The Estevan Bruins had a hard enough task in front of them last week, with two games against Yorkton and one against Melville.
Then, after losing to the Bruins on Dec. 10, the Terriers went out and landed supreme talent Brett Boehm from Flin Flon, just in time for him to suit up in the rematch in Yorkton on Friday.
Though they lost in Melville on Sunday and still had La Ronge (last night) and Notre Dame (on Friday) to contend with, back-to-back wins against arguably the league's top team has to be a nice confidence boost heading into the break.
Did the Bruins set the SJHL on fire in the first half? No, but I don't think anyone expected them to.
Unlike last year, there are a lot of things to build on as the calendar flips.
For one, a winning record (pending last night's game). The Bruins occupy seventh place in the SJHL's overall standings, which, make no mistake, is not a mark to be satisfied with, but it's not necessarily a bad place to be heading into January.
Chris Lewgood said at the start of the year that he expected improvement throughout the season and was hopeful for the club to make some noise after Christmas.
The Bruins have battled the same things most teams do: inconsistency, injuries, and losing a key player to the WHL in Darcy DeRoose.
In the meantime, they've gotten strong goaltending from starter Matt Gibney and injured backup Brett Lewchuk, who was 3-0-1 with a .937 save percentage before going down with a broken thumb.
They've gotten lots of offence from first line wingers Austin Daae (19 goals, 36 points), who is second in league scoring, and Tanner Froese (32 points), who is fourth.
Recent acquisition Jason Duret has injected some energy into the team's attack, with six points in as many games, and Austin Roesslein (13 points) has also come on of late.
Still, scoring is an issue. With 84 goals, only three teams have scored less this year. They also need to cut down on the goals against a bit, as only three teams have allowed more.
Roesslein has been a real two-way force lately, and more secondary scoring from him would be welcomed. Keegan Allison has played extremely well the last little while and seems to be finding his offence.
Lynnden Pastachak's return after Christmas should also help. He was really finding his game before hurting his shoulder again and will add a big boost if he can pick up where he left off.
There is a big hill to climb, as the Bruins sit 10 points behind Melville and 11 behind Yorkton in the battle to earn a top-two spot in the Viterra Division.
Sure, you can say they'd be one point out of first place in the Sherwood, but they'd also be in third place in the tough Kramer Division.
Having wrapped up the season series against Yorkton already means the Bruins won't have those tough games down the stretch, but it also means there won't be any four-point games to help gain ground on them.
Against the Mils, meanwhile, the Bruins have split the season series so far and have two more games. Estevan has played them fairly well this year.
All eyes will be on Melville to see if the surprise team of the year, who a lot of people had pegged for last place, can keep it up over a full season.
Contact Josh Lewis at 306-634-2654 or sports@estevanmercury.ca. All right redblacks, you want your name in all caps? You'll get no caps at all in this corner. You did have a good draft though, redblacks, well done.
