Undisciplined penalties came back to haunt the CanElson Drilling Estevan Bruins junior A hockey team on the weekend in home and sort of home losses to the Yorkton Terriers.
The Bruins (10-8-0-1 and second in the Viterra Division) racked up four minor penalties in the second period of a 3-1 loss to the Terriers (7-11-0-1 and third in the Viterra) at Moosomin on Saturday. That loss followed a 6-4 defeat, thanks in large part to a late second period short handed goal, by the Terriers at Affinity Place on Friday.
“We were short handed probably 10 or 12 minutes out of the (second) period (on Saturday),” said Bruins goaltender Tyler Fuhr, who stopped 35 of 38 shots in the game. “You can’t get any flow when you’re killing (penalties) for half the period.”
Fuhr said the Bruins played a solid game against the Terriers at Moosomin, but their special teams play is hurting them. In the past four games, which includes a 3-2 away win against the Humboldt Broncos at Elgar Peterson Arena last Tuesday and an 8-4 victory over the Kindersley Klippers at Kindersley’s West Central Events Centre last Wednesday, the Bruins have scored once and been scored on once in 15 power play opportunities while giving up five goals on 19 penalty kills.
“It’s almost like we’re trying to do too much out there,” said Fuhr. “We need to keep it simple and just put pucks to the net. I think as soon as we get one it’s the monkey off our back and they’ll start coming a lot easier.”
Chris Lewgood, head coach and general manager of the Bruins, said their power play showed good movement in their first game against the Terriers, but took a step back in the second game through forcing plays and not making the correct reads. He said the penalty kill has been relatively good, but they have to stop making so many trips to the box.
“There has been a bit of a stretch here where we’ve taken too many penalties,” said Lewgood, noting there is a difference between good penalties and bad. “We’ve just taken too many unnecessary penalties.”
Lewgood said there is still a lot of work to do to get where they need to be and the team must stay on an even keel. He said they can’t get too excited about losing the last two games or winning the previous three before that and the focus remains on their next game and getting better as a team right now.
“We’re a team,” said Fuhr. “This weekend was a rough couple games for sure, but we all have one common goal and that’s to win the league and not backdoor our way into westerns here. We set a goal at the start of the year to win the league and win the western championship and hopefully win a national title. That’s still our goal.
“We’re not getting down in the room. We’re still focused on our goals. We’ll have a good week in practice and a good home stand and hopefully get back in the win column.”
In roster news, Dane Schioler, whom the Bruins own the SJHL playing rights to, is contemplating his future after being released from the WHL's Prince Albert Raiders.
