The Eagle Sky Estevan Bruins are coming off a tremendous weekend homestand, that saw the team post back-to-back victories over Nipawin and Flin Flon to extend their winning streak to five-straight, and point streak to six-straight (5-0-1).
Bruins’ forward, Ewan Rennie was front and center through the two wins, following up a 2G, 1A performance Friday against the Hawks, with his first career hat trick Saturday night against the Bombers, to earn SJHL MVP of the Week honours.
“It was a good weekend,” Rennie said modestly, with a smile. “We had the parents down so that’s always fun, and I thought we played really solid. We’re just trying to build each and every day to get better as each game goes on.”
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Already amongst the league’s elite point producers heading into the weekend, Rennie’s brilliance propelled him into top spot in the league scoring race with now 21 points (11G, 10A) through 12 games.
More than just the raw totals though, has been the timeliness of his contributions…
FRIDAY
The Bruins hit the ground running Friday, taking home a monster 7-1 win over the surging Nipawin Hawks, who had entered the weekend a dominant 7-1-0 through their first eight games.
Rennie opened the scoring with his first of two on the night, while Chase Holt also notched a pair in the second period to make it a 3-1 B’s lead through two.
Estevan continued to pour on the pressure in the third period, with Rennie adding his second of the night, and captain Rorey Elson, Rylan Williams and Cole Dupuis also getting on the board, as the team outshot Nipawin 31-14 over the final 40 minutes.
Rookie standouts Cash Olson, Carver Shingoose, and Daniel Tverdovsky each added a pair of assists apiece in the victory as well, and first-year netminder Brady Carr stopped 28/29 to backstop the team and earn SJHL Rookie of the Week honours for his performance.
Saturday
Riding high heading into Saturday night’s contest, the Bruins continued their scorching play with a 4-2 victory over the rival, Flin Flon Bombers.
A scoreless game through the first period, speedster Oliver Kramp got the Bruins on the board in the opening minute of the second, on an electrifying short-handed goal to give Estevan the early lead.
Trading power play tallies from there, Rennie’s first of the game answered Maverick Deslisle’s for the visitors, before recent Bombers’ blue line acquisition Sam Ward knotted the score to make it a 2-2 game heading into the third period.
That’s when Rennie – once again – came through with the heroics.
Notching his 10th of the young season on another power play strike to give his team the lead at 3-2, the White Rock, BC., product then added his 11th as well to put the game out of reach late and cap the hat trick.
Between the pipes, Nathan Kam stopped 34/36 for the win, to improve to 2-0-0 this season with a 1.99 goals against average and .947 save percentage.
Rennie said the key to the team’s success over the weekend and through the early going has been the complete team effort collectively as a group, something they’ll be looking to continue moving into next weekend.
“I think we’re buying in now and it’s showing,” Rennie said. “I think we just need to play a full 60 and we’ll be good.”
With their weekend performance, the Bruins are now tied for the second most points in the SJHL, and sit second overall in the league’s Bunge Division with a 7-3-2 record through 12 games.
The Bruins will return to play this coming Friday and Saturday to host the Battlefords North Stars for back-to-back games at Affinity Place. Both games will be available on FloHockey and for free on the Bruins YouTube Livestream. Pregame will begin both nights at 6:45 p.m., with puck drop to follow at 7 p.m.
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Marty Martinson/Bruins PxP & Marketing Director
On X: @MartyMartyPxP1
