Bruins win gives hope for next games
By Michael Wirischagin
The Grand Forks Border Bruins improved their record to two wins and four losses by beating the Beaver Valley Nitehawks last Friday night since trading away Brent Lucente to the Peninsula Panthers of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League. However, the Bruins were unable to climb closer to the .500 mark in the post-Lucente era, losing on both Saturday and Sunday.
The Bruins weekend play started with a bang Friday night as the Bruins welcomed the ‘Hawks to the Grand Forks Arena. Grand Forks put themselves on the board early scoring on their first two shots.
Brennan Romanovitch scored on the Bears first shot of the game while Randy Tosoff scored on the Bruins second. Both goals were scored within the first two minutes of the game.
Beaver Valley was finally able to beat Bruins goaltender Tyler Stamler in the third period scoring twice to tie up the game. However, Bruins forward Gary Mahesh scored the game winner with 3:13 left to give the Bears the 3-2 win.
This was Mahesh’s second game winner of the season, and second in as many wins. Stamler finished the game for the Bruins stopping 42 of 44 shots, good enough for a 95.5 save percentage.
On Saturday, the Bruins took on the Castlegar Rebels, a team that Grand Forks has not beaten all season. The Rebels came out strong scoring the first two goals of the game before the Bruins answered back, scoring three times over the course of the final three minutes of the first period, to put themselves up 3-2 after 20 minutes.
Romanovitch scored once for the Bruins with Chris Vinette tallying the other two Grand Forks’ goals. Castlegar was able to tie the game up at 3-3 in the second period and took the lead for good in the third. Ryan Aynsley scored four of the six Castlegar goals in their 6-3 victory over the Border Bruins.
The Grand Forks Border Bruins finished off their three games in three days weekend schedule this past Sunday, travelling to Beaver Valley to take on the Nitehawks in a return match-up. While Grand Forks was looking to beat the ‘Hawks for the third time this season, Beaver Valley was looking for redemption after losing on Friday night. Grand Forks proved to be no match for the Nitehawks, as Beaver Valley dominated the Bruins easily winning 7-2.
The two bright spots for the Bears, who have not won a game on the road all season, was the play of Mikel Brewer and Lucas Hildebrand, both of whom scored their first goals of the season.
Catch the Bruins double header this weekend when they face off against Castlegar Friday in Castlegar and Saturday in Grand Forks.
