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First or second, the Bruins delivered
As we report in our story on page 9, the Uxbridge Bruins are battling right down to the wire with the Lakefield Chiefs for first place in the OHA Junior C Central Division.
Tomorrow night's game at the arena against those self-same Chiefs could be the game that decides who comes out on top: if the Bruins win, they end the regular season in first place, which they’ve held all season long. If they lose, the teams will be tied at 61 points each with Lakefield having a game in hand against the Clarington Eagles next Tuesday.
But while we are rooting for the Bruins to come out on top, even if they finish in second place the home team has done Uxbridge proud this season. A young team, with a bevy of home-grown talent on the roster, the Bruins have played with heart, with spirit and with discipline. Under the guiding hand of coach Dan West, the team is the least penalized in the Central Division this year. At this writing, they have 664 minutes in penalties,134 fewer than the next least penalized team. This is in sharp contrast to the 1,236 penalty minutes the team wracked up last season.
Coach West is also to be congratulated on building his young team around a few veterans - defencemen Callum Lynch and Andrew Liboiron and forwards Mike Ramsey, Matt Allen and Steve Douitsis. While all players have contributed to the team's success this year - (they finished in fifth place last year and were blanked in the first round of the playoffs) - and it might seem unfair to name just a few, there were some standout performances by the rookies this season. Patrick Morgan leads the team in scoring with 22 goals and 21 assists. Defenceman Justin Bean has eight goals and 24 assists and forward Keegan Cairns has 13 goals and 14 assists. Joey Vocino, Shane Smith, Marco Mastrangelo, Steve Douitsis and Billy McBeth are exciting to watch.
While goal-tending was shaky last year - and why wouldn't it be with 1,236 minutes in penalties? - this year has seen goalie Brandon Francey record an amazing 1.70 goals-against average, winning 17 games and losing one. Notwithstanding his brilliance and the fine backup jobs done first by Wayne Fryer and now by Greg Zupan, a lot of the credit for the low GAA goes to the defence, much improved this year.
Sure the team had a couple of shaky moments during the season, but with a record of 29 wins against only seven losses and three overtime losses, they were mere blips on the radar. Almost all the games they lost were by only one goal.
So if the Bruins defeat the Chiefs tomorrow, joy will reign in Uxbridge. If they lose, we still have much to cheer about. They will go into the playoffs knowing they have outplayed all the other teams during the course of the season: even if Lakefield wins tomorrow, Uxbridge will have a 5-3 edge over them on the season.
The Bruins have provided their hard-core fans with entertaining, exciting hockey all season long. We think it would be good to see the people of Uxbridge show their appreciation by packing the arena tomorrow night - (game time 7:45 p.m.) - and cheering the local lads in their last epic battle of the season. It is sure to be an exciting night. At $8 per adult, and with hot dogs costing only $3 and parking free, it is probably the best entertainment value in town, if not the region.
If you have never been to a Bruins game, we encourage you to give them a try. And talk to some of the Bruins staff while you're there. People like Elaine Cox, Brian Evans, Cam Stewart, Michael Steptoe, just to name a few, are friendly and helpful and all do their part to make the game experience worthwhile. The youngsters know this. Of the six teams in the Central Division, none draw more young people to their games than the Bruins, and none draw crowds like the Bruins.
Go, Bruins, go.
November 22, 2012
July 14, 2011
