Bruins fight hard; miss chance at playoffs
By Graeme Willson
The Grand Forks Border Bruins played on home ice against the Nelson Leafs losing to the Leafs 6-5. The Bruins’ needed to win the Saturday game in order to make it to the playoffs.
The first period started out fast-paced and that pace carried right on through to the end of period three. The Leafs scored three goals in period one and the Bruins scored one.
However, the opposite was true for penalties. The Bruins got three penalties and the Leafs only got one in the first period. All penalties handed out to players in this period were for two minutes off the ice.
The excitement was riding high in the stands as fans rooted for the Bruins sending out supportive cheers down to the ice.
Period two started out blazing with Bruins’ Jackson Purvis scoring their second goal of the game with assists from teammates Connor Gross and Nathan Cory at 58 seconds off the clock. This was Purvis’s 24th goal of the season.
Close to six minutes dropped from the clock with massive power struggles between both teams as they struggled to take control of the puck and get the next goal.
From out of nowhere the Leafs’ Carson Williams made a slap shot at the Bruins goalie scoring the fourth goal for his team with no assists with 13:41 left in period two.
The Leafs saw their fifth and sixth goals scored only 46 seconds apart starting at 10:07 on the clock left in the period.
Their fifth goal was scored by Travis Wellman with assists from Quinn Klimchuck and Alec Wilkinson. The sixth goal was scored by Connor Tetlock with an assist from Darnel St. Pierre.
The third and final goal in period two was scored by the Bruins’ Connor Gross with assists from Dakota Kittle and Purvis. Gross’ goal made it his 30th goal of the season with seven minutes left in period two.
The remainder of period two was action-packed with many failed goal attempts by both, but did add on the penalties with a total of four by the end of period two.
All penalties were two-minutes with three penalties given to the Leafs and one penalty to the Bruins.
Period three started out with twice as much energy as the previous period and the Bruins fought blades and sticks to win this game.
Unfortunately, there were only two goals made by the Bruins – not enough to win the game and qualify for playoffs.
Bruins’ Coleton Dawson scored the fourth goal with assists from Michael Rand and Graham Watkins. It was Dawson’s seventh goal of the season.
The last goal in period game was the also the only completed power play in the game. It was scored by Brown – his second goal of the game. Assists came from Kittle and Purvis.
Shortly after the Bruins fifth goal was scored, a penalty was given to the Leaf’s Kyle Clayton. It was his second penalty of the game. The first was for boarding and the second was for tripping. Both got him two minutes in the box.
At this point, the Bruins pulled their goalie so they could send another player to the ice. With seventeen seconds left on the clock penalty two came and was put against Bruins Cam McLennan for hooking receiving two minutes in the box.
At this point the Bruins still had not given up and the goalie came back onto the ice. The remaining four players from the Bruins fought to even the score and send the game into overtime but their efforts were not successful.
It was a power-packed good game by both teams filled with excitement that was felt loudly in the stands from the fans.
Assistant coach Matt Zamet said that the “boys battled hard” and it hurts to come so close to the playoffs without making it in. But he also said it was exciting because this was the closest the team has made it to the playoffs in the eight years he has been coaching with the Bruins.
