The Humboldt Broncos welcomed families to the Elgar Petersen Arena for a Family Day matinee against the Melfort Mustangs on Feb. 19.
While the Broncos were hospitable to the families, they were much less so to the Mustangs as they routed their rivals 6-0 in Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League action.
“This game was huge,” noted Broncos forward Nick Shumlanski, since “most likely we’re going to face these guys in the playoffs so we kind of came into today with a playoff atmosphere. We had some really timely kills and we jumped on them early, which really helped. The boys played really well tonight.”
The game did not get off to the best of starts for the Broncos as they surrendered the first two penalties and found themselves being outshot 7-1 early.
With the game snowballing a little for the Broncos, Nick Shumlanski got the green and gold going, scoring his 17th of the year, while shorthanded to put the Broncos in front 1-0.
Shumlanski noted the power play goal was huge for his team, noting it can really drain the energy out of the opposition.
“They were pretty dominant in the first ten and then we score that goal there and you could just see it, they died a little bit and then we scored another one right away and after that we just took off.”
That goal seemed to spark Shumlanski, and his Broncos teammates as he hit a post on the same penalty kill, and added a second goal before the end of the first period, giving the green and gold a 2-0 lead.
Needing some separation from the Mustangs, Schatz blew in on a breakaway, thanks to a nice pass from Jaxon Joseph, and outwaited Mustangs goaltender Evan Plotnik for his 22nd goal of the year and a 3-0 lead after two periods of play.
The Broncos rolled through the rest of the contest scoring three times in the third as Brayden Camrud, and Jacob Leicht scored power play markers, and Bryce Fiske added an even strength goal to give the Broncos a dominant 6-0 win.
It was not the best effort of the year for the green and gold, with Shumlanski noting his team was very opportunistic.
“It seemed that they didn’t give us a bunch of scoring chances this game but when we did get them we buried on them. Having a shorthanded goal really killed some confidence too so that was huge.”
It was an excellent night for the Broncos’ top line of Joseph, Schatz, and Shumlanski, as they combined for three goals and six points.
“It seems like every game we play together we’re getting better and better and tonight was just one of those night where the puck just kind of went your way, had a little bit of puck luck,” noted Shumlanski.
Special teams were excellent for the Broncos in the contest as their penalty kill was a perfect 3-for-3, while their power play converted on 2-of-4 chances.
Parker Tobin picked up the win in the Broncos cage, registering his second career SJHL shutout, and second in seven games, turning aside all 36 shots he faced as the Broncos were outshot 36-31.
With the win the green and gold sit eight points up on Notre Dame for the fifth seed in the SJHL, with Notre Dame holding one game in hand and just six to play.
The win also pulls the Broncos to within eight points of the Mustangs for home ice in their first round playoff series, with the Broncos needing no worse than a 4-0-1 record in their final five games, and six straight Mustangs losses for the Broncos to pull ahead.
The Broncos will look to clinch no worse than a fifth place finish, with their magic number being any combination of Broncos wins and Hounds losses equaling two, when they heads north for a pair of contests against the La Ronge Ice Wolves Feb. 23 and Feb. 24.
With the Broncos riding an emotional high of a win over a rival and potential first round opponent, managing that high through the week and into the weekend will be key for the green and gold, with Shumlanski noting they cannot take the Ice Wolves lightly.
“Anybody can beat anybody and especially in the Mel (Hegland Arena). That’s a hard rink to play in so we’ve got to play every game just like we did tonight. We can’t take any team for granted.”
