A strong effort on the blue line and in net gave the Humboldt Broncos a 1-0 home win over the Yorkton Terriers on Oct. 22.
Goaltender Ryland Pashovitz stopped all 30 shots he saw en route to his second shutout and rookie Grey Marr scored the game's lone goal.
"Ryland Pashovitz was unreal tonight," said defenceman David Stumborg. "He made a bunch of key saves and that gives us more confidence."
Stumborg and his fellow defencemen were busy on the penalty kill as the Broncos took 10 penalties in the first two periods. According to coach Dean Brockman, some of those penalties were the result of a bit of acting on Yorkton's part.
"When you fire them into the boards they go down pretty easy," Brockman said. "Fontaine hit that one guy and he's 5'5" and the guy went flying. Jarrett's a pretty strong kid, but not that strong."
The Broncos' penalty kill was solid and limited the Terriers to only a few real chances. On those rare occasions when a goal-scoring chance came up, Pashovitz made the save and gave up hardly any rebounds.
Stumborg hit the post early in the second period but it was Marr who finally broke the scoreless tie, taking a pass from Stumborg in the high slot and beating Yorkton goalie Kale Thomson. After several empty power play chances earlier in the game the crowd was starting to get a bit restless, calling for the players to get some shots on net. From Brockman's perspective, however, there was no problem with waiting for the right opportunity.
"There's got to be a shooting lane," he said. "I get that the fans want us to shoot but I'd rather see our guys pass it if there's nothing there."
With the win the Broncos moved to 6-6 on the season, a record that Stumborg thought was a bit misleading.
"We've been in a few close games that we could have won if one bounce goes the other way or we get a big save," he said, adding there's no need to worry about record so early in the season.
That so-so record is likely to improve if Pashovitz can continue his stellar play in net. Since returning from a groin injury almost two weeks ago the 18-year-old has been nothing short of spectacular and is making a strong case to be the team's starting goalie. He's also been earning rave reviews from coaches and teammates alike.
"There's no panic in his game," Brockman said, "and when you've got a guy like that it's easy to not get rattled."
Stumborg agreed, saying the defencemen are willing to be a bit more aggressive on offence when they know they have Pashovitz behind them.
"If you do jump up and it gets turned the other way you know he's back there to make that stop for us," Stumborg said. "That's huge for our confidence as a team."
