The Grand Forks Border Bruins went 1-1-1 on a busy weekend that saw them play three games in three days. The Bears beat Spokane 5-2 Sunday, lost 5-1 in Nelson Saturday, and tied Columbia Valley 3-3 at home Friday.
“We played pretty well,” said head coach Nick Deschenes. “Our biggest challenge was Nelson, of course. It was good to play them and see where we match up and for our players to see where they might ascribe to be.”
The Nelson Leafs, who are a perfect 5-0 so far this year, are hosting the Cyclone Taylor Cup this season and have loaded up with many veterans looking for a shot at the provincial Junior B title.
“If you look at their line-up, they’re almost a year or two older than us,” said Deschenes. “It’s almost like a bantam team playing a midget team. I was okay with our response. We got better as the game went on. I think it just gives us more fuel.”
On Friday at the Grand Forks Arena (GFA), the Bruins tied Columbia Valley 3-3 after blowing at two goal third period lead.
A pair of third period short-handed goals from Ryan Henderson enabled the Columbia Valley Rockies to steal a point in Grand Forks Friday night, forcing a 3-3 tie at GF Arena Friday night.
“I can take responsibility for that,” said Deschenes. “It was maybe a lack of coaching on my end. It reiterates that a two goal lead is something that needs to be protected a bit more. We kind of opened ourselves up to their aggressive penalty kill. We knew that going in. That was a misread from a coaching standpoint as well as a little bit from a personnel standpoint.”
The Border Bruins led for most of the game behind the continued strong play of veterans Jackson Purvis and Connor Gross.
After a scoreless first period, Purvis opened up the scoring with a power play marker at 14:58 of the second, assisted by Gross and Dakota Kittle.
Bradley Pulombo tied the game for Columbia Valley at 1-1 a short time later.
Cam McLellan gave GF a 2-1 lead with 2:22 left in the second with another Bruins' power play marker, assisted by Gross and Kittle.
Purvis' second goal of the game gave the Bruins a commanding 3-1 lead at 11:31 of the third period.
Perhaps the Bruins should have declined the penalties the Rockies picked up late in the third.
The teams played two overtime periods to no avail and settled for the tie.
Dominic Stadnyk was in goal for GF and stopped 31 of 34 shots.
On Saturday in Nelson, the Bears were blown out 5-1 by the undefeated Leafs, who were led by a hat-trick from Travis Wellman. Jackson Purvis scored the lone goal for GF midway through the third period.
Sunday at GFA, the Bruins got their groove back, beating Spokane for the third time this year, 5-2.
Purvis and Lincoln Lane scored two goals each for the Bruins, while Connor Gross added a single.
Dominic Stadnyk was solid between the pipes stopping 43 of 45 Spokane shots. The Braves outshot the Bruins 45-24.
“This was the first time for a lot of players to play three games in two and a half days,” said Deschenes. “It’s a real mental challenge. You have to get up and compete. I thought we did an okay job. We could’ve cleaned up our play a big more. We were a little sloppy at times. But it was a big win. This is a team that we have to stay above. So it was an important win for us.”
The Bruins have only one game this weekend, a Friday night battle in Summerland against the Steam.
Grand Forks is currently in third place in the Neil Murdoch division with a 4-3-1-0 record, one point ahead of Castlegar.
Purvis and Gross continue to both punish the opposition offensively. Purvis is in first place in the KIJHL with nine goals and ten assists for 19 points in nine games. Gross is second with five goals and 13 assists for 18 points in nine games.