A full team effort helped the CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins to five of a possible six points in a three-game road swing through northern Saskatchewan on the weekend.
Estevan began the trip with a 5-4 win over the Kindersley Klippers (18-18-0-1) at the West Central Events Center on Thursday before posting a 3-2 shootout loss to the La Ronge Ice Wolves (18-15-1-2) the next night at the Mel Hegland Arena. The Bruins completed the trek Saturday with a 4-3 victory over the SJHL leading Battlefords North Stars (28-10-1-2) at the North Battleford Civic Center.
Chris Lewgood, head coach and general manager of the Bruins, said the team played really well in the final two periods against Battlefords after going down 2-1 on two power play goals against in the first 20 minutes. He said there always seem to be a lot of penalties early on when playing in Battlefords, but once the game got going and the two team’s intensity and speed took over the referees let the players decide the outcome.
“It’s the second time we’ve beat them,” said Lewgood. “We match up very well against those guys when we play our game and focus on what we’re doing.”
Lewgood noted they’ve taken five out of a possible 10 points in their five meetings with the North Stars this season and three of the times they’ve met have come on the tail-ends of long trips for Estevan. He said these meetings have shown the Bruins (21-16-0-2) are capable of playing with anyone in the league.
“We had a plan in place and the guys went up and executed it,” he said. “We weren’t perfect, but we were very good and those are the kinds of efforts it takes. Three good teams, teams that can keep you accountable, teams that can score on you, and in La Ronge it was a matter of it (going) down to the shootout. We missed on some opportunities and probably could have had six (points) out of six.”
The road trip was the first action missed by top end forward Braden Oleksyn, who is expected to be out for three weeks with a shoulder injury. Oleksyn joins centre Keaton Longpre on the injured list as the only two players currently out of the lineup with ailments.
“Longpre’s out for another week or two yet,” said Lewgood. “We’re not going to rush either guy back. We’re going to let them heal and then strengthen and make sure they’re 100 per cent before they get back in the lineup, (so) no risk of aggravating the injury.”
