The Estevan Bruins hot streak continued on Wednesday night in a convincing 5-2 victory over the Kindersley Klippers at the West Central Events Centre.
The Bruins came flying out of the gates and scored quickly to take an early lead. A line rush down the ice between Mark Rumsey, Olivier Pouliot and Keagon Little resulted in Pouliot taking a shot that went through the five-hole of Kindersley’s Matt Pesenti but off the post. However, Little was there first to put the puck home as the rookie’s 2nd of the season made it 1-0 just 4:03 into the game.
Kindersley would tie the game up at the 15:49 mark with Charles Obobaifo beating Bruins’ netminder Cam Hrdlicka on a breakaway to make it 1-1. However, the Bruins’ regained the lead before the end of the period as Alex Von Sprecken would be sprung in on a breakaway as he came out of the penalty box. Von Sprecken came down the right side and sniped the far corner for his 2nd of the year to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead at the 18:22 mark, with Little and Rumsey assisting on the goal.
The Bruins would double their lead in the 2nd period with a pair of goals. At the 5:40 mark, Little would beat out the Klippers’ defence to nullify an icing call. Little then passed to Pouliot who found Rumsey alone in front and Rumsey made no mistake for his team-leading 8th goal of the year to make it 3-1. Late in the period at 18:55, Eric Houk and Caelan Fitzpatrick went to work in the corner and won the puck battle. Fitzpatrick came out of the corner with the puck, drove the net hard and backhanded home his 7th of the year to make it 4-1. Houk and Kian Calder assisted on the goal.
Hrdlicka wasn’t tested much in the game but made a few key saves early in the 3rd period to keep the lead at 4-1. With minutes remaining at the 16:53 mark, Kindersley would get another goal as Coletyn Boyarski banked home a shot to make it 4-2. That led to the Klippers pulling their goalie for the extra attacker late, but it would be the Bruins putting the game away while killing off a 6-on-4 penalty. After Kindersley’s Ethan King hit the outside post with a shot, the puck would be cleared down the ice. Cody Davis used his blazing speed to beat the Kindersley defenceman to the puck and Davis scored his 3rd of the year into the open net to make the final score 5-2 for the Bruins.
Cam Hrdlicka earned his 2nd win of the season making (15/17) saves. Matt Pesenti (34/38) was tagged with the lose as the Bruins’ more-than-doubled Kindersley in shots on goal by a 39-17 differential.
The Bruins were (0/2) on the powerplay in the game, but held Kindersley to (0/6) on the Klippers’ powerplay with the Bruins’ adding their SJHL-leading 6th shorthanded goal thanks to Davis’ late-game empty netter.
The Estevan Bruins (9-3-0-1) have now won three straight games and are (5-0-0-1) in their last six games and now sit 3rd overall in the SJHL standings. On the player side, it was a great two game road trip for Mark Rumsey as he tallied 7 PTS (3G, 4A) against Battlefords and Kindersley. Rumsey leads the Bruins with 8 goals and his team-leading 18 points are good for 4th overall in SJHL scoring. Olivier Pouliot had 4 PTS (1G,3A) in the last two games and has points in 9 consecutive games, the longest point streak of the season so far in the SJHL.
The Bruins will now prepare for a weekend home-and-home series against the Melville Millionaires (2-6-4-0), who they defeated 9-0 last Saturday, Oct. 23rd. The two teams meet this Saturday at 7:00pm in Melville before a quick turnaround and rematch the next afternoon in Estevan, with a 3:00pm start time on Halloween Sunday at Affinity Place.