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Bruins’ slump continues

The team is fighting for a playoff spot.
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The Castlegar Rebels made a strong offensive showing at home on Friday, going on to best the Bruins 6-2. (Kathleen Saylors/Grand Forks Gazette)

By Gerry Foster

During the Border Bruins’ slide over the past few weeks, one tries their best to look for the positives.

It was Lyndon B. Johnson who said, “Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.”

On that note, as we recap two more losses for the Bruins, we’ll try and find some positives while looking ahead to their final eight games.

The three teams above them in the standings have a combined 163 points. This total is more than the other three divisions in the KIJHL — proof that the Neil Murdoch Division is gruelling.

Last weekend the Bruins faced the Castlegar Rebels and Nelson Leafs, teams who are in a dogfight for top spot in the Division. In fact, the Leafs and Rebels are tied with 57 points. This race for first place will go down to the wire.

Lurking in third place with 49 points are the Beaver Valley Nitehawks, winners of six games in a row. The team is returning to full strength after an injury-riddled season.

As they close out their schedule, Grand Forks will play the Nitehawks three times and the Leafs and Rebels twice. With the Spokane Braves lying only three points behind, it may yet come down to that final game of the season when the Bears host Spokane.

For the Border Bruins, “tomorrow is theirs to win or lose.”

Last Friday at home Castlegar jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead. Ross King started in goal for the Bruins but struggled. In addition, his teammates did not register their first shot on goal until the 8:20 mark of the opening frame; oddly it was a shorthanded breakaway by Zane Avery.

Quinn Yeager replaced King in the net for the home team and stopped all but one of the 19 shots he faced in the second period. Meanwhile, Briar Whyte, the best player in the game for Grand Forks, scored his eighth goal of the season, also notching an assist on a third period tally by Cole Kapak. Whyte played with energy and effort, and deservedly, was chosen the Bruins star of the game.

The following night the team travelled to Nelson, a squad which plays a rough and intimidating brand of hockey. The Leafs trail only Revelstoke as the most penalized team in the league.

It was a better effort in this game for Grand Forks. Both teams were scoreless after one. While killing a penalty in the first period, Bruins Reese Tambellini used his speed to break in alone on the Nelson net but was foiled by Leafs’ new goalie Caiden Kreitz.

Kreitz has been playing in Junior A for the Calgary Canucks. Joined by Josh Williams, Nelson now has one of the strongest goaltending tandems in the league.

Nelson’s Ryan Cooper opened the scoring with the man advantage in the second period. The Bruins responded with a power-play goal of their own four minutes later; Tambellini pulling the trigger, and it was a beauty. Incredibly, it was his first goal since Oct. 27. August Demaere and Avery assisted on the goal.

The score remained 2-1 late into the third period in this penalty-filled affair. The Bruins pulled goaltender Yeager for an extra attacker with just over a minute to go. However, the Bears were unable to apply any pressure; Nelson scored two empty net goals, making it a 4-1 final.

Fans are waiting for the Border Bruins to put together three consistent periods. Do that and they will pick up a win or two, make the playoffs, and as they say, the playoffs are a ‘new’ season.

They cannot go back and replay games from earlier in the year. But the remaining eight games are theirs to win or lose.

It begins with two home games this weekend. On Friday they host Beaver Valley followed by a Saturday matchup with Nelson.

Fans may be interested in knowing that a former Bruins player is having a fine Junior A career with the Nipawin Hawks. Logan Casavant, with the Bruins in the 2015-16 season, is fourth in scoring for the Hawks. Nipawin is currently the top team in the SJHL and is the sixth-ranked team in Canada.