The process of determining their roster for the opening night of the SJHL regular season continues for the Estevan Bruins, with the team making some cuts after hosting a pre-season tournament at Affinity Place on the weekend.
The Weyburn Red Wings, Virden Oil Capitals (Manitoba Junior Hockey League) and Minot Minotauros (North American Hockey League) came to town for the mini-tournament, with the Bruins playing all three nights of the weekend.
The weekend got off to a rocky start for the Bruins, as they fell 6-3 to the Minotauros on Friday after allowing the first four goals.
Minot's goals came from Nick Monfils (2), Troy Degler, Jake Howie, Christian Mohs and Rasmus Sorgardt. Chris Thorimbert, Cody Durdle and Chaseton Sare replied for the Bruins.
It was a different story on Saturday night, as the Bruins clobbered Weyburn 7-2.
Recent addition Kurt Sonne led the club with two goals, while Adam Canepa, Mahlon Head, Keaton Longpre, Mason Benning and Richard Yusa added singles. Mike Eskra and Tucker Neuberger scored for the Wings.
In their final game of the tournament on Sunday, the Bruins fell 3-0 to the Oil Capitals. Cole Oliver, Jake Dudar and Dylan Thiessen powered Virden to victory.
Bruins head coach and general manager Chris Lewgood said the weekend was about making roster decisions, not wins.
"The process is more about evaluating guys as individuals, and what that is partially is evaluating how they play as members of a team. As far as that goes, it was a success in that we were able to make some decisions and the guys separated themselves a bit. We're further along in the process that way," he said.
"We're not going to spend too much time hanging our heads on the fact we lost two games and won one. The bottom line is Minot was further ahead in the process, they've been going for a month and a half now, and Virden had a lot more of a veteran lineup than we did (on Sunday). Our D corps was very veteran, but up front we only went with three veteran forwards. As far as the wins and losses, that's of little significance to us, but that's an opportunity to learn what you got here in camp. We had three good opponents over the weekend and I really thought this tournament worked out well."
Four players were cut at the conclusion of the weekend: 19-year-old goalie Bobby Palzer, 16-year-old forward Chaseton Sare, 19-year-old forward Keegan Hull and 18-year-old forward Braydon Delorme.
Palzer came from New Jersey to try out for the starter's job, but Lewgood said he didn't do enough to convince the coaching staff to steer away from Brett Lewchuk.
"The bottom line with Palzer is, as a '95 guy, he was going to have to set himself apart. I thought (18-year-old Tyler) Gutenberg was every bit as good as he was throughout camp and exhibition. I thought Lewchuk was ahead of him in the camp, and then in the games on the weekend, I thought Palzer had a solid game and Lewy maybe faltered a bit, but the bottom line was he was really going to have to set himself apart."
The team still has 20 forwards, but Lewgood said the picture is a little more clear now.
"There are some guys who identified themselves as obvious top six guys. Some guys came here with plans of being top six guys and just don't have the skill for it, and other guys, what you saw was character and grit and the ability to play a defensive, shutdown, grinding type game. After four games in five nights, you really see who's who and what they can bring to the table."
Lewgood added that some returning players are fighting for roster spots, while some have been pleasant surprises.
"Some of them are going to have to play better to make it into a spot on our team. Some of these young guys are going to push for some of their jobs. But as a whole, overall, we're really excited about some guys. Some guys are coming back ahead of where we thought they would be, and for the most part, guys are where we expected them to be at this point."
With two pre-season games left -- tonight at Notre Dame and Friday at Melville -- Lewgood said more cuts will come when they become apparent to the coaching staff.
"It'll play itself out. We're not sure. It's not set in stone. It's not something that necessarily we have timelines on. We'd like to be down to 25 for opening night, but we've got decisions to make, and we're not going to rush them."
