Klippers match up with Bruins in league quarter-finals

Kevin McBain
of The Clarion

The Junior Klippers (29-22-4-3-65 points) will take on the Estevan Bruins (34-19-3-2-73) in their Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League best-of-seven quarter-final series, beginning this Friday night.

The Klippers closed out the season with a home-and-home series with the Battlefords North Stars and split that series, winning game one at home Tuesday night, 5-2, a game that clinched sixth place for the club, avoiding the survivor series.

They went back to Battlefords’ country on Thursday and ended up losing by this same score.

The Klippers will now take on the third-seeded Estevan Bruins starting Friday in Estevan, followed by game two will be Saturday in Estevan before coming back to Kindersley for games three and four Tuesday and Wednesday. If necessary, game five will be played in Estevan March 23rd; game six in Kindersley March 25 and game seven, March 27 in Estevan.

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The regular season series was split down the middle at two wins apiece.

Game 1 was played Sept. 22nd with Kindersley coming out on top 7-5; Game 2 was Jan. 10 and Kindersley lost this one 3-2; Jan. 13th was a 2-1 win for Kindersley and the latest game was a 3-2 loss in Kindersley Jan. 31st.

The Bruins outshot the Klippers 149 to 107 in those four games.

Head coach Geoff Grimwood said that the keys to success for his club are goaltending, defence and discipline.

“We have a couple of great goaltenders and we need them to do well,” he said. “The other things are that we have to shut down their firepower and stay out of the box.”

The team took a few days off following their final regular season game Thursday, but it was back to business as usual Monday with practises until travel day Thursday.

“We want to put in our work, enough to stay sharp,” said Grimwood.

The team has done well as of late, going 7-3 in their last 10, and captain, Cole Plotnikoff said that it has been great and says that they feel confident going into the series.

“We are feeling really good right now,” he said. “We have had success against them and we are feeling pretty confident going into the series.”

The team got off to a slow start and were in eighth place heading into the Christmas break, but they climbed their way back and after Christmas turned on the after-burners and climbed their way up to sixth place to avoid the survivor series.

“It’s been a remarkable run for us,” said Plotnikoff. “We continue to get better all the time.

“The coaching staff does their best to get us prepared for games,” he continued. “After Christmas we took advantage of this preparation and grabbed the rope and know we are pulling together…everyone is buying into the system and working hard as a team.”

He said there are a few things they need to do to be successful against the Bruins.

“They have some good players up front and we need to wear them down,” he said. “We want to play a physical game against them, it is definitely not going to be an easy series.

“It’s also all about staying positive and composed,” added Plotnikoff. “It’s a long series and if we make a mistake or get a penalty, we have to stay focused.”

Grimwood says that it should be a great series and hopes that the community gets out to support the team.

“We would love to see the fans pack the building number one because we are in a bit of financial trouble – we have the lowest attendance in the league,” he said. “Two, when I came here three years ago I heard that the fans wanted more local players, and I think that we have done a good job of it. The players really thrive on a good crowd and it would be great to show some community spirit.”

Comparisons

One key difference between the teams is the goals in the regular season.

The Bruins were number one in the league, having scored 239 goals, while the Klippers scored just 170.

Grimwood said that they realize that they are going to have to play good, solid defence.

“They do have more firepower than what we do,” he said. “We are going to have our hands full.”

Their leading scorer, Zach Goberis, is third in the league in scoring with 34 goals and 44 assists for 78 points. Fellow centreman, Kaelan Holt, has 31 goals and 38 assists for 69 points and Jake Fletcher has 23 goals and 39 assists for 62 points.

In comparison, Kindersley’s leading scorer is Keillan Olson with 17 goals and 42 assists for 59 points.

Grimwood said that you can look at that and get down, but they have matched up well and had four very close games against the Bruins, shutting down their offence for three of the four games.

Special teams

Penalty killing – The Klippers finished the season third in the league in penalty killing with an 83.9 per cent success rate. Estevan is eighth with an 80.8 success rate.

Power play – Kindersley is sixth in the league with an 18.6 per cent average and Estevan is fourth with a 22.3 success rate.

Penalty minutes: Kindersley leads the league in penalty minutes with 1,554 and Estevan is second with 1,499. However, when the two teams have met, they average about five power play chances each time.

Going in: Both teams have been red hot as of late. The Klippers had a 7-3 record in the last 10, while the Bruins went 8-2.

Survivor Series: Melville is taking on Weyburn in the best-of-three series. Game 1 was played on Sunday with Melville earning a 3-2 overtime victory in Weyburn. Game 2 was slated for last night in Melville. Game 3, if necessary, will be played tonight in Weyburn.

Notre Dame is taking on Flin Flon in the other series. Notre Dame is up 1-0 after a 6-4 win in Flin Flon Sunday. Game 2, was schedule for last night in Notre Dame and game three, if necessary, will go tonight again in Notre Dame.

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