The CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins want to win the first game of their SJHL playoff series against the Nipawin Hawks this Friday at the Centennial Arena and that starts with having a winning attitude heading in.
“If we win the first one we know we can go into the second one and win that one too,” said Bruins captain Keegan Allison. “It definitely just starts with coming out hard with a (good) work ethic and a (strong defensive) zone and forechecking. It’s little things like that, especially in the first game, until we get in our groove a bit for the rest of the series.”
The Bruins (35-20-0-3 and the fifth seed in the SJHL) will play Friday and Saturday in Nipawin against the Hawks (36-17-3-2 and the fourth seed) before heading home for the third and fourth games of the seven-game series on Tuesday and Wednesday. If necessary, games five, six and seven will go March 25 at Nipawin, March 27 in Estevan and March 29 at Nipawin.
“We’re playing pretty good hockey here right now,” said Hawks head coach and general manager Doug Johnson, noting his team is in a good spot health-wise heading into the playoffs. “There is always things we want to improve on and get better at, but you look at our last 20 games we have a pretty strong record, one of the top three records in the league in the last 20. So we like how we’re playing, we like where we’re at (and) you just know it’s going to be a battle this first round.”
The Bruins went 3-1 against the Hawks during the regular season, winning 5-3 Nov. 13 at home, 5-4 Nov. 27 at Nipawin, losing 7-1 Dec. 6 on the road, and finally earning a 5-3 victory at home Feb. 13.
“Every time we play them the games get pretty heated,” noted Allison, who notched one goal and three assists this season against the Hawks. “Last time we played them we had a big comeback and I know they'll be thinking about that.”
Chris Lewgood, head coach and general manager of the Bruins, said the team enjoyed a few light days of practice last week after wrapping up their regular season with a home win over the Notre Dame Hounds March 8 before taking this past weekend off for rest and recuperation. He said the intensity picked up in practice on Monday as they try to get ready for Nipawin’s physical working-class game.
“They’re a defensive minded team that tries to take away your time and space and they scrap and claw and they have some offensive upside, so they’re a little bit of everything,” said Lewgood about the Hawks. “They’re basically a real hard to play against type-team and we need to make sure that we’re on point as far as positional play and match or exceed their work ethic.”
Johnson said there is no substitute for experience and they plan on using it to their advantage skipping the survivor series the past few years and having 10 returning players from last year’s squad that made it to the SJHL semifinals. He said they’ve played in the meaningful games, the double-overtime games, and have ridden the highs and lows of a playoff drive, so their focus in practice before the series begins is on the little details that help make the bigger picture clearer.
“It’s going to start with puck protection,” he said. “It’s going to start with focusing on the defence and always work ethic.”
Allison said the Nipawin Centennial Arena is similar to Estevan’s Civic Auditorium as it’s smaller and older than the normal rink they practice in at Affinity Place giving the Hawks an advantage. He said it’s tough to play in, but they still beat them 3-1 in the four games they played this season making for an interesting first-round series.
“It’s always more of a tight-checking game against them,” said Allison. It’s “harder to score goals, especially in their rink because it’s super small, but it’ll be a good match-up.”
