The Estevan Bruins' season came to an end on Friday night.
It might have been a disappointing end for the team but they gave their final salute to their fans at the Civic Auditorium. About 750 were in attendance to see the Bruins last chance at a comeback, already down 3-0 in the best-of-seven series with the first-place Yorkton Terriers. They were also missing captain Troy Hunter after he suffered a concussion in game three.
Head coach Chad Leslie said after the game that the loss of Hunter had an impact on the team, particularly considering his playoff performance thus far.
"He carried us in that Melville series and put us on his back. We owed a lot to Troy," said Leslie.
He said throughout the series, the Bruins as a whole didn't put forth as much effort as the Yorkton players.
"We got outworked. I think there were a few things that we needed to keep simple, and we didn't. For the first part of the series, our power play was good and then near the end it wasn't.
"We rarely drove the centre lane and we didn't push their defence off. There was a lack of intensity at certain times. For the most part it was a situation where you had four or five guys going all the time, and sometimes it's the case of too many passengers."
The Bruins got off to a shaky start when Justin Buzzeo scored his first of three on the night for the Terriers just 1:22 into the first. Shea Cooper was in goal for the Bruins stopping 35 shots over the course of the game.
The teams were back and forth for the remainder of the opening frame before the Terriers scored again with 3:08 remaining.
The Bruins tried to mount a comeback in the second when Ryan Andersen scored a power play marker from Mark Cross and Justin Waskewitch, but that goal, closing the gap to one, was all the Bruins would get.
The Terriers scored twice in the second, leading the Bruins 4-1 into the third. Two more goals would get by Cooper before the end of the night, as the Bruins were swept in their Sherwood Conference semi-final series, losing the final game 6-1.
That was the last game Leslie acted as head coach of the Bruins. After stepping in midway through the season on an interim basis. He thanked the many 20-year-old players who also played their last game in a Bruins jersey.
"I talked to all the 20-year-olds and told them how much I appreciated them individually, and what they brought to the table and all the things I'm going to miss," he said after the game. "When I took over, my biggest fear wasn't going to be my record or whatever, it was going to be making sure I was going to do the best job I could for those 20-year-olds because they deserved to have a good finish."
With leads in both games two and three, Leslie thought the blow the team took losing both contests might have taken a lot of wind out of their sails for the final push.
"We could have easily been up 2-1. We gave up a lead or two and got a few bad bounces, and we had some power plays that we didn't capitalize on, so obviously it killed us."
Leslie said they have to put the ownership of the series on themselves and that a lot of the mistakes came down to special teams. Whether it was giving up a shorthanded goal or not burying the puck on a power play, special teams were sub-par.
He also gave credit to their opponent.
"I'd like to go back and make a change to a couple things that happened, but overall you can't look back. It is what it is, and Yorkton's a first-place team for a reason."
Leslie is a long-time Bruin, with deep roots in the franchise. He said that he, himself, bleeds the Bruins colours. His brother and uncle were both Bruins, and he even has two cousins who are former Bruins. He said he was honoured to be able to take the helm for even half a season as the head coach.
"By no means is this going to be my last involvement with the Bruins. I'm going to be running our Manitoba list, and I'm going to have an active say with what goes on here for awhile I hope."
The alumnus said he definitely still wants to be involved and is looking forward to how the organization progresses in the future.
Leslie touted the number of young leaders in the room who will be around next year, saying there are few players who will really be able to step into leadership roles for next year.
"The last couple years we've done a real good job building our list. Some '92s that we had got away but our '93 list is equally as impressive. We've got some real key guys in Manitoba that we need to clamp down here, and we've got some real key guys in Saskatchewan."
With Leslie's move to Brandon, the organization will look to him to secure a lot of those Manitoba prospects.
"And then we've got some '94s coming up that have an opportunity to step up and be here as well. From a (prospects) standpoint we're extremely excited."
Leslie noted the importance of moving into a new facility at Spectra Place for next year and also bringing in a top-notch head coach and general manager to replace him.
"I think that the quality of the applicants that we've got, we're going to get a pretty high-end coach in here that's going to be able to take us to the next level."
