The CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins enjoyed a welcome respite from their regular practice regimen on the weekend with the organization’s annual spring camp, but the team quickly got back to work with their biggest challenge of the year still waiting.
The Bruins will close out the first day of the Crescent Point Energy Western Canada Cup (WCC) on Saturday night with a game against the BCHL Fred Page Cup champion West Kelowna Warriors. The MJHL Turnbull Cup winning Portage Terriers and SJHL Canalta Cup champion Melfort Mustangs open the April 30 to May 8 tournament Saturday afternoon at Affinity Place.
The Bruins will host the Terriers on Sunday, the Mustangs on Tuesday and finally the AJHL champion Brooks Bandits next Thursday in the final day of round-robin action. Four of these five teams will advance to the WCC playoffs on May 7 and 8 with two available spots at the 2016 RBC Cup on the line.
“They are all very high-end teams,” said Chris Lewgood, head coach and general manager of the Bruins. “They’re all league champions in three very strong leagues and the winner of the SJHL is going to be more of the same, but they’re all very different teams from one another. We have a game plan for each of them. We used the break here to make some adjustments or add things to our repertoire that would not normally be seen in an SJHL game.”
Lewgood said the MJHL, AJHL and BCHL all feature teams playing a different style of hockey with West Kelowna, for example, employing a more controlled game as compared to the high tempo out-man play used in the SJHL. He said they’ve been practising hard over the past three weeks to get as ready for the challenge as they can be and will dig deep to try to get ahead.
“We got to work,” said Lewgood, about what the team has to do Saturday night. “There is going to be rust and there is going to be adversity. These teams are coming off long playoff runs and we’re working off a long break, so I think we have to do the little things like make good decisions with the puck (and) we’re going to have to block shots. We’re going to have to make sure we finish our checks and we’re going to have to play straight-line hockey. It’s just all the little things that it takes to win a game because we’re going to have to create our own bounces in Game 1 for sure.”
About 75 of the Bruins top prospects including SJHL draft picks, local and American scouted players and list additions put their best foot forward at the team’s annual spring camp at Affinity Place this past weekend. One prospect, who has seven games of Bruins’ experience on his resume including three matches in the team’s SJHL quarter-final series against the Nipawin Hawks last month, said his focus at the camp was just to try and be the best player on the ice, prove he belongs on the team and hopefully earn a chance to lace up the skates during the WCC.
Jake Heerspink, who scored three goals and tallied 22 points in 44 games with the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League’s Regina Pat Canadians this season, said he felt he moved the puck well and made the players around him better during the camp, but regretted not joining the rush or playing more physical.
“It was good,” said Heerspink, who has been practising regularly with the team over the past three weeks. “It’s just a couple days off for the boys and (a chance to) get a little bit of rest. It was well needed.”
Lewgood said highly touted prospect Ty Barnstable was not invited to camp due to signing with an out-of-province club, but the other young players who suited up for games with the Bruins this year all made a good impression. He said local forward Cole Fonstad stood out among the crowd and was probably the best player in camp, but the coaching staff really liked what they saw out of Grand Rapids High School defenceman Brendan Mark and Dickinson High School forward Mike McChesney as well.
“Lots of local players stood out,” said Lewgood. “I thought Cam Lavoie was very good in goal. Another guy who seemed to fit in real well despite the fact that he was under age was Mason Strutt. He’s got a great future in the game and (it was) the first of many Bruins’ camps for him. It was exciting to see some of these young guys contribute in camp. They really fit in well.”
The plan this week for the team is to grind out two-a-day practices featuring high-tempo play with special teams and transition work getting a lot of time. Lewgood said the coaching staff is happy with the work ethic the players have been exhibiting in practice and the job will be to move that into games starting this weekend.
“The rest time has been good,” said Heerspink, “but I feel like everybody wants to get out there and start playing games and have some fun.”
