A late comeback bid fell short for the Humboldt Broncos as they dropped a 4-3 decision to the Nipawin Hawks in Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League action from Nipawin.
The Feb. 16 contest saw the Broncos score twice in a span of 1:55 in the third but they could get no closer.
The game got off to a tough start for the green and gold as Jordan Simoneau and Jake Tremblay both found the back of the net, giving the Hawks a 2-0 lead after the first period.
Broncos assistant coach Mark Cross noted the Broncos were just too passive to start the hockey game.
“We were just doing too much watching. We were reacting to plays rather than being pro-active and understanding where we were supposed to be and where our checks were. I think once we started doing that, settling it down I think we started to get our legs under us.”
Things did not get any better in the early going of the second as Simoneau scored his second of the night and Brett Harasymuk added a power play goal to give the Hawks a 4-0 lead.
Jaxon Joseph finally got the Broncos on the board with his 28th goal of the season, on the power play, at 19:05, sending the game into the second intermission with the Hawks in front 4-1.
The late goal seemed to spark the Broncos, who outshot the Hawks 14-4 in the third period, and generated five third period power plays.
The green and gold were able to take advantage of one such power play as Bryce Fiske scored his fifth of the year, while on a 5-on-3 man advantage to cut the Broncos’ deficit to two.
Conner Lukan added his 15th of the year with 1:05 to play, cutting the Hawks’ lead to 4-3.
With the green and gold able to score just once on five third period power plays, the Broncos missed some opportunities to pull into a tie, and Cross notes it is something the club will continue to try and address.
“That’s definitely something we’ve been working on, especially going into the postseason is really working on our special teams, power play and penalty kill. I think if we can up those a couple percentages in both categories it’s going to be very effective for us along the way.”
Facing an uphill battle, the Broncos pushed for the equalizer but could not find the back of the net as they dropped their first game in two weeks, a span of five games.
Despite the loss, Cross was not overly upset with the way his team played.
“We battled all game, maybe our decision making wasn’t where it needed to be in the early stages of the game and just that belief that we could do it. Once we did get that belief in the third period we started clawing our way back but I thought the effort was there. Just overall I think our decision making needed to be better for 60 minutes.”
Parker Tobin was charged with the loss in the Broncos goal allowing four goals on 32 shots as the Broncos outshot the Hawks 37-32.
