Despite losing 5-0 to the Beaver Valley Nitehawks the night before, the Grand Forks Border Bruins rebounded to win 3-2 in OT against those same Nitehawks on Sept. 15.
The second of a home-and-home series to start the 2012/13 Kootenay International Junior Hockey League (KIJHL) season, the Border Bruins played much better on the road, getting a pair of goals from forward Kublai Barlas in regulation time, and the OT winner from Midway product Chris Osellame, on the power play, at 3:05 in the extra frame.
Sharon, Ont. product Robert Dunsmuir started his first game of the season and stopped 44 of 46 shots fired his way.
The win is something the team can build on said Nick Deschenes, the Border Bruins’ head coach.
“It’s early and it’s important to have some type of success to drawn on early in the season,” Deschenes explained. “The fact that the boys were very responsive to what we put in place as a coaching staff and were able to apply it, along with some timely goaltending, we were able to (set) our gameplan and we got the result we were looking for, so it was nice.”
With Dunsmuir hailing from the eastern part of the country, there are a lot of adjustments he will have to make but Deschenes said that Dunsmuir flashed his potential in the win.
“I think this is only a snapshot of what his ability will be in this league. He’s settling in now and he’s a pretty highly-touted goaltender,” the Border Bruins’ head coach said, adding that how good he will be as a goalie will be up to Dunsmuir.
While the team did get the win, it did manage to allow 46 shots on net while only firing 22 in the direction of Beaver Valley goalie Dominic Stadnyk but Deschenes said that shots aren’t always the best indicator in a game.
“A lot of times in hockey, you’ll outshoot an opponent and you won’t get the results on the scoreboard. What I’m more concerned about is not so much the shots on net but the types of shots, scoring chances against and for – I think it’s a more telling stat,” Deschenes explained.
“For our team to go into Beaver Valley, the defending (KIJHL) champions, in their home opener, after losing 5-0 the night before, and to put that kind of effort forward and to come out with a win, I think shows the type of character in the room. This is one small feather in the cap and I think we’re not going to stop at just one win. Our goal is to make the playoffs and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”
Dylan Quinn, the Border Bruins’ other goalie, allowed five goals in Friday night’s opener but he couldn’t be faulted on all of the goals and is the team’s MVP from last season.
Deschenes didn’t want to say who would start in Grand Forks’ next game against the Nelson Leafs on Thursday, Sept. 20 at Grand Forks Arena.
“We have a week of practice here and basically we’re going to make our decision come game time and that goaltender will know and be ready to play,” Deschenes said. “Both goaltenders are good kids and they’re probably going to compete and push each other to be better and that’s going to help our team overall.”
Following Thursday night’s game, the Border Bruins will host the Creston Valley Thunder Cats on Friday, Sept. 21 – the puck drops at 7:30 p.m. for both.
