Bernard, 18, was the leading scorer in the Manitoba Midget AAA Hockey League last year, recording 39 goals and 72 points.
He had significant interest from other teams and until now, him joining the Bruins was anything but a sure thing.
The recruiting team of Keith Cassidy, Rick Oakes and Manitoba scout Chad Leslie have now locked up all of their targets for the coming year except for two: Moose Jaw forward Kyle Oleniuk, who went to Salmon Arm, and another Cougars player who signed with Dauphin.
Cassidy said he thinks Bernard can play a key role for the Bruins next season as a rookie.
"Eighteen-year-olds always have an adjustment period, but I think he's a player of some pretty exceptional talent. We'll be looking forward to him playing a pretty good role this year," he said.
"He's got good vision and some tremendous finish to him, which is exciting. You don't lead any league in scoring without having the ability to find guys on the ice and finish off plays as well."
Cassidy said his focus will now shift to adding a few veterans, via the trade route or perhaps signing some free agents.
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Sorry about the lack of activity on the blog lately. You've no doubt heard by now that Estevan has made the top 20 for TSN's Kraft Celebration Tour. The city goes up against Swan River, MB, with voting on July 19. If Estevan gets more votes, we will host a broadcast of SportsCentre in late August and get $25,000 to go toward a community project.
The money would go to Estevan Minor Football and the high school program, with an eye to the recent flooding damage as well as a few projects that already needed completion before the flooding started.
Wednesday's Mercury will have a full page of coverage.
The reason there hasn't been anything on the blog is because I flew home to PEI after learning of the death of my uncle, George, in a motorcycle accident on June 22. We were really close and the last 10 days have been very hard on me. I flew home on the 24th and got back Friday night.
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