The Estevan Bruins earned their most lopsided win of the 2021/22 season on Saturday night in Melville, dominating in all facets of the game in a 9-0 victory over the Millionaires.
The Bruins, who have one of the strongest penalty killing units in the SJHL, were able to earn the early lead with a man short. Just 2:21 into the game, Cody Davis threw the puck at the net and Griffin Asham-Moroz put it home to put the Bruins up 1-0. Later in the period at the 11:01 mark, with the Bruins’ shorthanded once again, Keagon Little came down the wing and his shot was stopped momentarily by Melville’s Jared Thompson but snuck behind the goaltender where Kian Calder put the loose puck home for his 2nd goal of the season to make it 2-0. Then just over a minute later at 12:39, Mikol Sartor finished off a pretty give-and-go with Asham-Moroz for his 3rd of the year to make it 3-0 after 20 minutes. Aleksa Babic also assisted on Sartor’s goal.
The Bruins blew the game wide open in the 2nd period with four more goals. First, Calder rushed the puck up the ice and fired a perfect cross-ice pass to Antoine St. Onge who tapped home his 4th of the year to increase the lead to 4-0 at the 8:12 mark. Then the Bruins would score three goals in a two-minute span late in the middle frame, starting with Cody Davis getting his 2nd of the season at 14:57 to make it 5-0. Zach Burfoot and St. Onge assisted on the goal. Then at 16:27, Mark Rumsey and Olivier Pouliot would give-and-go up the ice and Eric Houk finished off the passing play with his 2nd of the season to make it 6-0. Just 30 seconds later, Asham-Moroz would go end-to-end with a nice move wide on the defenceman and roofed a perfect shot past Thompson as the highlight-reel goal made it 7-0 after two periods. Houk and Sartor assisted on Asham-Moroz’s 2nd goal of the game and 6th of the season.
The Bruins’ added two more goals late in the 3rd period as Brandon Ambrozik scored his 3rd of the season at the 12:10 mark to make it 8-0, with Calder and Caelan Fitzpatrick assisted on the goal. Then with less than three minutes to play, Burfoot scored his first career SJHL goal finishing off a nice passing play from Davis and St. Onge to round out the scoring in a 9-0 victory.
Boston Bilous was not tested often but stopped all 18 shots he faced in earning his first shutout of the season. Jared Thompson (20/27) was tagged with the loss, while backup Alexis Giroux (6/8) played the 3rd period.
There were only three penalties in the game, all in the 1st period, and neither team would score on the powerplay. Melville went (0/2) and the Bruins went (0/1), but did score two goals shorthanded to start the game.
The Bruins (7-3-0-1) will now prepare for a mini two-game road trip to northwest Saskatchewan as they take on the Battlefords North Stars (8-3-1-1) on Tuesday and the Kindersley Klippers (6-7-0-0) on Wednesday, both games start at 7:30pm.
