The CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins have been eliminated from the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) playoffs, which leaves the team with a 34-day break before the Crescent Point Energy Western Canada Cup (WCC) begins.
The Bruins lost 2-1 to the Nipawin Hawks in front of a roaring crowd of 1,435 spectators at Affinity Place on Sunday, giving the Hawks a 4-2 SJHL quarter-final series win. It won’t be until April 30 when the Bruins step onto the ice again for their first match in the WCC against the eventual British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) champion.
“It wouldn’t be fair to the rest of their team to say that (Hawks goaltender Kristian Stead) stole it, but he was certainly the difference,” said Bruins head coach and general manager Chris Lewgood. “You cannot go without giving credit to their top players and the depth of their lineup, but at the end of the day their goaltender was the best player in the series and was probably the difference.”
Game 6 between the Bruins and Hawks started with both teams giving their all in an effort to score the first goal. The first period was fast-paced, back-and-forth and featured both Stead and Bruins netminder Daniel Wapple making numerous highlight-reel saves. The Bruins held a 14-6 shot advantage after the first 20 minutes, but didn’t seem to be able to get in close on Stead to get second-opportunity chances.
“We put a lot of emphasis on making sure we keep them in front, keep them away from our net, make sure our box-outs are strong, (and) we’re tying up sticks and we’re not reaching for pucks and playing soft and allowing them to beat us one-on-one,” said Hawks assistant coach Devin Windle. “For the most part we did a very good job at that. At a few points during the series they got to our net front and were able to score from the point with deflections and screens and when we cleared that up that’s when we were successful and won our hockey games.”
The second period was close and tight checking with neither team able to generate any real scoring opportunities. The Hawks did get the first goal of the game 12:02 into the frame on a Jake Gerbner point shot that was deflected in front of Wapple’s net by Blake Fournier.
Wapple made the save of the game a little over five minutes into the third when he fired out the glove on a Chase Thudium shot from the slot that got the crowd back into the game after being lulled by Nipawin’s defensive play. The Hawks blocked lanes, kept the Bruins to the outside and cleared any pucks they were able to capture forcing Estevan to go without a shot on goal until eight minutes into the final frame.
The Hawks defence accomplished the same feat on a Bruins power play halfway through the third where the home side only managed two point shots on goal and 16 minutes in on another man advantage when Bruins defenceman Tyler King notched the best scoring chance on a shot from the blue line that was gloved down by Stead.
With Bruins captain Keegan Allison in the box for a cross-checking penalty and Wapple pulled, the Hawks’ Eric Bolden scored on the empty net to put the game out of reach. Bruins right-winger Braden Oleksyn beat Stead with 25.5 seconds remaining, but that was as close as they would get.
“If we didn’t have this one tonight it’s a real tough situation going back to our rink losing two straight,” said Windle, alluding to the Bruins 3-2 win at Nipawin’s Centennial Arena on Friday that forced a Game 6. “It was imperative for us to come down here and make sure we put the foot on the gas and we left it full bore all night long.”
Lewgood said the break before the WCC begins will give his guys time to heal, which is an advantage they’ll have over the competition. He said once the team does get healthy their focus will be getting right back to work.
“We got to take our practices to another level of intensity,” said Lewgood, “and somehow we’ll find a way to manage to be playing at the same level as the teams that get there the old-fashioned way.”
