Witzke Recognized As SJHL ‘Defenceman Of The Week’

The Power Dodge Estevan Bruins’ recent hot streak has once again brought some weekly individual honours to a few of the players leading the charge into playoffs.

20-year-old blueliner Johnny Witzke has been named as the SJHL ‘Defenceman Of The Week’ from February 4-11 after putting up points in all three games during that stretch.

The Bruins went 2-1 last week, with Witzke totalling four points (1G, 3A). In fact, Witzke now has a five game point streak scoring a total of nine points (2G, 7A) to lead all Bruins skaters during those five games.

For the season, Witzke leads all Bruins defencemen with 37 points (12G, 25A) which places him tied with Battlefords’ Cody Spagrud and Humboldt’s Josh Patrician for 4th spot league-wide. Witzke’s defensive partner, Jake Heerspink (9-26-35) is just behind that group for 7th among SJHL defencemen.

It’s the second weekly honour for Witzke this season (who also should have won the award the previous week) as he took home the first ‘Defenceman of the Week’ award of the regular season.

HARRISON RECOGNIZED AS RUNNER-UP

The Bruins swept the category as rookie defenceman Devan Harrison has been named as the runner-up to Witzke for the weekly award.

The 19-year-old blueliner also registered a point in each game for the Bruins last week (1G, 2A) and matches Witzke with a five-game point streak (2G, 3A) of his own.

Since joining the Bruins in mid-December, Harrison has formed one of the toughest shutdown tandems in the SJHL with Aigne McGeady-Bruce. The two regularly match up with the opposition’s top scoring line and, as evidenced by the Bruins record in the last ten games (9-1), the duo has done their job at both ends of the rink since being paired up early in January.

For the season, Harrison has an impressive 12 points (4G, 8A) in just 17 games with the Bruins.

BLUELINE LEADING THE WAY DURING HOT STREAK

In general, the vaunted Bruins blueline has been the primary reason for the club’s resurgence to the top of the Viterra Division standings.

During the Bruins last ten games (9-1), the defence has chipped in an astonishing 40 points (4 pts/game) on the offensive end. At the same time, as a team the Bruins have only allowed 20 goals against (2/game). That includes two shutouts and an average of only 23.5 shots against per game.

With only seven games remaining in the regular season, the Bruins are looking to continue the momentum built up since the Christmas break into a third consecutive division title and home-ice advantage in the quarterfinal round of playoffs.

Estevan has a six-point lead on the Yorkton Terriers for that spot, with five of their remaining games left to play on home ice at Affinity Place.