Locals thriving down south with Missoula Junior Bruins

By Medicine Hat News on December 4, 2020.

Hockey may be on hold here in Alberta, but down in Montana a pair of local players are thriving under former Medicine Hat Tigers star Emerson Etem.

Hatter Kieran Christianson and Brooks product Mason Mowat both moved south to compete with the Missoula Junior Bruins this season – and at 9-4-2 they’re off to their club’s hottest start to a North American 3 Hockey League season in history.

Mowat sits sixth in team scoring with six goals and five assists over 14 games in Missoula, while Christianson sits just behind with five goals and four helpers over 14 contests. The two are also among the four youngest players on the roster.

Last Friday, Mowat and Christianson netted two goals apiece in an eventual 7-4 loss to the Bozeman Icedogs. Christianson’s second tally – a toe drag followed by a quick deke and a backhand over the glove of Icedogs goaltender Evan Wittchow – was enough of a jaw-dropper to earn him first place in the NA3HL’s top five plays of the week.

The pair of local products were also responsible for helping knock the Great Falls Americans (12-2-0) off an 11-game winning streak, and have handed the Frontier Division leaders their only two losses of the season.

Medicine Hat’s Tyler Broesky also made the move south earlier this season, playing two games with the Junior Bruins in mid-October, however the Hatter has since parted ways with the team.

All three previously competed with the South East Athletic Club Tigers in Medicine Hat.

Etem took over as head coach and general manager of the Junior Bruins earlier this year, and had previously worked with all three players through his role at South Alberta Hockey Academy.

The 29th overall Anaheim Ducks draft pick played three seasons with the Tigers, registering 143 goals and 109 assists over 202 games, including a 61-goal season in 2011-12.

The News reached out to Etem for comment on this story but did not receive a response by press time.

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