If you've looked at the SJHL standings lately, you know that the Estevan Bruins have lost their grip on first place and are close to falling out of the top three in the Sherwood Conference.
Heading into last night's game in North Battleford, the Bruins had lost four straight games and six of their last nine since captain Josh Jelinski went down with a concussion in early November.
And it doesn't get any easier. Following this week's road trip that wraps up tonight in Humboldt, the Bruins will play seven of nine games in December on the road, including a trip to Flin Flon and Nipawin next weekend.
The Bruins have a respectable 6-7-1 road record this year, but they'll need to kick it up a notch to stay in the running for first place, especially since three of those road games are in Yorkton, Melville and Weyburn.
Getting some players back from injury would be a massive help. There is a noticeable difference in the Bruins without Jelinski and defenceman Connor Milligan.
Jelinski is the team's heart and soul, a player who sets the tone every night with his physical play and he also has some offensive ability. Milligan has been nothing but rock-solid since being acquired from Camrose last month and a team with a young back end misses his veteran presence dearly.
They are scouring the market for another veteran rearguard, but so far nothing suitable is out there.
Defenceman-turned-winger Eric Baldwin and rookie winger Matt Brykaliuk are also out, and you can add new defenceman Tyler Poskus to that list after he sustained a concussion on Saturday.
Earlier this month it sounded like Milligan and Brykaliuk might have been close to returning, but Bruins head coach Keith Cassidy said Friday that he doesn't expect to see any of the injured players any time soon. (The good news: Brykaliuk has been spending his time playing NHL 12 and is now ranked No. 1 in Canada and No. 7 in the world, or so he claims on Twitter.)
The Bruins are building toward the next two years, but they sure would take some success this season and the month of December could be make or break.
Josh Lewis can be reached by phone at 634-2654, by e-mail at sports@estevanmercury.ca, on Twitter at twitter.com/joshlewis306 or on his Bruins blog at bruinbanter.blogspot.com. It was great to see the B.C. Lions win the Grey Cup on home turf, but the best Canadian football game played on the weekend was the Vanier Cup on Friday. What a thriller.
