For the second straight year, the Estevan Bruins will face the Melfort Mustangs in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoffs.
The Mustangs defeated the Bruins in six games in a semifinal series in last year’s postseason. This time the two teams will play in the quarter-final round.
It’s a matchup between two of the better organizations in the league in recent years. The Mustangs won back-to-back league titles in 2015 and 2016, and returned to the final last season.
The Bruins, meanwhile, have been in the league semifinal the past three seasons, and were in the league final in 2018.
Games 1 and 2 will be played March 6 and 7, respectively, in Melfort. Games 3 and 4 happen March 10 and 11, respectively, in Estevan. Game 5, if necessary, would be March 13 in Melfort, followed by Game 6 March 15 in Estevan and Game 7 March 17 in Melfort.
Here’s a look at what you need to know:
The regular season:
The Mustangs are the third-seeded team with a 32-17-6-3 record, and 73 points. They went 8-1-1 down the stretch, and won their final three games to gain the third seed.
The Bruins, meanwhile, finished sixth overall during the regular season with a 31-23-3-1 record and 66 points. They were near the bottom of the league standings at the Christmas break, but had the best post-Christmas mark in the league at 18-6-1, and rattled off a trio of five-game winning streaks.
Estevan finished tied for fourth in the league in goals for at 211, and averaged about 4 1/2 goals per game after Christmas. Melfort was eighth with 182 goals.
The Mustangs were second in the league in goals against with 152, just two more than the Battlefords North Stars, while the Bruins were tied for fifth with 192 goals against.
Melfort was third in goal differential at plus-30, while the Bruins were fourth at plus-19.
The two teams split their meetings during the regular season. Melfort won a 5-4 entertaining game in October, but the Bruins won 3-1 in December. Both games were played before Christmas.
Estevan defeated the Mustangs 3-2 in overtime in early February, but the Mustangs won 9-2 later that month.
The goalies:
The series will be a matchup between two of the top goalies in the league. Shawn Parkinson went 25-12-5-1 this season with a 2.36 goals against average, a .919 save percentage and a league-leading five shutouts. He posted four shutouts in his final five games.
Keenan Rancier of the Bruins had a 25-19-3-1 record, a 2.91 goals against average and a .912 save percentage with two shutouts. He also led the league with 48 games played and 2,738 minutes played.
Rancier and Parkinson tied for the league lead in wins with 25.
Bruins back-up goaltender Randy Cooke, meanwhile, won his final six starts of the season.
The skaters:
Both teams will rely on a balanced attack.
The Bruins are led by team captain Jayden Davis of Alameda, a fourth-year forward who finished the season with 21 goals and 58 points in 58 games played to finish ninth overall in scoring. He was also named the league’s player of the month for February after he recorded a point in all 12 of the Bruins games, and finished with 18 points for the month.
The Black and Gold had five other forwards – Eddie Gallagher, Isaiah Thomas, Griffin Asham-Moroz, Tyler Savage and Tanner Manz – who finished with at least 40 points, and two defencemen, Kade McMillen and Devan Harrison, with at least 35 points. McMillen (eighth) and Harrison (10th) were among the top-10 scoring defencemen in the league.
Asham-Moroz was named the Viterra Division’s finalist for rookie of the year, while Harrison was the division’s candidate for top defenceman.
Brady Nicholas and Troy Hamilton also finished among the top 10 rookie scorers in the league.
As for the Mustangs, they don’t have quite the Bruins firepower or depth up front, but they do have some players who can score. Kenzie Arnold led the team in scoring with 22 goals and 52 points in 55 games to finish 20th overall. The only other forward to spend the full season in Melfort and finish with 30 points was Josh Anderson, who had 12 goals and 31 points in 50 games.
They also have two of the top 10 scoring defencemen in the league in Alex Rondeau (13-28-41) and Nolan Kadachuk (6-35-41), who finished tied for fifth in points.
Among the other notables on the Mustangs are Kyle Bosch, who was acquired midseason from the Kindersley Klippers and finished with 13 goals and 41 points in 55 games; Austin Nault, who also came over from Kindersley and had 14 goals and 28 points in just 31 games, and Tian Rask, who had 12 goals and 28 points in just 26 games.
Lampman’s Colton Schell finished with nine goals and 27 points in 57 games played for the Mustangs this season.
Other notables: The Bruins have just four 20-year-olds: Jayden Davis, Tanner Manz, Tyson Manz and Tylor Ludwar. The Mustangs have nine – Parkinson, Rondeau, Kadachuk, Arnold, Anderson, Nault, Bosch, Rask and Tyson Meyers. Teams can dress up to eight 20-year-olds each night.
The Bruins are healthy entering the playoffs, but will be without defenceman Austin King-Cunningham, who has been suspended for seven game stemming from a hit on Feb. 28 in Weyburn. He missed the season finale Feb. 29, and will sit for the first six games of the series. King-Cunningham would be eligible to return for Game 7, if there is one.
