The Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Red Wings will be travelling down Highway 39 tonight to renew acquaintances with the Estevan Bruins. This will be the second of ten regular-season meetings between the two storied rivals. The first was a 6-3 Estevan win last Saturday. 

For Weyburn, they are coming off the SJHL Showcase in Warman earlier this week having captured three of four possible points, beating the Humboldt Broncos 5-3 Monday, but falling 3-2 in overtime to the Nipawin Hawks on Wednesday.  

Estevan dropped both of their games at the Showcase. They lost 5-2 to the La Ronge Ice Wolves on Tuesday, and 3-2 to Humboldt on Wednesday. 

Looking at the numbers coming into the game, Weyburn is three points back of Estevan for first in the Viterra Division with a record of 1-2-1-0, while Estevan is 3-2-0-0.  

One of the key things Wings head coach Cody Mapes has stressed in recent days is the need for discipline. While the Wings have the second-best penalty kill in the SJHL so far this season at 86.7 percent, they have also averaged 44.8 penalty minutes per game. With the Bruins power-play clipping along at 18.8 percent so far this year, Weyburn doesn’t want to give too many chances to a potent offence.  When the Bruins take penalties, they will have to watch for a Red Wings power play that works fast. In their game Wednesday, the Red Wings went 2-for-4 with the man-advantage, scoring goals 25 seconds and eight seconds into those power plays. 

When it comes to putting points on the board, the Wings are scoring by committee, with eight different players scoring so far this season, and fifteen players in all collecting points so far. Braden Birnie leads the team with six points, and Drew Kuzma is right behind him with five. The defence has also stepped up, with Jacob Jakusz and Cayde Augustine having a goal and an assist each. Having the offence spread out will provide some challenges for the Bruins, as they won’t be able to key in on just a few players. 

For the Bruins, their scoring has centred around a few key players – Caelan Fitzpatrick, Mark Rumsey and Antoine St. Onge – who have scored 11 of the team's 16 goals so far this year. With so much of the firepower coming from just three players, the Bruins will need to have others step up when those three can’t find the net. 

The Bruins will also be without a key part of their roster for tonight’s game, and for ten games after this. Nolan Jones was suspended by the league for 11 games for a match penalty he received Tuesday after cross-checking La Ronge’s Holden Knights in the head.  

When it comes to goaltending, the season is still early for both teams, who have extremely talented goaltenders. For the Wings, the tandem of Joseph Young and Dazza Mitchell have proven they can make big saves and keep the puck out of the net. At the other end, Estevan’s Boston Bilous and Cam Hrdlicka have shown the same. 

It should be another entertaining match-up as the Wings take on the Bruins tonight at Affinity Place in Estevan. You can listen to all the action on Red Wing Radio BIG 106, starting with the pregame show at 7:15 p.m.