It didn't matter what or who it was, where they were from or how old they were; if they played against the Power Dodge Estevan Bruins, the Bruins were going to win.
The Bruins went 4-0 in the pre-season, earning a win in the rookie game last week against the Notre Dame Hounds, an 11-0 thrashing over the Waywayseecappo Wolverines at home last Tuesday and a pair of wins over the Weyburn Red Wings to conclude the exhibition season. The Bruins shut down the Red Wings at home 5-2 Friday and won 5-4 in Weyburn Saturday
“There's some intensity,” said Bruins head coach and general manager Chris Lewgood after Friday's win. “Mix in some of these guys are playing for their junior A lives, some of them are fighting to develop a role and carve out a niche in our program and throw in the Highway 39 rivalry and the instincts take over, especially with our returning guys or the local guys. They know the history between the teams. There's a lot of respect there but there's also a lot of hatred. It shows just as much in the pre-season as it does when there's more on the line.”
Once the season starts, the gap between the rookies and steady veterans like Hayden Guilderson, Kaelan Holt and Michael McChesney will diminish.
“I think the spread between the top veterans players at this time of year and the young guys is huge,” Lewgood said. “The young guys are getting their feet wet on all teams, and the veteran players are comfortable and take advantage of it.”
While there were no fights in either of the two games against Weyburn, angry glares from a lot of players who still aren't sure if they'll make the teams were plenty. The Bruins kept a lot of players into the exhibition season and clearly not all of them can make the team.
“We've got some time to make some decisions but at the end of the day, there's going to be some players here who are not going to make our club that are going to be able to play junior A hockey,” Lewgood said. “You get small separation every game where guys start carving out their niche and finding their place and other guys separate themselves negatively, or making less strong of a case.”
In the game against the Wolverines, Zach Goberis led the way on the scoresheet with a goal and four assists, while McChesney scored a hat trick with an assist. TJ Irey and Andrew Warhoftig scored two goals and an assist each, while Holt, Raihan Kheraj and Jack Kilroy each scored singles. Matt Lukacs and Tyler Szturm combined for 19 saves in the shutout.
Holt scored two Friday against the Red Wings, with Jake Heerspink, Johnny Witzke and Jerzy Martin adding single goals. Matt Lenz stopped 14 of 16, with Maxim Sidelnik saving all five of the shots he faced in half a game.
Saturday, McChesney and Matthew Chekay each scored a pair for the Bruins, with Tanner McKechnie also scoring. Lukacs and Szturm saved 10 shots each in the net.
But now the fun of the regular season starts. And the team isn't in a hurry to make a move to add any players before then.
“We're not interested right now in shopping any of our players in the lineup,” Lewgood said. “Our plan right now is to get down to 25 guys. That's probably going to be a combination of 15 forwards, seven D and three goalies, or eight D, two goalies, maybe we'll go down to 14 forwards to accomodate one more goaltender, I don't know. We're going to be somewhere in that mix.”
