The Humboldt Broncos picked up a huge 2-0 victory over the La Ronge Ice Wolves on Feb. 15 in Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League action, on a momentous night for Broncos defenseman Connor Swystun.
The game marked Swystun’s 200th SJHL regular season game, putting him second all-time in Broncos games played behind Blair Wourms.
“It’s wild… It’s a huge honour to be playing for this team because the community’s so good.”
Swystun says that he was lucky he got to spend four years with the team since many people that he know wanted the same opportunity.
Swystun wasted little time making the game memorable for himself as he scored the game’s first goal, which proved to be the game winner, on a wraparound just 2:05 into the first period.
“For your 200th game you want to play a good game and there’s a lot of nerves… so having that first goal, which ended up being the game winner was awesome,” he said.
That goal is definitely one of the memories Swystun will take from his time with the Broncos, he says.
Cole Young added an insurance marker late in the second period and that was all the Broncos needed as they limited the Wolves to just six third period shots.
Garrett Mason picked up his 22nd win of the season as he turned aside all 27 shots he faced.
The Ice Wolves came into the game in last place in the SJHL standings and were riding a 21 game losing streak, so to be able to shut out the Wolves and play a fairly solid game was really nice to see but that is always the tough part, said Swystun.
“Especially when there’s a team that’s doing like they’re doing… they’re a hard working team and they never give up. They play to the very end so that was one thing going in that even if it didn’t come right off the start we knew we had to battle the whole game because they weren’t going to give it to us easy.”
Broncos make too many mistakes in loss to Hawks
Needing some valuable points, the Humboldt Broncos made a couple of mental mistakes and it cost them as they fell 4-1 to the Nipawin Hawks in Nipawin on Feb. 17.
After a great start to the game the Broncos found themselves behind 1-0 after the first period thanks to a power play goal against.
The second period got off to a terrible start for the Broncos as they gave up the second goal of the game just 13 seconds in and they could not recover surrendering two more goals to trail 4-0 after two.
Broncos head coach Darcy Haugan pointed to the second Hawks goal as a big turning point in the game calling it huge.
“It was just a couple miscues, a couple mental lapses but I was really pleased with our effort and our energy. It was just a lack of discipline whether it was to our systems or just staying out of the box.”
The Broncos recovered in the third getting a goal from captain Logan Schatz but they could not get any closer.
Garrett Mason was steady in the Broncos goal turning aside 39 shots in the loss.
A big factor in the outcome of the game, besides the early goal in the second the special teams as they Broncos finished 0/4 on the power play, while Nipawin finished 2/6.
Haugan said the difference in the special teams war just came down to miscues and mental lapses.
“It just can’t happen, it’s one guy each time and you’re pulling the puck out of your net so that’s just the reality of it is guys have got to be working as a unit and work smart.”
Thirteenth time not the charm for Broncos in Battlefords
The Humboldt Broncos just cannot figure out the Battlefords North Stars as they fell 3-0 to the Stars on Feb. 18 in Battlefords, their thirteenth straight defeat to the Stars.
“I think we’ve closed the gap,” said Broncos head coach Darcy Haugan about the losing streak saying that the North Stars are the team to beat for the last two years.
“A lot of times I felt we were bringing a knife to a gun fight. But I really feel that we’re getting closer and we’ve got to find just a little bit higher level of execution and learn to play at that pace for 60 minutes,”
The Broncos played a spectacular first period carrying the play for large portions of the game, but they could not find the back of the net as the game hit the first intermission tied at zero.
Haugan noted that penalties forced the Broncos onto the back foot in the period.
The second period did not go so well for the Broncos as they gave up the periods only goal, while being outshot 21-2.
“There’s going to be ebbs and flows in a game so that was our moment. But we were really pleased with our start. We were pretty short staffed we were running nine forwards, nine and a half, so you could start to see the pace was catching up to our guys.”
The third period did not go any better for the Broncos as they failed to score on a five minute power play at the end of the second and the beginning of the third and it gave the Stars life as they added two more goals, including one into the empty net.
Not capitalizing on the power play was a big factor in the outcome of the game for the Broncos, noted Haugan who admitted it was tough, with three power play regulars out of the lineup.
“We did blow up our power play system and our units so we were going in with a brand new look and… They’re the best penalty killing team in the league for a reason but we learned from it.”
Heading into the playoffs Haugan admits it is a bit of a concern that the power play is scuffling, but says he feels they have the personnel and sees progress, saying he expects they will break through.
Coby Downs did all the damage for the Stars scoring all three goals, but Haugan said it came down to a couple of bounces, saying the first one came on a power play, the second came after a Bronco blew an edge and the third came in the empty net.
“He’s a good hockey player for starters… He’s definitely somebody that you have to key in on but I thought we did a pretty good job for most of the night.”
Overtime not kind to Broncos as they fall to Hawks
The Elgar Petersen Arena was packed with over 1,200 fans for a family day matinee on Feb. 20 and those fans were treated to a great game as the hometown Broncos dropped a tough 3-2 overtime decision to the visiting Nipawin Hawks in Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League action.
With the largest crowd of the season in the building and the teams on the ice both needing two very important points, the game featured a very playoff-like atmosphere, which was really big for the Broncos, said head coach Darcy Haugan.
It was important that they get a sense of that atmosphere before the playoffs begin.
“We’re not sure who we’re going to be playing but we definitely want to make sure we have momentum going into the playoffs and play the right way and I think we’re starting to get that.”
It was a back-and-forth game between the two teams with momentum swings going each way.
After a scoreless first period, the teams responded with a three goal second period, kicked off by Trevor Posch who banged home his 20th goal of the season.
The Hawks responded just 41 seconds later to knot the score up at one and then took their first lead of the hockey game just past the midway mark, sending the game into the third period with the Hawks leading 2-1.
Broncos captain Logan Schatz scored the lone goal of the third period, his eighth of the season to send the game into overtime.
After a back-and-forth extra session the Hawks finally ended the game with just 40 seconds to play as Eric Bolden stuffed a wraparound goal past Broncos goalie Garrett Mason.
Mason was spectacular in the Broncos goal turning aside 41 shots in the loss, including a number of point blank opportunities.
“He’s been really good for us and even really the last four games not a lot of offensive support but made a lot of huge saves for us when we needed them,” said Haugan of his number one netminder.
The overtime loss was a tough pill to swallow for the Broncos as they missed out on a very valuable extra point and now see the Yorkton Terriers just one point in their rears, with the Broncos holding two games in hand, but Haugan was really pleased with the effort of the team, saying he liked the emotion the team played with over the whole weekend.
“Just a matter of being disciplined and a little about execution. But I thought tonight, being our fourth game in six nights, we played a really good hockey game and we battled and we did what we needed to do to get a hard fought point.”
The Broncos now enjoy a much-needed week off before they travel north to take on the Flin Flon Bombers on Feb. 24 and the La Ronge Ice Wolves on Feb. 25.
The Broncos go into their game in Flin Flon with a 1-2 record so far this season, and Haugan says it will be important for the Broncos to play with more pace, emotion, and discipline if they hope to have more success this time around.
