Last August, Power Dodge Estevan Bruins head coach and general manager Chris Lewgood was able to acquire a pair of 20-year-olds from the Alberta Junior Hockey League who would end up leading the team in scoring during the regular season and contributed a combined 11 goals in the playoff run.
That won't be the case this year – but that might be because this year's leading scorers are already in the fold.
While the trade for Matt McNeill and Jason Miller ended up being the deal that helped set the tone for how the Bruins played last year those kinds of players don't fall from the sky very often. During the June bantam draft, they swung a deal with Weyburn to shuffle draft picks around and since the draft, the Bruins haven't made any deals.
“It was quiet (this year),” said Lewgood. “We haven't done anything to be honest. We're excited about the core we have coming back. We don't feel we have major holes to fill and that trade last year, if something like that fell in our lap we'd obviously take it again. But we haven't been real active for trades. We're really excited with the group we have.
In the coming days, the team's leadership group of captains and alternate captains will be identified and chosen to lead the team. Those players will be met with over the camp.
“We will have an announcement on our captains shortly after camp,” Lewgood said.
Bruins camp will strike up this weekend at Affinity Place.
“Camp opens Friday morning, September 1,” said Lewgood, who has invited about 60 players to camp. “We'll go into the on-ice fitness testing and we'll get right into the on-ice scrimmages.”
The annual Gerry Aspen Cup intersquad game will take place Saturday night rather than Sunday afternoon.
“It works out well for players that have to travel a ways after camp and it allows them to get home on a weekend rather than Monday,” Lewgood said. “We also hope to see a little more crowd and not going head to head with the Labour Day Classic in Regina should help with that.”
Perspective rookies will be taking to the ice Monday, Sept. 4 against the Notre Dame Hounds in Wilcox.
The team will need to replace not only the two top 20-year-old forwards in McNeil and Miller, but also top scoring defenceman Josh Rieger, top goaltender Nathan Alalouf, forwards Lynden Pastachak and Levi Barnstable, and defenceman Evan Scott.
“I think there's an organic process here where the second and third year players sort of take over from last years second and third year players,” Lewgood said. “The guys that were the supporting cast last year will move into the key roles. Some of the younger guys will move into their roles. No different than last year, with Rieger taking over from Charlie Manley and some of those other guys a year ahead of them.”
Sept. 15 is the Bruins' first regular season game, at home to the Melville Millionaires.
