Submitted by Kevin McKinnon
Grand Forks Border Bruins
The holiday break is approaching for the Border Bruins, and a pair of victories last weekend have ensured that the team will head into the break leading the Neil Murdoch division.
On Friday night, the Summerland Steam were in town for their one game versus the Border Bruins this year as part of the Okanagan crossover series. The Bruins were finally back to a full roster after playing a couple of weekends short players due to illness and a couple of suspensions – the Summerland squad wasn’t as fortunate and started the game a few players short.
The Bruins capitalized on that right from the start, with Russell Kosec scoring a power play goal midway through the first period. Later in the period, an awkward play saw a Bruin shot strike the mask of Summerland goaltender Ben Lewis and then roll down his back. Defenseman Zab De Guzman pounced down on the puck to keep it from rolling into the net, inadvertently triggering a penalty shot for the Bruins. Top scorer Spencer Horning took the shot skating in wide from the right side then cutting left and caught Lewis over the right shoulder. The Bruins led by 2 going into the first intermission.
The Bruins added two more in the second period, starting with a short-handed goal by Jonah Smith, who caught the puck at centre behind all five Steam players and had an unobstructed run all the way through the Steam’s zone catching a sprawling Lewis on the right side. In the last seconds of the period, Grand Forks kept the pressure on Summerland, with Maxim Lajoie passing the puck through the slot and past a pair of Summerland players to Chad Bates, who bounced the puck off the goaltenders pad into the net, giving the Bruins a four-goal lead.
Summerland got on the board early when their Captain, Cole Waldbillig, was left unattended at the point and got a shot straight through to the net and past Ethan Shebasky, who stopped 22 of 23 shots that night. With three minutes to go, Tyson Kistner fired a quick shot from the far point right into the net. The final score on Friday was a 5-1 victory for the Bruins.
On Saturday night, the Bruins were on the road in Castlegar. The Rebels struck first, with a mid-first period goal by Coen Grosjean. The Bruins got another second period buzzer-beater when, with just 2 seconds on the clock, Matteus Reis scored his ninth of the season to tie the game.
Goals were exchanged in the third period, with Chad Bates putting the Bruins ahead at 5:45. Bradley Beals tied the game for the Rebels with 1:28 left in the period which led to an uneventful overtime and ultimately a shootout.
Four shooters from each side were unable to beat Ewan Soutar, in net for his first game as a Bruin, and Ethan Lawczynski in net for the Rebels. On the fifth Bruins shot, Russell Kosec scored on Lawczynski with Aidan MacNeill unable to do the same against Soutar. Although the Rebels picked up a point, the Bruins rode home with two.
Elsewhere in the division, the Leafs losing streak extended to five games, putting the Bruins five points ahead of Nelson in the lead in the Murdoch division.
Grand Forks has a single game left before the holiday break, hosting the Kimberley Dynamiters on Saturday December 17. While some of the divisional teams will play New Years’ weekend, the Bruins will be off until January 6.