The Border Bruins played just one game last weekend, out of five remaining on their schedule before playoffs begin. They travelled to Castlegar on Friday night to face the Rebels, who have slipped to fourth in the division but have a spot in the playoffs secured.
At 8:04 of the first period, Reid Schechtel played the puck across ice at the Rebels blue line to Logan McCabe, who skated to the slot past two Rebels to get a shot through traffic which beat Zach Veninsky to put the Bruins on the board first. The Rebels had a quick response, with Jace Kramer tying the game 35 seconds later unassisted with a shot from the half-wall.
McCabe added his second of the night early in the second period, gloving down a pass from Jace Koole and driving in for a shot short-side from the hash marks. Grand Forks extended their lead with a power play goal by Keenan Holland five minutes later, with assists to Russell Kosec and Brandon Gray. In the middle of the period, Nash Wassing scored twice, first from Ben Edwards and Theo Naidu, then from Levi Astill. Ben Edwards added another, unassisted, with a short-handed goal scored in the late stages of a Bruins' five-minute major penalty, for the Bears' sixth of the night. Aidan Hicks picked up a goal for the Rebels during that same penalty, earning a power play goal set up by Brayden Vopat and Jordan Burnham.
There were three Bruins goals in the third period, with Keelan Wyke getting his second of the season at 3:25 from Hunter Paterson and Ashton Schram. Tyler Burke added a power play goal set up by Nash Wassing and Logan McCabe, and with less than a minute left in the game, Levi Astill scored his 31st goal of the season from Carter Price. The final score on Friday night was 9-2 for the Bruins.
Only having a single game on the Bruins' schedule allowed some other teams to move up in the standings, with the Revelstoke Grizzlies and Princeton Posse joining the Bruins in a three-way tie for first in the league.
The Beaver Valley Nitehawks had a pair of wins which moved them to seven points behind the Bruins in the Neil Murdoch division - with both teams having four games left on the schedule, either one more Bruins win or a single Nitehawks loss will clinch the division for Grand Forks for the second time in three years.
The Rebels sit four points behind the Nelson Leafs but hold two games in hand so the exact seeding of the Murdoch division playoffs is still up in the air.
The Bruins' records continue to be broken, and there are a few that still might fall before the season is up. In the last two weeks, Russell Kosec broke the record for most career points scored by a Bruins defenceman - he's currently at 79 points, tied for 19th overall and 8 points ahead of the previous record for a d-man. With 30 wins so far this season, the Bruins are likely to put this season into the books as the second-most winning season in team history - the 1979-80 team had 31 wins in 40 games, and the 1992-93 squad had 37 wins out of 42 games.
The Bruins play twice next weekend, starting in Spokane on Saturday, Feb. 15, night against the Braves, and wrapping with a home matinee against the Nitehawks on Sunday, Feb. 16 afternoon at 2 p.m.
The Castlegar Rebels, the most likely first-round opponent for the Bruins, will be in town on Tuesday, February 18, for the Bruins' last home game of the regular season, and the Bears will wrap up the season in Fruitvale on Friday, February 21, against the Nitehawks.
With playoffs just around the corner, Pack the Jack to cheer on the Bruins in their final two home games on Sunday and Tuesday.
