History of Estevan Bruins

B4 September 13, 2017

Estevan Mercury

Celebrating BRUINS’ 60TH SEASON

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Bruins have long history in the community Estevan, Saskatchewan was a much different place in 1957.

We’re not talking about dinosaurs roaming the Earth or even a walking alligator roaming the old Civic Auditorium but let’s just say the climate was a bit different.

Sixty years is a long time. Long enough to have a junior hockey team named the ‘Indians’ (you’d never have that in 2017) move from Humboldt-Melfort to Estevan.

Estevan needed a new name for their team and the Mercury was chosen to hold the name-the-team contest. Some of those chosen included Oilers, Cubs, Boomers, Wildcats and SooLiners.

Because junior hockey teams were sponsored by NHL clubs at the time the Bruins’ name was suggested by a C.H. Hook from Toronto as the winning entry.

It was a great year for the city, which had just become a ‘city’, as the Agricultural Auditorium and its obstructed views were fresh and new. The oil boom that had begun the year before was now in full swing.

Roderick ‘Scotty’ Munro moved the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League team down to the shiny new rink with artificial ice on Souris Ave., where tickets would cost $1 for adults, 50 cents for students and 25 cents for children. Camp opened Oct. 5 with 60 players and by Oct. 12, they’d be playing their first exhibition game in front of 1,321 patrons with an 8-4 defeat of the Winnipeg Rangers.

That season’s home opener at the Aud saw the Bruins knock off the Regina Pats 5-4 in overtime Oct. 22, and had earned a 7-3 win in Melville to kick off the

season a few days before.

The Pats game included a bench clearing brawl – which would go on to not be the only one in the building’s history – and was played in front of 1,800 people. The city’s population was shy of 6,000 at the time.

That first ever Bruins team ended up making the playoffs that year in the old, brawling SJHL. They lost to Regina in the first round.

The following season – 1958-59 – the Bruins were in second place by January.

Captain Dick Meissner was in his third year in junior hockey, taking a run at the scoring title and finished the year with 46 goals. That year saw the Bruins win their first playoff series over Melville, won another round over Regina but lost in the final to the Flin Flon Bombers, who picked up Meissner for their Memorial Cup run.

The 1960s In 1959-60, the team hosted the SJHL all-star game with the winning team getting a chance to play a touring Moscow Selects junior team. The all-star game featured appearances in the stands from Montreal manager Kenny Reardon and New York Rangers manager Lynn Patrick. The Bruins team itself was in rebuilding mode.

But off the ice, problems mounted. The agricultural society that ran the building faced a $109,000 debt still for the rink. Munro, who managed the building for no charge, would receive all income and pay all expenses from that point rather than the 80:20 split previous to that.

In the 1960-61 season, the team lost burgeoning star Dallas Smith to the parent Bruins, who put him in the

NHL at age 18. He scored 16 goals and 31 assists as a 17-year-old the previous season and ended up playing 890 NHL games when his playing career was over in 1978. The Bruins finished in second place without Smith, only a point behind the Regina Pats. The Pats would sweep the Bruins in the league final that year in four games, picking up captain John Rodger, Jim Kozie and Dave Padzerski for their Memorial Cup run.

While the Bruins were setting the league on fire the following season by finishing the 1961-62 season in first place, a rink they were in also did. Prince Albert’s Mintos hosted the Bruins that game, but all players and fans escaped without harm. That year, the SJHL experimented with a round robin for the first round of the playoff, ending with the 3-1-1 Bruins on the outside looking in.

The 1962-63 season saw Munro and the Bruins embarking with only one returning defenceman, Joe Watson (who would go on to play 835 games in the NHL, mostly with the big, bad Philadelphia Flyers). But that Bruin team won enough to be in first place yet again and concluded a streak of 44 consecutive wins at home with a 3-2 loss in overtime to the Weyburn Red Wings.

Fan support for Munro was great but it was Weyburn fans that hung an effigy of Munro. In the playoffs, Munro was hit by a construction bolt in Regina, but the team still won and played Melville in the league final.

Estevan won in six games to play the Edmonton Oil Kings in the Saskatchewan versus Alberta league final with 3,200 fans packing the Aud in the second game of

The Bruins 1967-68 team that won the WCHL regular season and playoff title with a 45-13-2 record. the series. Edmonton won, however.

The following season, 1963-64, perhaps could have seen the Bruins take a bit of a step back with the graduation of starting goaltender Jack Norris and a lot of their stars over the previous seasons. However, they finished in first once again and defeated Regina in the SJHL final, but also fell to Edmonton in the interprovincial series.

Munro moved on to Calgary and installed Ernie ‘Punch’ McLean as bench boss for the 1964-65 campaign. Rookie Dale Hoganson was one of the new, bright lights for the squad, who finished in fourth place and bowed out after a first round loss to the Regina Pats.

But things turned quickly for the Bruins. The Agricultural Society left the ownership group for the Aud for $38,000 and the promise to use the land rent free during

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the summer for the fair every year. The Bruins finished in first place for the 1965-66 season, 11 points ahead of second place Weyburn. Estevan’s Ross Lonsberry scored a league-high 144 points and the team blasted the Moose Jaw Canucks out of the first round of the playoffs and 3,300 fans at the newly renamed Civic Auditorium watched the Bruins knock off Weyburn for the SJHL championship.

After beating out Fort William in the next round of the playoffs, the Bruins once again took to the ice against the Edmonton Oil Kings, and once again the Oil Kings took that series and headed up to the Memorial Cup, picking up Lonsberry and two other players.

Off the ice in the offseason, the Bruins switched leagues, moving from the SJHL to the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League – today known as the Western Hockey League. Regina,

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Moose Jaw, Estevan, Saskatoon and Weyburn joined Calgary and Edmonton in a new league for 1966-67.

McLean led the Bruins to a second place finish on the season, behind the Oil Kings. The Bruins lost in the second round to Regina that year, and began the following season in the newlynamed Western Canadian Major Junior League, with Brandon, Swift Current and Winnipeg joining the league.

That year belonged to the Bruins. The finished second in the regular season to Paddy Ginnell and the Flin Flon Bombers but defeated Flin Flon in the WCHL final.

They defeated the Westfort (Fort William) Hurricanes, and the Penticton Broncos to advance to the Memorial Cup in Toronto for the first time in franchise history.

Estevan lost the series 4-1 to the Niagara Falls Flyers but returned home to a championship-style rally.

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Celebrating BRUINS’ 60TH SEASON

Munro remained key force for team « B4 For 1968-69, the WCHL would have to do without Moose Jaw, Saskatoon and Regina but the eight-team league split into two divisions for the season. They would also have to do without the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association, which declared the WCHL an outlaw league and wouldn’t allow the teams to participate in the Memorial Cup. Munro relinquished management and ownership duties with the Bruins to McLean and Bill Shinske. The Bruins finished in second place to Flin Flon, who had accumulated 1,952 penalty minutes to Estevan’s 1,023 during the season, making the Bruins seem downright gentlemanly. The Bombers defeated the Bruins in the second round of the playoffs.

The 1970s In the 1969-70 season, the WCHL’s soured relationship with the CAHA continued, with the CAHA withholding player development money from the teams who had players drafted by the NHL. Nevertheless, the league moved on with the Bruins a bit more distant second place to Flin Flon. Fans averaged 2,000 per game at the Aud but the team lost in the first round to the Winnipeg Jets.

Four players were drafted

by NHL teams.

In 1970-71, the Bruins took the league by storm, leading the league at the halfway point playing a rougher brand of hockey and ended up winning the East Division. They lost to the Winnipeg Jets in the second round. McLean survived a plane crash near Kamsack in April.

That season was the last time Estevan played in the WCHL. In June, it was announced the team was being moved to New Westminster, B.C. Estevan had been one of the smallest centres for a major junior hockey operation and the New West area had a population of about 50,000 at the time.

The city of Estevan was left without a junior hockey team until the city quickly coughed up $14,000 for a grant for a new team to play in the newly reformed Saskatchewan Amateur Junior

Hockey League. Bud John and Wayne Wettherstrand were the new managers for the Aud. Among the newer people for the now-community-run organization, Ray Frehlick was named the team’s first president. Gary McKechney ran the on-ice product but McLean would return for the fall camp to help pare down the roster.

Some of that season’s home games would be played in Bismarck, N.D. due to a contract they’d signed with that city.

By the time the SAJHL started, the Bruins had a team scraped together and won their first game 6-4 over the Weyburn Red Wings. Carter Sears scored a hat trick for the Bruins.

The on-ice product was rough. In a game with Weyburn just before Christmas that year, a scene that wouldn’t have been out of place in the movie Slapshot saw one linesman get injured for stitches breaking up fights while the other suffered numerous cuts breaking up other fights.

The Bruins lost to the Humboldt Broncos in the league final in their first season back in the league.

The 1973-74 season, McKechney’s team bettered Dwight McMillan and Weyburn in the regular season standings, but the Bruins lost the league final to the Prince Albert Raiders. The final game saw 1,606 paying fans in the Aud. When the following season’s team struggled a bit out of the gate, the team sold leading scorer Brian Hill to Medicine Hat for $2,000. The Bruins still finished only a couple of points behind Swift Current’s first place overall squad in 1974-75. Weyburn won the playoff round against the Bruins.

Lorne Frey took over the head coaching duties that summer, and news came that franchise legend Munro had died in Calgary.

The team finished the 197576 season in third place, just barely above .500, and lost in the first round to Melville.

In the 1976-77 season, the Bruins got off to their slowest start in team history, going their first six games without a win. The Aud was out of service

for a while due to nearby construction at the curling rink. By the time the midway point of the season happened, the Bruins were 19 points out of a playoff position and Frey was axed.

McKechney stepped back into the role of head coach with Doc Stephen named manager. The 1977-78 team finished in third in the division to Moose Jaw and Regina and lost to Regina in the first round of the playoffs.

But off the ice, problems continued. The team was swimming in $20,000 in debt. McKechney returned to guide the team on the ice for 1978-79 but the Bruins were stuck in last place by the end of October and the Aud was on the fritz again. They played two home games in Midale early on, rescheduling some road games as well. For the second time in three seasons, the Bruins were on the outside looking in when it came to the playoffs.

The 1980s For the 1979-80 season, the Aud was ok and the team on the ice was looking better as well, earning second place to Moose Jaw, 21 points behind them in the standings. McKechney was named coach of the year and the team faced the Regina Pat Blues in the first round of the playoffs.

Rough hockey prevailed that day, with eight fighting majors among 28 penalties in the first period of the first game. The Bruins won the series but were knocked out in the second round by Moose Jaw in six games.

The Bruins returned a lot of players for the 198081 season but struggled to score goals and still finished second to the Canucks. McKechney added 14-year-old Bryan Wells to the roster briefly toi try to add a spark and the Moosomin product played

One of the best Bruins teams - and memories - of all time, the 1985 team that won the SJHL title and the Anavet Cup. a full season the following year with the Bruins before a WHL career with Brandon and Regina. Moose Jaw rolled over Estevan in a four-game sweep in the playoffs.

McKechney’s team struggled again out of the gate in 1981-82. They lost five games in a row at home during the season, and this time McKechney couldn’t survive the downfall. Rod Fagerheim was appointed head coach. Ron Dunville, the franchise’s alltime leading scorer at the time, left to play in Fort McMurray for the Oil Barons of the AJHL. Wells and Blaine Chrest played for the Bruins full time as 15-year-olds for a 17-40-3 team that missed the playoffs by a couple of area codes.

It was also a tumultous time in the SJHL. Three teams folded or moved, with the Saskatoon Js and the Regina Pat Blues folding and the Prince Albert Raiders moving to the WHL. Things didn’t immediately improve the next season for the Bruins. The 1982-83 version of the team lost Wells but forward Alan May emerged as a star for the team attempting to

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was Harvey Fleming from Regina. Melville won in the first round over the 30-33-1 Bruins.

Fleming announced he wouldn’t return for the 1984-85 season and the Bruins were once again looking for a coach. They found Yorkton’s Gerry James, who sold a number of players to Estevan before accepting the job (hmmmm...) and tried to sell the Terriers team he owned. When he failed to do so, Max Chambers picked up the pieces of that franchise while James moved to Estevan.

James installed a winning team attitude in Estevan, as the team climbed to second place overall behind Weyburn by the end of the year. They beat Lloydminster and North Battleford in the first two rounds and set up a league final between the Highway 39 rivals. The Bruins took game one in double overtime with a goal from John Davis, and the second game was played in B6 »Gerry

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The seventh place Bruins were streaky and that cost Fagerheim and general manager Ernie Wells their jobs, with the team’s board installing Larry Hornung behind the bench. They lost to Yorkton in the first round of the playoffs, outscored 42-9.

Chrest scored 109 points in 64 games for the Bruins but that wasn’t the biggest news. The team was now $100,000 in debt and the public was asked to help out for $500 shares in the club in a Save The Bruins campaign. The public was able to come up with the money, just in time to see Chrest’s WHL rights traded from Brandon to Portland.

Chrest came back after a short stint with the WHL’s Winterhawks in the 1983-84 season to help the Bruins improve while scoring 61 points in 33 games. However, he broke his collarbone in a game in Humboldt and missed a big part of the season. Hornung resigned, and in his place

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B6 September 13, 2017

Estevan Mercury

Celebrating BRUINS’ 60TH SEASON

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Gerry James wins with the team in mid 1980s « B5 front of an announced crowd of 2,060 at the Aud. It wasn’t just standing room only, as fans sat on staircases and climbed to the rafters to watch the Bruins win 4-2.

Weyburn roared back to eventually push the series to seven games. Serge Poulin scored the winning goal with five minutes left for the Bruins to win the SJHL title. The Bruins then met the MJHL’s Selkirk Steelers in the Anavet Cup, winning in five games to set up a chance to go to the Centennial Cup. But the Bruins could go no further, and lost to the Penticton Knights in the western final.

James had his work cut out for him to improve on that performance. They won seven of eight to start the 1985-86 season and were 13-1-1 after the first 15 games, scoring an average of over five goals per game. Adrian Sakundiak – one of the players brought over by James – scored 70 goals in 52 games and ended the season with a league record of 81.

The Bruins finished 47-11-2, but were 16 points shy of the 56-4-0 Humboldt Broncos. The teams met in the SJHL final with the Broncos winning in seven games.

In the off-season, James inked a new two-year deal to stay with the Bruins. The 1986-87 season began with quite a few players gradu-

ating or otherwise leaving.

The Bruins went 25-36-3 for the season to finish in sixth place and lost in five games to Lloydminster in the first round of the playoffs.

The 1987-88 season started terribly, with Mark Nermyr of the Minot Americans getting a broken neck from a check by Danny McKersie of the Bruins in a pre-season game. Nermyr spoke of no ill feelings to McKersie despite having to relearn how to walk in the months of recovery. While the team went through ups and downs in the first half of the season, then James quit to become the new head coach of the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors just before Christmas. Ken Ireland was hired as coach and Jim Harrison was brought on as the team’s general manager.

The team finished 29-29-2 for fifth place and were chosen by second place Humboldt to be their first round playoff opponent.

The Broncos won in five games.

Harrison fired Ireland and brought in former Bruin Skip Krake to help out behind the bench, while the league saw a couple of franchises shift. Lloydminster jumped to the AJHL and the Weyburn Red Wings were nearly sold to a Melfort group. That attempted sale fell through but Melfort was granted an expansion team for the 1988-89 season.

The Bruins started 1988-89 with a 7-2 record.

The success was short-lived however and Krake was shuffled out to move Harrison behind the bench full time. The Bruins finished 30-33-1 to finish fourth in the South Division. They were swept by the Humboldt Broncos in the first round.

The 1990s Before the 1989-90 season, Harrison left for the Kelowna Spartans of the BCHL. The team reached into their past once again to find their next management team, deciding on Bill Shinske as manager. He installed Kevin Ginnell, 27, as head coach.

The team stormed out to an 8-3-3 record out of the gate and entered the Christmas break at 16-12-6. But that success was short lived and the rest of the league caught up to the Bruins, who were 30-30-8 by the end of the season and in third place in the SJHL South.

Weyburn, who finished 25 points ahead of the Bruins, won the first round series in six games.

The 1990-91 team struggled to 7-17-2 after the first 26 games of the season and sputtered until Ginnell was canned in late January. Doug Sauter took over behind the bench for the rest of the season, and while the team slightly im-

proved, they couldn’t catch Notre Dame for the last playoff position.

The club lost $68,000 on the season for a total debt of over $100,000. They also had to find a coach for the 1991-92 campaign. Bob Robson joined the team as head coach. The team’s fortunes improved greatly as experience and talent combined for Robson, who was able to push the team to first overall by the new year.

But Robson announced his retirement from hockey in January due to an illness. He was admitted to St. Joseph’s Hospital and the Bruins eventually found Ron Kennedy. Kennedy helped lead the team to a final record of 45-16-3 to win the regular season banner for the South Division. The playoffs rolled the Bruins’ way until the league final against Melfort, where they lost in five games.

The team’s finances were in a much better position but Kennedy moved on to coach in Europe the following season leaving the Bruins to once again search for a head coach.

Doug Hedley, 34, was brought in and the team started 1992-93 with a 7-3 record. They held on to second place in the division through much of the first half but lost 12 of 17 after Christmas. They salvaged enough to finish the year in third place in the division at

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32-26-6 and upset the Yorkton Terriers in the first round, only to lose to Melville in the South Division final.

The real rebuilding project began then, though, as Hedley had to replace a lot of the team’s leading scorers, goaltenders and defencemen for the 199394 season. The team still finished in fourth place in the division with a 27-32-9 season but lost in five games

in the survivor series to the Notre Dame Hounds.

Both Shinske and Hedley were brought back for 1994-95. The Bruins again settled for fourth place in the division but Shinske died Feb. 13 after a lengthy illness. The Bruins swept Melville in the survivor series but were defeated by the Lebret Eagles, who finished first in the south.

B7 » Bruins

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Celebrating BRUINS’ 60TH SEASON

Bruins have mixed success with many coaching changes

HAPPY 60TH ANNIVERSARY

« B6 As the 1995-96 season got underway, the Bruins were strong and the year in second place at 38-17-9.

After dispatching of Lebret in the first round, the Bruins battled Yorkton in the south final. The Terriers won in seven games, winning the final three games.

Hedley was let go after that season, and the Bruins’ search for a head coach ended with former assistant coach and new GM Glen Watson bringing in Morey Gare. With Gare, the Bruins started the 1996-97 season 8-2-1. Soon thereafter, the Bruins went on a skid and struggled to recover. They finished the year 19-38-7 and swept the Minot Top Guns in the survivor series.

But the second round of the playoffs saw the Bruins blasted by Weyburn.

Gare left after the season and Watson took over behind the bench. The team finished 28-29-7 in the 1997-98 regular season, the franchise’s 40th. Their record meant they had to battle Weyburn once again in the South Division semifinal, and Weyburn won once again, this time in five games.

The 1998-99 season saw reason for optimism as the team was returning a lot of their roster and perhaps had had enough of losing to Weyburn. Turned out, that optimism was well-placed.

The Bruins started out the season 8-1-1, and continued on to roll through the league. Players like Marco Cefalo, Tyler Fleck, Brant Kersey, Graham Schendler and goaltender Dave Guererra led the team to a 44-14-8 regular season. They beat Melville, Notre Dame and Humboldt to win the SJHL. They then took care of the OCN Blizzard of the MJHL

to head on to the Royal Bank Cup national championship in Yorkton.

They lost 6-1 in the opening game to the host Terriers, and fell 4-3 to the Bramalea Blues of Ontario.

The Bruins stepped up and beat the Charlottetown Abbies 5-4 but lost 3-2 to the Vernon Vipers to end their quest.

The 2000s The success the team had in the 1998-99 season couldn’t carry over into the following year. Glen Watson resigned to go to Prince George Spruce Kings of the BCHL. Estevan’s own Nick Sereggela was chosen to be the new head coach after three years as an assistant.

The team was 14-14-5 at the Christmas break but struggled the rest of the way to finish 20-32-8 for fifth place, earning them a spot in the round robin first round.

Somehow despite losing two of the games, they ended up advancing to face the Melville Millionaires in the next round. The Bruins lost in five games.

Just six players returned for the 2000-01 campaign.

The Bruins struggled out of the gate to start the season and ended up 19-32-5-4 on the year, bad enough to miss the playoffs. Sereggela came back the following season and the Bruins started the turnaround.

They went 8-3-1 in their first 12 games of the 200102 season with goaltender Mike Clague but he got hurt in November and the team didn’t recover. After an off-ice incident involving Clague, Sereggela was dismissed and Kelly Lovering was brought in to coach the team. Lovering dealt Clague to B.C. and traded popular Brad Herauf to North Battleford. The team ended the

The Estevan Bruins in game action in 2011 at Spectra Place, now Affinity Place. year 29-25-4-6 and faced Humboldt in the first round.

The Broncos won in five games.

Lovering was brought back with a new contract and 16 players returned for the 2002-03 season. The optimism couldn’t translate into wins and Lovering resigned in the middle of the season. The team’s assistant coaches Doug Trapp and Darcy Haugan took over for the season as interim coaches. The Bruiins finished the year 19-32-5-4, out of the playoffs.

They brought in Kelvin MacKay as head coach and general manager for the 2003-04 season. Moving veterans out for younger players, the team went 2123-8-8 and missed the playoffs due to their head-tohead record with Yorkton,

with whom they were tied in points.

After moving a lot of players in and out, MacKay picked up goaltender Juliano Pagliero from Fort McMurray in the offseason and then Bear Trapp, who was one of the SJHL’s top scorers. The Bruins ended up 34-14-6-1 in the 2004-05 regular season but lost the chance to chose their playoff opposition after an opening round round robin. Humboldt was their opposition for the first round and they were swept by the Bruins in four games.

Yorkton won the semifinal in seven games.

MacKay was brought back for 2005-06 but the team fell apart that year on the ice. Karry Biette was chosen as the team’s new head coach, to mixed results.

The Bruins ended the year in

sixth place. 13-36-3-3.

The 2006-07 Bruins jumped out to a 10-5-2 record under Biette. They ended the campaign 31-213-3 but lost in six games in the quarterfinal round to Yorkton. Off the ice, the team began to be the focus of fundraising for a new arena to replace the creaky old Aud. And while the 2007-08 season started out well on the ice, the team lost five gaems in a row around the Christmas break. Kaelin Wong, Kyle Stroh, Kyle Ermel and Payden Benning were chosen for the all-star game. They begin the 2008 new year with a bit of a jump in their step, and climbed to 29-25-2-2 for fourth place in the Sherwood Conference and a date with Yorkton in the survivor series. They lost

that series, but Biette was re-signed for a new contract, The 2008-09 Bruins started the year with a bit of a whiff, going 2-5-1 to start.

They climbed back a bit thanks to a stretch of a few wins in a row to 15-15-1-3 by the middle of December thanks to the acquisition of players Scott Doucet, Mike Dopko and Ty Ariss. The team’s high point was likely a 14-0 win over the visiting Melville Millionaires in January that saw 195 penalty minutes, with Doucet collecting seven points in the game. But the team ended the year 24-25-3-4 with an opening round to the survivor series against Kindersley. The Klippers won a hard-fought series 3-2, including a 5-4 overtime win in Kindersley in Game 5.

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B8 September 13, 2017

Estevan Mercury

Celebrating BRUINS’ 60TH SEASON

GO BRUINS GO!

GO BRUINS GO!

GO BRUINS GO!

Team moves into shiny new hockey arena « B7

The 2010s In the off-season, it was announced the team lost $34,577 for a total debt load of $234,077 as the fundraising for the new facility continued. The 2009-10 season on the ice got started with a split with Melville and the team’s first 10 games went 5-4-0-1. A trade with the MJHL’s Neepawa shortly after that meant the team acquired their leading scorer, Anthony Collins, as part of a six-player deal. The team fell to 9-17-2-2 and last place in the Sherwood Division by the beginning of December.

Biette cleaned house, trading four players and winning two of the next three games. That couldn’t last, however and the team fell further behind Melville for fifth place. Three more players were dealt at the deadline, veterans Colton McPherson, Liam Brennan and leading scorer Chad Filteau. They ended the year out of the playoffs with an 18-36-2-2 record.

The off-season saw the Bruins cautiously give Biette a one-year extension.

“If we’re not in the top three at Christmas, and I think we should be, but if we’re not and the executive wants to get rid of me, I’ll be happy to walk out the door and hand over everything to the next guy with no hard feelings,” Biette told Daniel Hendriksen of the Mercury in the Sept 15, 2010 edition on the eve of the 2010-11 season.

And the season started with a sweep of Melville and clicked along at 13-61-1 by the middle of November as Spectra Place was being built. The team lost 10 of 13 heading into Christmas to drop the team

into fourth place. Biette was relieved of his duties, with assistant Chad Leslie and Rick Oakes taking over on an interim basis.

The Bruins finished 29-23-4-2, good enough for fourth in the Sherwood Division and a survivor series playoff date with Melville.

They lost a heartbreaker 5-4 in triple overtime of Game 3 against the mills to fall down 2-1 in the series, but recovered to win in five games and play in the next round against Yorkton, where they were swept.

With Spectra Place opening in the spring of 2011, a new head coach was going to be in place for the Bruins in time for the team to move into the shiny new arena. They turned to Keith Cassidy, a 36-year-old former head coach with Selkirk of the MJHL. A torch ceremony that included Ray Frehlick and Gary McKechney helped open Spectra Place Sept. 17 for the Bruins, a game the team won 8-4 over Melville.

Calder Neufeld scored the Bruins’ first goal in the rink.

The Bruins battled for first place in a tight Sherwood Conference, starting the year 12-7 and headed into Christmas with a 20-18-0-1 record, still good enough for second.

But the team stumbled after that, ending up in fourth place with a 28-28-02 record. That earned them a survivor series with Notre Dame, which the Bruins swept to put them against Weyburn in the following round. The Red Wings swept Estevan, ending the season but with room for optimism the following year.

With 20-year-olds aplenty, Cassidy and the Bruins marched into camp with second year players

Last season, the Bruins battle the Flin Flon Bombers, Jake Fletcher reaches for the puck at Affinity Place. like Austin Yano and Tyler Kauk, along with Darcy DeRoose who was reassigned by Moose Jaw of the WHL. But the Bruins started 2-7-1 in their first 10 games.

Off the ice, the team announced a profit of over $200,000 on the previous season – largely due to increased revenue at Spectra Place.

But the sluggish start on the ice led to a major shake up, with the team trading Yano for Brett Blatz while picking up Alex Cote.

In December, 2012, the team dealt with the resignation of Oakes, the team’s director of player development for 12 years. Within two weeks, he’d join the Red Deer Rebels scouting staff. The team on the ice struggled to a 14-23-3 record after the Jan. 10 trade

CONGRATULATIONs

60

deadline, even after reacquiring the previous season’s leading scorer Dylan Smith. But the Bruins edged into a playoff position, once again into a survivor series – this time with Kindersley.

They beat the Klippers in that series and survived to play Yorkton, who would win the series in five games.

The offseason before 2013-14 was a busy one.

Cassidy was dismissed as head coach and general manager after two seasons and a search was on for the new coach. That May, the search ended when the Bruins signed Chris Lewgood, a 31-year-old former coach of the Prairie Junior Hockey League’s Pilot Butte Storm.

“I think there are a lot of good elements in place,” said Lewgood at the time of his hiring.

The team relied heavily on local players Austin Daae and Tanner Froese. The Viterra Division’s Bruins finished in third place in the

on

SEASONS! Good Luck This Year!

regular season at 27-20-9, beating the Flin Flon Bombers in a tough five-game series in the first round. But they lost in the next round to North Battleford again.

The following season was a bit of a rebuild, with Lewgood patient as the team tried to recapture a sense of stability on the ice. The 2227-1-6 Bruins were only five points behind first place in a particularly weak Viterra Division but stood in third place in the division once the season was over. Still, the Bruins put up a good fight in the first round of the playoffs before losing to North Battleford.

But the 2015-16 regular season started out and finished much better. Reacquiring DeRoose in the offseason, Lewgood’s team started out the regular season 4-1. The team picked up Tyson Predinchuk in a trade, and he ended up scoring 20 points in 18 games. Captain Keegan Allison was sec-

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ond on the team in scoring to DeRoose, with Lynden Pastachak in third place once the 35-20-0-3 regular season was finished. But the team lost in the first round to the Nipawin Hawks, including a heartbreaking 2-1 loss at home in game six. All four of the Bruins’ losses in the playoffs were by one goal.

Undeterred, the Bruins rolled into 2016-17 in search of scoring and Lewgood found it in a trade with Drayton Valley. He brought in 20-year-olds Matt McNeill and Jason Miller and those two players led the team in scoring, helping the Bruins finish first for the first time in the Viterra Division with a 37-18-1-1 record – 16 points better than second-place Yorkton.

The Bruins got great years from veterans like overage defenceman Josh Rieger and forward Pastachak. While they rolled over Yorkton in the first round, they ended up dropping out in four straight to the eventual SJHL champion North Battleford, getting outscored 23-8.

That brings the Bruins to the beginning of the 2017-18 season – their 60th in existence. They begin their season with an opening weekend against – who else? - the Melville Millionaires. The Bruins are a franchise with a long history of near misses but seem to be on the verge of a very good season. Maybe this is the year they win it all?

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September 13, 2017 B9

Celebrating BRUINS’ 60TH SEASON

Ah, the memories of the Black and Gold Before I moved to Estevan 17 years ago, one of the first things I needed to know was how much hockey I would get to watch.

After all, if I was going to pack up my worldly belongings and move a third of the way across the country, I was going to need some quality hockey to watch during the winter months. Since I was from B.C.’s Lower Mainland, I couldn’t envision myself doing anything else, other than shivering.

So I was pretty delighted to find out that Estevan was home to a junior A hockey team. I didn’t know much else about the team, but I learned quickly that the Estevan Bruins had a proud tradition, excellent community support and, at one time, were the Saskatchewan affiliate of the Boston Bruins.

This was good news.

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the Black and Gold since I came to Estevan in 2000.

They missed the playoffs four of the first six years I covered the team. They went 12 years between appearances in the league’s semifinal.

But that doesn’t mean there haven’t been some fond memories for myself, and other Bruin supporters, in the 21st century.

Here are a few of them.

1. Western Canada Cup. Earlier this year, I lamented the demise of the Western Canada Cup Ju-

nior A hockey tournament.

As current Bruins head coach/GM Chris Lewgood said, it was the best junior A hockey tournament in the world.

For 10 days in late April and early May last year, Estevan hockey fans were treated to some of the best hockey they have seen in the last 45 years. We watched some of the elite junior A hockey players in the world at that time. Cale Makar, who was selected fourth overall by the Colorado Avalanche in June’s NHL Entry Draft, was a standout at the tournament.

The Bruins went 0-4 and didn’t make the playoffs, but they weren’t overmatched.

How big of a deal was the tournament? My dad timed his annual trip to Saskatchewan so that he would be able to take in some games.

A great week indeed.

2. Spectra’s opening night: I’ve had the pleasure of being at the opening game for two hockey arenas. The first was GM Place (now Rogers Arena) in Vancouver in 1995, when my beloved Canucks faced the Detroit Red Wings.

The other was in 2011, when the Bruins opened Spectra Place (now Affinity Place) against the Melville Millionaires, and won 8-4. Calder Neufeld scored the first goal at Affinity, tapping in a Dylan Smith pass into a wide open net on a power play early in the first period.

The first time I walked into the complete Affinity Place in 2011, I marvelled

Congratulations on 60 years of

Junior Hockey

at the magnificent addition to our community. Sometimes, I still find myself in awe of how impressive it is.

Affinity Place remains one of the finest junior A rinks in the country. We are very lucky to have it in our city, and to spend those cold winter nights watching hockey in that venue.

It’s as impressive as the day it opened.

3. No. 1 at Christmas: This one is bittersweet.

The 2004-05 Estevan Bruins are the best Bruin team I’ve covered. They were the top team in the country at Christmas that season, and they had a realistic shot of winning the RBC Cup, which was conveniently in Weyburn that season.

They had a 3-2 series lead in the league semifinal against the Yorkton Terriers. After losing Game 6, they came back to the Civic Auditorium for Game 7.

The Bruins held leads of 2-0 and 3-2, but lost 4-3 that night.

My most vivid memory of junior hockey is watching Barry Sparvier skate through the neutral zone, freeze Bruin defender Derek Wilhelm with a shot attempt, and then score the winner on a shot from the blue line midway through the third period.

It was still a fun season to cover the team. Not only was the club loaded with talent, but they had nearly 10 players from southeast Saskatchewan.

On a personal note, I grew a playoff beard that year, and didn’t shave

for six weeks. It actually looked pretty good by the end of the playoff run.

To quote one former coworker, after six weeks, all the gaps filled in.

4. First games: Fans have fond memories of their first game. So do I. The Bruins defeated the Yorkton Terriers 6-4 in a preseason game in early September 2000. Bromhead’s Lonny Forrester scored a spectacular goal that was foreshadowing of what local fans would see for the next three years.

Eight days later, the Bruins defeated the Melville Millionaires 4-2 in the home opener. The Bruins didn’t have a lot of highlights that year, but that was one of them.

I was pretty lost that first season. Thankfully, Nick Sereggela, the club’s coach and general manager of the day, and other members of the club were understanding.

5. Got the convert: It wasn’t the most lopsided win I’ve seen, but a 14-0 rout of the Melville Millionaires in 2009 was the most memorable. Melville went to the league final that year, and their goalie, Travis Bosch, was a strong MVP candidate.

But on that night, everything seemed to go in. Melville had an early two-man advantage, but after that, the Bruins took over, and led 7-0 after the first period.

Hockey Hall of Famer Lanny McDonald was in attendance that night. Perhaps the Bruins should have brought him in more often.

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