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OUR VIEW FEB. 13: Go out and cheer the Grand Forks Border Bruins in their final game

The Grand Forks Border Bruins play their final game Sunday and what better way to send them off then by packing the house?

The Grand Forks Border Bruins close their 2012/13 campaign with games against the Ghostriders in Fernie on Friday and then with an afternoon home game against the Spokane Braves in Grand Forks Sunday afternoon.

While the community won’t see any postseason hockey, the players have been visible in the community helping out at some of the Grand Forks and District Public Library’s Fabulous Friday events, the Grand Forks Rotary Club’s Halloween Bonfire and Black Press and the Grand Forks Gazette’s Reach-A-Reader literacy campaign last fall.

Local players Brandon Savaia and Tyler Van Camp said that they love it when Grand Forks Arena is full and that is why everyone should make it out to the team’s final home game Sunday to support the team in its last game of the season.

If you look strictly at the standings, see this season’s 8-39-0-3 record and the team sitting at the bottom of the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League’s Neil Murdoch division, it’s easy to say that it was another bad season but that’s not the case.

Consider, the team went 1-49-0-2 last season and it was blown out in a number of games with only 106 goals for and 455 against.

This season, Grand Forks Border Bruins’ head coach and general manager Nick Deschenes has the team playing better than it has at any point last season. The team is able to compete for most of its games.

While the team seemed out of its element on a number of occasions last season it doesn’t this season and at a home game against Revelstoke, where there was a big crowd, the team managed to win 7-4, so why not pack Grand Forks Arena for the last game of the season? It will be the last chance to do so until September when the season starts again.

The players have been working hard and it is showing with eight times as many wins as the season previous and whether you believe it or not, a rabid crowd can make a difference between a win and a loss as players can feed off the energy.

And if that isn’t enough to convince you to cheer on the team in its final home game, Roxul is sponsoring the game and there will be free admittance to all.

A packed arena would mean a lot to the players and it might even contribute to a win.

– Grand Forks Gazette