Power Dodge Estevan Bruins forward Turner Ripplinger’s wrist shot from the slot begs for attention, and that’s what he got after scoring a hat trick against the Yorkton Terriers in a 9-2 Bruins victory at Affinity Place.
Ripplinger now has five goals on the season as he helped the Bruins win a game that got away on the Terriers early. He picked up a pair of assists in the game also as the Bruins lit up the Terriers’ goaltending combination of Ben Laidlaw and Ryan Ouellette.
“It was just one of those nights where I felt like everything was going in,” said Ripplinger after the game, sporting the yellow hard hat that goes to the player of the game in the dressing room. “I’m not struggling or gripping the stick too tight. It just felt like I was hitting my shots and picking my spots at the right time.”
Bruins head coach and general manager Chris Lewgood felt the team was successful after a combination of hard work and good bounces, leading to a very successful start to their season.
“Relatively speaking we’re very happy,” Lewgood said. “Obviously 3-0 in divisional games is huge. Those are big swings. That’s 12 points in a swing scenario. The games at the beginning of a season are as important as those at the end of the season… For us to come out with three wins is obviously satisfying.
Ripplinger scored a pair to open the scoring at 9:46 and 10:52 of the first period, the first of which on the power play, and Jack Michell’s tally at 12:20 of the first chased Ouellette from the net.
“I think our power play’s been going really well to start the season,” Ripplinger said. “We’ve been working on it pretty much every game. I know we had a good one last year and Chris has done a good job at that and it really gets us going.”
“He brings a little bit of everything to the table,” said Lewgood of Ripplinger. “He’s got grit and he’s a great leader and he’s got that offensive touch that if he’s playing well and feeling it he’s going to get some points.”
While the Terriers scored a pair in the game and were fairly close through 40 minutes, they never really seemed close enough to make the game their own.
Johnny Witzke, TJ Irey, Michael McChesney, Jerzy Martin and Isaiah Thomas scored for the Bruins in the game. Irey now leads the SJHL in scoring with 10 points in three games, with Ripplinger second and Witzke in a tie for third.
With a 3-0 start to the season in their back pockets, the Bruins will now practise their systems between now and their next game, which will be against the Kindersley Klippers Monday in Warman at the SJHL showcase.
“We’ve got a break coming up here so we’ve just got to stay sharp and I think we’ve been doing something right since we’re 3-0 here,” said Ripplinger. “I think over the week we’ve got to stay sharp and stay battling because we’ve got a big week.”
Lewgood said they’ll take the opportunity to get the players better familiarized in their systems before the trip.
“We’ll just take the opportunity while we don’t have to prepare for a specific team for a bit and use it to get better as a team and focus on the Estevan Bruins,” Lewgood said.
They will face the Humboldt Broncos Tuesday at Warman. Their next home game is Oct. 6 against the Broncos.
