maybe you’ll give it back to him later in the shift. You’re just looking for a hard compete (level) and anything it takes to try and make the team. I thought it was a good game (Saturday) and everyone battled.”

Witzke scored a dandy wristshot for team gold for the lone power play goal, evening the score at 6:06 of the third period. Mason Strutt scored his second of the game for team black only 29 seconds later and despite gold’s efforts with the goaltender pulled, the score stayed the same until the final buzzer.

The teams were made of a mix of veterans and the young, sometimes on the ice at the same time. Witzke, 20, caught 2018 Bruins bantam draft pick Turner McMillen, 15, with a clean open ice hit and tapped him on the leg after he got up as if to say ‘sorry’.

“It was a high compete and skill today and honestly you couldn’t tell who was a 20-year-old or a 16-year-old at times,” Witzke said.

Strutt, meanwhile was trying to make the Bruins even with the possibility of another year of AAA midget in Swift Current possible. 

“In a game like this with another year of midget left the main thing I’m trying to do is get my foot in the door, and get as many options as possible, and just try and showcase me speed, my shot and what I can do” said Strutt.

The other goals of the game were scored by Ryder Pierson for gold and Jerzy Martin for black.

The team will now have to get conditioned for the regular season and will be doing that in the next week and a half.  After Monday’s pre-season game at Notre Dame, the Bruins will play at the Weyburn Red Wings Friday and then home to Weyburn Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Affinity Place. They close out the regular season with a game Sept. 10 against Minot of the NAHL. 

“You have to take every practice serious coming up here and treat every game like it’s going to be a regular season game,” Witzke said. “Every single game matters this year. After coming so close last year we want to get better every single day and be at the level we were at last season and try to close. We were one game away last year and it leaves a sour taste in our mouths.