The Eagle Sky Estevan Bruins kick off their first-round playoff series with the Flin Flon Bombers Friday night at the Whitney Forum in Flin Flon. Here are some storylines, stats and players to watch heading into the best-of-seven series.
Season series
The Bruins and Bombers met just four times over the course of the regular season, and while the Bombers did take three of the four matchups, the Bruins won the first back on Oct. 18 led by a Ewan Rennie hat-trick performance, and played a down-to-the-wire 2-1 Flin Flon final in late-January (Jan. 23).
Bruins’ Head Coach and G.M., Drew Kocur said the key to getting off on the right foot in the series is drowning out the noise and staying focused on the task at hand from the start of Game 1.
“We know the crowd’s going to be loud, and we’ve prepared for that all week with loud noise and music in practice in a smaller barn [practicing at Power Dodge],” Kocur said. “So for us, it’s about focusing on what’s happening inside the glass and just controlling what we can control: making sure we’re structurally sound, keeping our emotions in check and staying out of the box.”
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The Numbers
The #1 seeded Bombers are coming off a dominant regular season that saw the club post a league-best 41-11-4 record, which included just a single loss on home ice (27-0-1), coming in overtime to the Melfort Mustangs on Feb. 28.
The Bruins meanwhile, punched their ticket to the post-season on the final weekend of the regular season, with a statement 5-2 victory over the rival, Red Wings in Weyburn. Bruins’ captain, Rorey Elson said the team will be looking to use their experience in tight competitive games down the stretch to their advantage heading into Game 1 of the series.
“It was definitely a little longer than we expected to punch our ticket, but we’ve been in playoff mode for a little while now,” Elson said. “A lot of those last games were must-wins so when it comes down to it, we were in playoff mode a little early, now we just need to keep it up.”
Players to Watch
Ewan Rennie is coming off a regular season for the Bruins’ history books, becoming just the seventh player in franchise history to take home SJHL MVP honours, while also leading the league in both goals (37) and points/game (1.47). READ MORE HERE
Joined by fellow top-five scorer, Rylan Williams (25G, 68P in 54GP) and rookie scoring leader, Cash Olson (15G, 49P in 56GP), it will be interesting to see which of the Bombers’ forward lines draws the matchup assignment.
Flin Flon’s offensive attack is as spread out as any team in the league. Despite finishing just three goals back of Yorkton for most in the SJHL this season (234 total; 4.18/game), the Bombers did not have a top-10 scorer, instead doing scoring by committee, with a league-high 11 30+ point scorers, including six who eclipsed the 40-point plateau.
With Bombers’ leading scorer, Joey Lies (27G, 54P) sidelined with a lower body injury to start the series, the Bombers to watch heading in will be the center duo of Wyatt Stinton and Maverick Deslisle.
Stinton, a Flin Flon local, is an uber-skilled 18-year-old centerman who tallied 34 points (15G, 19A) in 39 games this season despite missing nearly 20 games due to injury/World Junior A Challenge. A slick stickhandler and puck thief, Stinton’s impact goes beyond the numbers. Deslisle, who was also limited to just 40 games due to injury, still managed 42 points (16G, 26A) as a playmaker who makes his linemates dangerous.
Special teams
PP: EST: 20.3% (5th) | FF: 24.7% (1st)
PK: EST: 81.4% (4th) | FF: 85.3% (2nd)
Goaltending
Featuring three of the top goaltenders in the league (Tritt FF, Adams and Kam EST), the series promises its fair share of elite performances between the pipes.
Charlie Tritt was named the SJHL Goaltender of the Year for his dynamic play this season, posting a lights out 23-9-2 record through 34 games, along with a league-high 2.12 goals against average and .934 save percentage.
Adams, who will get the start in Game 1 for Estevan is also coming off an excellent first season in the Energy City. In 34 games of his own, Adams posted a 12-15-4 record, though even in the losses was often amongst the team’s top players. Adams posted a 3.06 goals against average and .914 save percentage, the latter of which was top-five amongst goalies with at least 30 games played.
Every game of the first round series will be available on FloHockey and for free on the Bruins 2.0 YouTube Livestream. Puck drop for Games 1 and 2 in Flin Flon this weekend will be at 6:30 p.m. Sask time (7:30 p.m. MB local) each night, with pregame on the livestream beginning 15 minutes prior to puck drop.
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Marty Martinson/Bruins PxP & Marketing Director
On X: @MartyMartyPxP1
