Two home games, two shutouts. One good, one bad.
That’s what happened to the Estevan Canelson Bruins on their weekend home stand as they blanked the Nipawin Hawks 4-0 on Friday night then absorbed a 2-0 whitewash job delivered by the visiting Humboldt Broncos the next night.
“My frustration level right now is moderate,” said Bruin head coach and general manager Chris Lewgood as he flashed a wry smile and leaned back into his office chair a few minutes after the Saturday night hockey affair with the Humboldt visitors.
“On Friday, all 19 guys showed up ready to play and they did. Tonight, not so much,” he said.
Lewgood was willing to give better than a passing grade to Humboldt goaltender Ryan LaRochelle for his solid effort in stonewalling the Bruin attack, especially during a frenzied eight minute span late in the third period, as desperation finally found a home in the home team psyche.
“For a goaltender without that much experience there, he did a great job, 31 saves and not a lot of rebounds,” said Lewgood, referring to the fact this was just the fourth start for the Humboldt netminder. “We had to create our own second chances and we didn’t. The guys just didn’t make things happen. On Friday night, I had 19 guys going hard and tonight there was only a handful who brought their A game.”
Lewgood defended the Bruins’ home ice record of 13 wins and nine losses, as being respectful enough and added he felt they still had the ability to finish first in the division, albeit with time running down now. The recent five-game win streak boosted the Bruins into a relatively solid hold of second place, but Lewgood felt another home ice win, especially in front of the players’ families on Saturday would have made everyone feel better since it would have hoisted the club to the .500 level and provided a continuation of a good week of morale building.
The Bruin coach waited until the 18:15 mark of the third before pulling his goaltender Tyler Fuhr in favour of an extra attacker, but wasn’t about to second guess the strategy.
“I’m not a big fan of pulling a goalie with a whole bunch of time left. We had just come off a power play,” he said.
Gage Joel and Colton Laroque were the marksmen for the Broncos with Joel scoring midway through the opening period with help from Austin Duzan and Stuart Symenuk.
Larroque’s tally was in the early going of the second period with assists to Gray Marr and Anthony Kapelke.
The two teams split 10 minor penalties.
Fuhr stopped 18 of the 20 shots fired in his direction with both Humboldt goals being gained sharp shooter style with both shots finding the corners.
“It was one tough night, but losing one after a good run, is not a big deal. We’ll do better,” said Lewgood.
On Friday night, the results were much brighter and audience participation was high as the fans go into the spirit of the game, especially with the Bruins taking a two-goal lead into the second frame.
Kurt Sonne, who would notch two goals on the evening, scored his first within the first six minutes of play, with assists coming from Ryan Duret and R.T Rice. Keegan Allison, who ranks ninth in the SJHL scoring race, scored his 19th of the season and added his 24th assist of the year on the fourth goal of the night by Keaton Longpre in the third period, giving him 43 points on the year.
Longpre and Lynnden Pastachak drew the assists on Allison’s goal and Pastachak joined Allison in setting up Longpre in the third period.
The third tally came from Sonne, his 10th of the year, with Duret and Rice drawing assists.
Fuhr played another stellar role in the nets for the Bruins, putting the stymie on all 37 shots fired in his direction while Joe O’Brien in the Hawk’s crease handled 24 of the 28 sent in his direction.
The Hawks took 10 of the 18 penalties with Pastachak taking the only major of the night, a 10 minute misconduct issued late in the first period while Zach Douglas yielded a penalty shot infraction in the second frame that Fuhr obviously handled with aplomb to keep the home team in full control of the outcome.
Ice Chips: Attendance on Saturday was listed at 1,030, while Friday’s was 895.
The three stars on Friday were all Bruins with Fuhr, Duret and Sonne gaining the nod while on Saturday, the stars for Humboldt were LaRochelle and Joel while Rice garnered the third star.
The Bruins got the Sunday off to spend with visiting family members before returning to work and preparing to visit their not-so-friendly rivals, the Red Wings of Weyburn on Friday night and return to home ice Feb. 18 for a game against the LaRonge Ice Wolves and on Friday, they play host to Yorkton Terriers.
