With Estevan and Flin Flon gearing up for a clash in the SJHL finals, here is where both teams stand before Game 1 tonight.
The Bombers and Bruins played each other four times this regular season, with Estevan taking a 3-1 advantage. The Bombers defeated the Bruins at home Nov. 19, but dropped a game to Estevan the next night. Three of those games were one-goal games, with the first one, a 3-1 Estevan win at Affinity Place back in October, the sole exception.
In all four games, the winning team took the lead late in the third period or through an overtime goal.
Estevan has scored more goals than any other SJHL team this playoffs - 43 in total - while allowing the fewest goals against, including teams that were eliminated in the first round.
Both the Bombers and Bruins enter the series on heaters. The teams are both undefeated in regulation in their past nine games - the Bruins’ only loss so far took place in Game 1 against Notre Dame, when the Hounds won in overtime, while the Bombers took two losses in the first two games against Battlefords before going on a run, only losing once to Humboldt in overtime.
The series will be perhaps most even in the crease. Estevan’s Boston Bilous and Flin Flon’s Cal Schell have been evenly matched throughout the season and playoffs as arguably the league’s best goaltenders.
So far this playoff, Bilous has gone 8-0-1 with a 1.58 goals-against-average and a .938 save percentage. Schell has a 8-2-1 record and a 2.22 goals-against-average with a .923 save percentage, but since Game 3 of the first round, Schell has found another gear, with eight wins, two shutouts, a 1.49 goals-against-average and a .954 save percentage. Since the first two games, Schell has also not given up more than three goals in any game.
Through the Bruins’ playoff bid so far, it’s been all scoring, all the time. The Bruins have no fewer than seven players scoring at more than a point-per-game clip so far, led off by ex-major junior players Olivier Pouliot (17 points in eight games), Mark Rumsey (12 points in nine games) and Eric Houk (11 points in nine games). Others over the point-per-game mark are Eric Pearce (11 points in nine games), Dayton Deics (10 points in nine games), Kade Runke (10 points in nine games) and Mikol Sartor (10 points in nine games).
Not a single Bomber has more than a point-per-game pace so far this playoffs. Gabriel Shipper and Rylan Thiessen have been leading the way in scoring, with both players having 10 points in 11 games.
With Estevan loading up for a guaranteed berth in the Centennial Cup, the Bruins picked up a pile of former major junior players - Estevan has no fewer than nine former CHL players on its roster. Pouliot and Rumsey, who has recently committed to play next season at the Univ. of Saskatchewan, both came from the QMJHL, while seven others - Houk, Pearce, Runke, forward Mitch Kohner, defenders Nolan Jones and Billy Sowa and starting goalie Boston Bilous - have played at least 60 games of WHL hockey.
Meanwhile, a trio of Bombers - captain Zak Smith, defender Cory King and Thiessen - have major junior experience.
Two Bombers - SJHL defenceman of the year Xavier Lapointe and Jeremy Tremblay - have NCAA Division I commitments, compared to the Bruins, who have only one Division I commit, forward Caelan Fitzpatrick.
The Bombers will get an advantage on the injury front, as a pair of injured players - forwards Tremblay and Brett Wieschorster - are likely to be available for Game 1. Wieschorster has not played since April 2 in Game 2 against Humboldt, while the Bombers have been without Tremblay, the Sherwood division’s rookie of the year, since Jan. 25.
