For the first time since the 1979-1980 season the Humboldt Broncos will not be participating in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoffs after a 0-2 week officially eliminated them from contention.
While the playoffs may not be an option for this season, Broncos Assistant Coach Brayden Klimosko noted that the team cannot quit playing down the stretch. Klimosko agrees these last few games are a job interview of sorts.
“We’ll definitely see what guys are made of at this time. It’ll definitely see what they’re character is like. Like we said there’s no time to back down or take some weeks off. This is bonus time for these guys,...it’s a job interview and see exactly what kind of character guys we have here.”
In spite of their record showing 0-2 this week the Broncos acquitted themselves extremely well playing some great hockey against a tough opponent, the defending league champions, the Melfort Mustangs.
Their first game came in Melfort on Feb. 19 in their back-to-back home and home series. The Broncos got off to a great start scoring the first goal less than four minutes into the game by Andrew Thompson. The Broncos could not hold onto the lead for long as the Mustangs evened the score less than five minutes later. Two minutes after that the Mustangs took their first lead before adding another goal late in the period for a 3-1 lead after the first period.
The Mustangs added to their lead at 8:41 of the second period.
A tripping penalty sent the Broncos to the power play just over five minutes later.
The Broncos failed to score on the power play but Laramie Kostelansky cut the Broncos deficit to two goals, two second after the penalty expired for his second point of the game after receiving the lone assist on Thompson’s first period marker.
Landon Markovitch scored his first SJHL point on the Kostelansky goal with an assist but took a holding penalty less than two minutes after that. ‘
The Mustangs made good on the power play and extended their lead to 5-2 after the second period.
Neither team found the back of the net in the third period as the game finished 5-2 in favour of the Mustangs, with the final shots also favouring the Mustangs 46-16.
The two teams had a quick turnaround as they played again the following night, Feb. 20 in Humboldt.
The game got off to a quick start as Trevor Posch and Ashton Clark dropped their gloves for a spirited fight five seconds into the opening period.
Despite the quick fight to the game and the teams having played the night before, Kilmosko was surprised the fight happened as he did not see any carry-over effect from the night prior.
“It wasn’t a carry-over to be honest which is kind of weird, there definitely wasn’t any carry-over anything. I was definitely shocked when it happened but it was good to see (Posch) do his job out there and that’s why he’s one of the toughest guys in the league.”
The early fight set the tone for the hockey game as the emotion ran sky high throughout. The teams battled hard and combined over 90 minutes in penalties.
The Mustangs scored the first of the game at the 7:05 mark before Michael Korol responded for the Broncos three and a half minutes later to send the teams to the dressing room tied at one after one.
The second period saw the Mustangs regain the lead on a late goal as the teams combined for nine minor penalties.
With their season hanging by a thread and needing a win to keep it alive, the Broncos came out flying in the third period and were rewarded early as Daniel McKitrick converted a breakaway 31 seconds into the period.
A roughing penalty to Logan Boulet halted the early momentum the Broncos gained as Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League leading scorer and defending league Most Valuable Player Travis Mayan converted on the power play to regain the Mustangs lead 3-2.
The Broncos kept battling, throwing 13 shots at the Mustang goal in the third but could not find the equalizer as they fell 3-2 officially eliminating them from playoff contention. Carter Seminuk was steady in the Broncos goal making 45 saves on 48 shots, while Richard Palmer stopped 30 out of 32 shots for the Mustangs in the win.
Despite the loss Klimosko was very pleased with his teams effort.
“It was a good atmosphere, it was an intense game, it was really fun. I think the guys battled hard and played hard. The guys used that energy in a positive way and it was a good game I was really impressed with the effort for sure.”
Next Week
The Broncos wrap up the home portion of their season with a pair of games this week Feb. 23 against the Battlefords North Stars and Feb. 26 against the Melville Millionaires.
With this being the final pair of home games for the season for the Broncos Klimosko says there is no extra pressure to win those games just a pressure to finish the season strongly.
“You never want to limp into the last part of the season and lose all your games. I think we’ve been playing well but we haven’t won, well now we have to take it to the next level and win those hockey games. So I think the pressure’s definitely there but we have to do our best to battle and get the two points for sure in those two games.”
