ESTEVAN — Carter Onrait said he doesn’t feel any extra pressure from being the lone local player on the Eagle Sky Estevan Bruins’ roster this season.
Onrait, who is in his second full season with the Bruins, has only played for Estevan teams. He skated in the Estevan Minor Hockey Association, and when he turned 15, he spent three seasons with the Estevan Bears U18 AAA hockey program, serving as the team’s captain in the 2023-24 season.
He played a few games for the Bruins as an affiliated player that season, including one memorable day in which he suited up for both the Bears and the Bruins, and then joined the Bruins full-time last season, and was one of the Black and Gold’s best players down the stretch. He is one of five returning players from last season still on the roster.
“I haven’t had to move away from home yet, or move away from my family and my parents and all my friends. Just growing up and playing here all my life, it makes an impact with the rest of the city,” he said in an interview with SaskToday.
He knows a lot of fans are closely watching him and want him to succeed.
Onrait’s first goal of the season was a big one – the game winner in the Bruins’ 5-2 victory over the Melfort Mustangs, on Oct. 11 at Affinity Place. He also had two breakaways and delivered some hard hits over the course of the night.
“It was a good feeling to get the monkey off my back, and now I can look forward to getting many more,” said Onrait, who brings physical play and a good forecheck when he’s not scoring.
Adding to the victory was defeating the Mustangs, who won the league title the past two seasons.
“It’s a good test at the start of the season when you’re playing a team like Melfort that you know is going to play hard. They’ve been a top team in the league the past couple of years, and it feels good to beat them in our first faceoff with them this year,” said Onrait.
There is some pressure as one of the few returning players, but he describes it as the “good pressure” associated with high expectations. Onrait believes the players have come together well, they enjoy coming to the rink and they’re a happier team than a year ago.
“Everyone seems to mesh really well. All the boys are good off and on the ice, and we’re slowly becoming better and better every day at practice and each game,” said Onrait.
Ewan Rennie had two goals for the Bruins in the win over Melfort. Colton Getzlaf and Chase Holt also scored.
Dylan Adams stopped 31 of the 33 shots he faced to get the win in goal.
Former Bear Zayden Sadlemyer was among the goal scorers for Melfort.
The Bruins will be back on the ice Oct. 15 when they host the Kindersley Klippers. Then they have home games against the Nipawin Hawks on Oct. 17 and the Flin Flon Bombers the following night. All three games start at 7 p.m.
(Video sourced from SJHL YouTube page).
