Bruins’ Didur set to hit the ice in first Game 7
Veteran goalie’s junior career ends with winner-take-all tilt against the Hawks
One shutout is about to come to an end for Estevan Bruins goaltender Bo Didur.
He’s poised to erase the zero from his five-year total of Game 7s in the junior A hockey ranks.
“It literally couldn’t have taken me longer,” he marvelled in advance of Tuesday’s winner-takeall, SJHL-championship showdown against the host Nipawin Hawks. “I’m just as much of a rookie as anyone else on the team for Tuesday night. It will be interesting to see.”
Didur is in the latter stages of his fifth season of junior hockey. He spent four-plus years in the BCHL, appearing between the pipes for the Surrey Eagles, Langley Rivermen and Salmon Arm Silverbacks, before being traded to Estevan on Nov. 29.
Tuesday’s appearance will be his 35th in the post-season, dating back to 2014, but Game 7 will be a novelty.
“How many chances can they give me, really?” Didur said. “I turned 21 on Saturday, so I’m basically a fossil at this point in junior hockey. Now, after I’m an over-ager, I finally find myself in a Game 7. That’s sad.”
There was an element of sadness among the Bruins on Friday, after the Hawks won 3-1 at home to move to within one victory of a league title.
Estevan responded with a 4-0 victory on Sunday, with Didur making 36 saves for the shutout in a first-star performance. The victory extended the Bruins’ season and Didur’s junior A career.
“I’ve been playing junior hockey for five years,” he said. “I’ve played a lot of games. To think that (Sunday) was maybe the last one, it was motivating. But at the same time, I tried to enjoy the moment and to make sure I left it all out there, so I didn’t have any regrets.”
The Canalta Cup will be presented after Tuesday’s game, which begins at 7:30 p.m.
Estevan is preparing for its fourth game in Nipawin during the series. The Bruins won the opener 5-2 on April 14, but lost 4-1 the following night. Estevan was held to one goal again on Friday at “The Cage.”
“That barn is an old, tight, crazy barn,” Didur said of Nipawin’s 51-year-old Centennial Arena. “Games 1, 2 and 5 were crazy. I can’t imagine what Game 7 is going to be like, with the nerves and all that sort of stuff.
“I’ve always enjoyed the highpressure situations. I don’t think I’ve ever been in one this highpressure, but I’m excited. I’m going to try to be as calm as I can be, but excited at the same time.”
The excitement extends to the entire time he’s spent in Estevan since being traded eastward by Salmon Arm, which received future considerations from Bruins head coach and general manager Chris Lewgood.
“I didn’t really know what to expect coming out here,” said Didur, who is from North Vancouver, B.C. “I’d only been to Saskatchewan once in my life before moving out here.
“The only regret I have is not coming here sooner. I’ve been here for four months. I was laying in bed the night before (Sunday’s) game. I couldn’t really fall asleep, thinking about all the good times and all the good memories.
“I was just thinking, ‘I’ve played in some good spots, but I’ve never truly felt like I’ve felt since I’ve been here.’ The people, the town, Chris and the coaches and the guys ... it’s been insane. It has been incredible. I couldn’t imagine it coming to an end.”
Not so long ago, the same mindset applied to Didur’s first Saskatchewan winter.
“I’m just some skinny kid from the West Coast and they send me out here in December,” he said. “I had no clue what to expect.
“My dad’s a Prairie boy, and as soon as it happened, he looked at me, laughed and said ‘Good luck.’ He was born in Montreal and raised in Winnipeg. He said, ‘Have fun in a Prairie winter.’ I was like, ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ He said, ‘You’ll see.’
“So I showed up here and it definitely lived up to the hype. All the Prairie boys are big and thick and they’re farm boys, and I’m just a skinny West Coast kid. My body isn’t built for this cold, this wind.” What was the worst moment? “It was pretty recent,” Didur said.
“It was starting to get sunny. All the snow was melting. Then I wake up one morning and my car is covered in snow and it’s negative 25 outside, and I’m like, ‘How is that possible?! It was plus 5 when I went to bed. I thought this was over!’ It was insane.
“It’s sunny now and I’m scared to say something like ‘nice weather we’ve been having,’ because I might wake up tomorrow morning and there will be a blizzard.”