UPDATE: The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League and Hockey Saskatchewan have suspended Estevan Bruins head coach/general manager Jason Tatarnic for two games for a gross misconduct during Saturday's game in Nipawin.

The SJHL and Hockey Saskatchewan suspended Hawks forward Chase Visser for five games for maltreatment from the same game.

You can read what Tatarnic had to say about the game below.

Trades

The Estevan Bruins made a pair of deals before the Christmas trade freeze went into effect Sunday night.

They acquired 18-year-old defenceman Jules Delepoulle from the Grand Falls Rapids of the Maritime Hockey League for a player-development fee.

Estevan also picked up 19-year-old forward Cade Kennedy from the Yorkton Terriers in exchange for the right to 19-year-old forward Carter Dereniwsky and a player-development fee.

Bruins head coach/general manager Jason Tatarnic said they've had their eyes on Delepoulle for a while. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound native of France has a goal and 14 assists in 26 games this season.

"He's a left-shot defenseman, which we thought we needed because we have one left-shot defenseman here right now. We know how he skates, he know he's got good vision, so we thought it was a good move for our hockey team to add one more defenseman to our group."

Delepoulle is expected to join the Bruins after the Christmas break.

The 5-foot-10, 165-pound Kennedy has six goals and seven assists through 27 games this season.

"Looking for some depth up front and we know Cade can penalty kill," said Tatarnic. "He brings some speed to our lineup and he's put up some decent numbers offensively. We think he's a guy that can help us balance our lineup and make us deeper."

Dereniwsky has three goals and an assist through 17 games this season with the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Western Hockey League.

"We felt [Kennedy] could help us right now and we thought that was important for us and we felt we had enough young prospects to to move one of those players off our list," said Tatarnic. It's one of those things where you have to make a hockey trade and you have to give up some pieces."

Tatarnic added that Yorkton was specifically interested in Dereniwsky.

Kennedy is set to make his Bruins debut Wednesday in Estevan against his former team.

Suspensions

Tatarnic has been suspended indefinitely by the SJHL and Hockey Saskatchewan following Saturday's 4-3 shootout win over the Hawks in Nipawin.

He said he threw a marker on the ice to catch the officials' attention after Bruins forward Owen Barrow was down on the ice following a hit, which resulted in the gross misconduct.

"It was a pretty intense heated game throughout," said Tatarnic. "I already received a bench minor on a call that I thought we didn't get and basically all I did was I threw a marker on the ice after Owen Barrow got hit... The whistle didn't blow for about 10 seconds and Barrow was out. You know, in a lot of distress and you know, I thought the whistle should be blowing and we're yelling for the blowing and nothing was being done. So I threw a marker on the ice to get everyone's attention and. It caught their attention, I guess."

Tatarnic's ejection came at 11:45 of the third period. His bench minor was at 8:07 of the second.

Estevan took 52 penalty minutes that game, while Nipawin finished with 26.

Hawks assistant captain Chase Visser was also suspended indefinitely by the league and Hockey Saskatchewan following the game. The 20-year-old forward's suspension is listed on the league's website as a result of maltreatment.

Two more games

Estevan will host Yorkton Wednesday before visiting the Notre Dame Hounds to wrap up the 2023 portion of the season.

Tatarnic said it will be a high-stakes game as the Terriers try to make up ground in the Viterra Division.

The Bruins' 28 points leads the division (13-12-0-2). Yorkton is at the bottom of the division at 8-18-1-1.

"I expect they'll come in here pretty hungry," said Tatarnic. "Cade's going to arrive tonight and he'll play on Wednesday so you'll have a former teammate in the lineup. Players usually give a little bit more when they play against their former teammates, both ways."

The Bruins will return from the holidays for a January 5 road game against the Weyburn Red Wings.

 In response to Canada's Online News Act and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) removing access to local news from their platforms, DiscoverEstevan encourages you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this page and downloading the DiscoverEstevan app.