Bruins lose Daae; EST-YKT preview

Good afternoon. It's another Bruins game day as the team opens up a home-and-home against the Yorkton Terriers tonight at Spectra Place.

The Bruins will do it without left winger Austin Daae, who has joined the WHL's Prince George Cougars. I'm not sure how the Cougars got his rights from the Blades, but he's headed to BC for a second crack at the Dub.

Daae, an Estevan native, posted six points in five games with the Bruins, all assists, with four of them coming on Friday in Weyburn.

Here's a look at tonight's game.

Estevan Bruins (6-3)

The Bruins are coming off a split with the Wings. It will be interesting to see what happens with the big line of Neufeld-Olson-Smith over the next little while. Neufeld was replaced with Daae during the third period on Friday and the result was four goals. Then on Saturday, the Bruins relied on secondary scoring for the win with three rookies lighting the lamp. The trio has obviously set the league on fire so far, but it's also no secret that the coaching staff is looking for a better effort from them in terms of their own end.

I would expect we see a line of Froese-Whitehill-Jelinski tonight with the departure of Daae. This is a unit that can be intimidating along the boards but also has the potential to put up a lot of points. We'll also have to see if the line of Hengen-Johnstone-Ostertag sticks together tonight. After the game Benny had on Saturday, it's my opinion that he can't be sitting out anymore.

On the back end, there's a good chance Connor Milligan makes his Bruin debut. He's been impressive in practice and the team hopes he can make an impact as a top four guy. It also sounds like new goalie Brandon Stone could get his first start tonight. I'll be keeping an eye on those two for sure.

Yorkton Terriers (4-6)

The Terriers have lost three straight games, including back-to-back defeats to Melville on the weekend, and they'll be looking to turn things around tonight. It appears goalie Warren Shymko is about ready to return from injury, although I'm not sure if he'll be in tonight.

One of Yorkton's problems has been the absence of top returning scorer Brent Struble, who has yet to play due to injury. Newcomers Ryon Sookro and Jamie Vlanich have picked up the slack so far, with help from Jeremy Johnson. If that's not an advertisement for Junior B hockey, I don't know what is. Zak Majkowski, Brenden Poncelet and Kyle McLeod will be other forwards to watch tonight.

Devon McMullen and Sam Rockwell lead the way on a blueline that is, if possible, even younger than that of the Bruins. If the tale of the tape tells us anything, it's that we could be in for a shootout tonight.