The 2015-16 Saskatchewan Junior A Hockey League season is one big step closer to fruition after the CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins hit the ice at their annual fall camp at Affinity Place on the weekend.
Keegan Allison, the Bruins leading scorer last season with 20 goals and 47 points, said he’s happy the strenuous Aug. 28 to 30 camp that was marked by endurance challenging games and conditioning tests is over and the team can now focus on practice and getting ready for regular season games. He said heading into camp the expectation was the team would gel quickly, due to the many returning players, and also showcase more offence, after the off-season acquisitions of point-per-game players Owen LaClare, Darcy DeRoose and Braden Oleksyn, and that began to prove itself at camp.
“What we were lacking last year was scoring and with those three new guys that’s going to help,” said Allison. “Then I think our backend will come together pretty nice and our goaltending is solid, so it’s going to be exciting.”
Bruins coach and general manager Chris Lewgood said between 40 and 50 skaters participated in camp and the coaching staff got what they expected from the recruits. He said the decision to go with a small camp enabled them to focus in on guys they knew and get an idea on where they would fit in and it is a testament to their scouting staff in that is exactly what shook down.
Lewgood noted the three-day camp that featured fitness testing and practice on the first day, a three-game scrimmage of three teams formed among the players on the second and the annual Black and Gold Game for the Gerry Aspen Cup on the final day gave the players on the outside of this season’s expected roster an opportunity to carve out a place for themselves as a Bruin in the future.
“The other side of it is although we were very confident with our returning players, every spot was really up for grabs,” he said. “We focused on bringing in guys who we thought could compete for spots and over the course of the summer we replaced some veteran players with young guys to come in and compete for veteran player’s jobs. There wasn’t really a need to add players. It was more bringing in players to compete for existing jobs.”
Ryan Duret, who is entering his second full year as a Bruins’ centre, lit up the scoreboard on the final day of camp by leading Team Black to the 9-2 victory over Team Gold. Duret scored one goal and added two assists while displaying a hard-nosed style of play in the game against fellow teammates.
“In a way you don’t want to hurt your friends, but at the same time everybody is trying to get a spot here,” said Duret. “We have lots of new guys here and it’s going to be a deep team, so everybody is fighting for a spot. You got to do what you got to do to make the team.”
DeRoose found himself on the receiving end of the beating by Team Black and enjoyed everything he saw on the ice during the game. He said the new guys to the Bruins, including himself even though he did play for Estevan last year before being shipped to the Kindersley Klippers in November, played very well and the nucleus guys did exactly what was expected of them.
“It would have been better to have a good game out of it, but there is not much you can do now except to get going and practising,” said DeRoose, who potted one of the Team Gold’s markers and picked up an assist on the other.
Lewgood said the team’s roster has now been pared down to 24 players, including forward Kaelan Holt who returned to Estevan on Monday after being a final cut of the Western Hockey League’s Swift Current Broncos, and more changes will be in the works over the course of the next few days, weeks and months. He said management will try to improve the team as much as they can throughout the year as they prepare to host the Western Canada Cup next spring, but the focus now is on getting ready for their first pre-season game.
“We’re just working on some tactical play in the morning and in the evenings we’re doing a little bit of conditioning and skill work,” said Lewgood. “We’re covering all the bases this week and then on Saturday we get into exhibition at Virden.”
