Busy holiday season ahead for Bruins
Roger Varley
After edging the Schomberg Cougars 2-1 at the arena last Friday, the Uxbridge Bruins had a week off to prepare for a busy weekend. The Bruins, currently riding a two-game winning streak, will have a six-game schedule before the next edition of the Cosmos.
The Bruins and Cougars were well-matched on Friday, with goalies Robby DiMaria of Uxbridge and Nicolas Morvan of Schomberg both giving standout performances and both teams providing an entertaining game.
Only one penalty, a slashing infraction, was called in the scoreless first period. All the scoring was in the second period. Just two-and-a-half minutes into the second period, Ryan Shier scored a power-play marker, assisted by Tanner Ryan and Brandon Scott, The Bruins' lead was short-lived as the Cougars evened the score three minutes later on what looked to be an innocent incursion into the Bruins' zone. However, Shier came through again on the power play late in the period to score the winning goal, assisted by Colin Glecoff.
Despite the performances of the two goalies, the Cosmos selected Cameron Meek as player of the game for Uxbridge and Luke Szabo for the Cougars. Meek, 17, was a call-up from the AAA Peterborough Petes who made his presence felt on every shift.
The win over the third-place Cougars was a good end to a good night for the Bruins. Prior to the game, the team hosted the North Durham Warriors U13 team for pizza and a meet-the-players get-together. During the pre-game warm-up, the Warriors sat on the Bruins bench. They were later joined in the crowd by the Warriors U9 team and by the North Durham Blades.
The good feelings will hopefully continue tomorrow (Friday) night at the arena at 7:45 p.m., as Santa Claus makes his annual visit to meet with the fans. However, the league-leading Clarington Eagles, who have won 24 of their 28 games this season, could put a damper on those good feelings.
On Saturday night, the Bruins travel to Little Britain to face the Merchants, then they head to Calerdon on Sunday for an afternoon game. There will be three more games over the New Year's weekend.
Bear pause: Five Bruins have been named to the PJHL Eastern Conference Orr Division all-star team for the game against the Tod Division in Port Perry on Dec. 28. Jack Kemp, Tanner Ryan, Jordan Bonner and Tyler Laita were selected first, with Tristan Vedovat-Leite added later. However, Bonner is a question mark as he recovers from an injury. The players were selected by the conference manager from lists provided by the teams. Clarington Eagles and Georgina Ice apparently decided not to take part.