After falling to the Blackhawks in their season opener, the (0-1) Bruins set their sights on bouncing back as they faced the Red Wings in their second JCC of Bayonne Jr. Division Floor Hockey outing. The Bruins got out to a fast start as team captain Michael “Stonewall” McCollum ripped in two goals with Roman Popowski and Kailey Delauter on the assists. Trailing 2-0 early, Red Wings’ coach Jan Egan wasted no time making some key adjustments and the strategy paid off. The cornerstone for the Red Wings’ surge included David Matos who took over at net freeing up their scoring aces Aaliyana Cifuentes and Michael Egan. Michael Egan got the comeback rally going with two scoring darts to tie the game at 2-2. Moments later, the Red Wings took a 3-2 advantage as Aaliyana Cifuentes scored off an assist by Jonathan Tom. Watching their 2-0 lead vanish, the Bruins turned to Edward Denne who played brilliantly at net for the next ten minutes to slow the Wings attack. With their offense bottle up, the Red Wings kept pressing and the move worked as Egan (2) and Cifuentes (4) teamed up to pour in six goals in the final fifteen minutes to clinch the Red Wings’ 9-2 victory.
Week One Junior Division:
Offensive Player of the week – Aaliyana Cifuentes – Red Wings
Defensive Player of the week – Toni Rivada – Blackhawks
Teamwork/ Leadership Player of the week – Michael McCollum – Bruins