It was a week to forget on the ice for the Power Dodge Estevan Bruins as a visit from the Kinderlsey Klippers ground the Bruins to an offensive halt.
They lost 2-1 to Kindersley (16-16-3-2) Saturday after a 3-2 win in Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League action Wednesday in overtime to the Klippers as the Bruins (23-14-3-1) battled an offensive malaise against the stifling defence.
“I thought we sort of fell into their game plan a little bit,” said Bruins head coach and general manager Chris Lewgood after Saturday’s loss. “They’re good at that… heavy hockey is the way I’ve been describing it tonight because it’s not a disrespect to them. It’s just the way they have to play and they do a good job of it. I thought we overcame it to an extent but weren’t able to solve their goaltender. At the same time we left a lot on the table.”
Kindersley weren’t able to pour much offense on Estevan goaltender Bo Didur and didn’t score until there were 25 seconds left on the clock in the second period – but the Bruins weren’t able to generate a lot of second chances or shots inside either.
“They’re a big team and play really well and collapse towards their net in the d zone,” said Bruins defenceman Jake Heerspink. “We’ve been having some trouble scoring goals lately and I think we need to work harder and gets pucks to the net and bear down that little extra to out it through.”
The Klippers went up 2-0 on a power play deflection in front of Didur at 9:34 of the third when the Bruins picked up the urgency and poured on the chances in the rest of the period. Only Arthur Miller’s power play goal at 17:34 of the third was able to dent the twine for the Bruins.
“It shouldn’t happen this way but with teenagers and young men sometimes the urgency isn’t there,” said Lewgood. “As the game gets older and older and we’re trailing behind that urgency builds naturally and you could see it later in the game where we’re doing things with a little more of that. At the end of the day, I thought we played pretty good (Saturday) but we weren’t good enough to win.”
Heerspink said that playing a team that has a bit of a messy style isn’t to the Bruins’ advantage.
“We’ve just got to find a way to get through that, calm the game down and play through it, and play the way we want to,” he said.
Off the ice, the team stayed mostly silent at the Jan. 10 trade deadline – only picking up a player to anticipate playing next year – but made more news as six members were chosen for the SJHL/MJHL Showcase. Heerspink was joined by Johnny Witzke, Hayden Guilderson, Kaelan Holt, Zach Goberis and Michael McChesney for the two day showcase in Regina.
“It’s a huge honour to be named to that team,” said Heerspink, who will be trying to earn a NCAA Division I scholarship through his play in the SJHL. “Sixty guys from the league get to go so obviously it’s exciting. It’s great that we’ve got six guys here and we’ve got a great group here. Honestly I thought there could be more of us going. We’ve got a lot of skill and a lot of talent…
“That showcase will be good for us. It’ll get some names out there and get some different eyes on us.”
All of those players were on Team Mitchell for the six-team event.
“Every single one of these guys deserves it,” said Lewgood. “I’d like to see a couple more of those guys there but there’s nobody on that list that doesn’t belong from the other teams. At the end of the day it’s going to be a couple of fun days for the guys and I hope they can show really well.
They were also pleased to welcome Ryder Pierson to the roster as an affiliate player for the team’s Wednesday game against the Klippers.
The Bruins also said what they believe will be a temporary goodbye to Austin King-Cunningham. The 17-year-old defenceman had been playing with the Bruins after getting sent here by the Vancouver Giants of the WHL in October, but the Giants traded his WHL rights to the Tri-City Americans. With injuries on their D, the Americans called him up on the weekend to play a couple of games as an affiliate player.
“It’s unebelievable to reaction of our guys when they found out he got the call,” said Lewgood. King-Cunningham had three assists and 106 penalty minutes in 17 games with the Bruins. “He’s so well-liked in our room, he fits in so well. The guys are just so pumped for him to get an opportunity.”
The Bruins’ next action will be this weekend against the Weyburn Red Wings (22-13-4-0) Friday at Affinity Place and Saturday at Weyburn. They then go on a lengthy road trip as the SaskTel Tankard takes over Affinity Place.
