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Memories of Bruins last SJHL championship coming back

April 1999 was a different era for the city of Estevan. Defying provincial legislation, the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses refused to go back to work in a prolonged labour dispute.
Broons
The Bruins on the front page of the April, 14, 1999 edition of the Estevan Mercury.

April 1999 was a different era for the city of Estevan.

Defying provincial legislation, the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses refused to go back to work in a prolonged labour dispute. (The Saskatchewan government took out a full page ad explaining their side of the dispute). Mayor John Len worse a Bruins jersey to a city council meeting. A one or two-bedroom apartment in the city could rented for $485 a month.

The Orpheum Theatre was welcoming Robert DeNiro’s Analyze This and Matthew McConaughey’s EDtv on their screens. And on approved credit, $298 a month would get you a brand, shiny new Chrysler Intrepid. 

But by anyone’s account, Estevan’s Civic Auditorium was a madhouse in 1999 and was absolutely the place to be.

“It doesn’t seem like that long ago at all,” said one of that team's defencemen, Brant Kersey. “A lot of things have happened in my life since then.”

The Bruins were playing the league’s final series, called the MemberCare Cup at that time, against the Humboldt Broncos.

“We were a really confident bunch,” said Kersey. “I see a lot of that right now, where they’re out there and playing with confidence, playing a straightforward game and not trying to do too much, but not afraid to try things. We were confident in a different way. We were pretty confident in our team toughness and our team defence. We had an unbelievable goalie and a lot like how Bo (Didur) was playing up until the game he got hurt. Our goalie (Dave Guerrera) was playing the same way. It’s unbelieveable how much that gave the team confidence going forward.”

The Broncos skated into town with all the credentials a leading contender for a finalist should have – a 52-goal scorer in Aaron Phillips, a captain with Western Hockey League experience with the Saskatoon Blades in Sheldon Nedjelski and four year WHL goaltender Mike Whitney.

The Bruins had the most regular season points of any team in the SJHL that year with a 44-14-8 record and won the south division as Humboldt finished third in the north.

Kersey, Marco Cefalo, Willy Mason, Prestin Ryan and the Bruins were too much for the Broncos and they won 5-2 and 4-3 on home ice in front of a packed Civic.

“At the Civic, the crowd was right on top of you at all times,” Kersey said. “We had the low glass with just a little bit of tall glass at the end. But the atmosphere was very different with the proximity of the fans to the players. The electricity was the same.”

After a 4-3 win in Humboldt the Bruins won 9-3 in a no-doubter to sweep the series and clinch the banner that now hangs in the east end of Affinity Place.

That 1999 team was also breaking a long slump from having won the league. It had been 14 years since Estevan had won an SJHL title and seven years since they’d even made it to the final.

Kersey was happy to see fans coming out and supporting the team, as he and his family did for Games 3 and 4 of the Battlefords’ series.

“Not too often do you get to see a group of talented young men play like this,” Kersey said. “They’re really, really givin’ ‘er. They’re giving their all for the community and for each other and the coaching staff and it’s really special to see.”