Broncos roll over Ice Wolves
The Humboldt Broncos bounced back from a tough loss in excellent fashion as they rolled past the La Ronge Ice Wolves 6-1 in Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League action from the Elgar Petersen Arena, on the namesakes birthday.
The Jan. 26 win was particularly important for the Broncos as they rebounded from a not so great effort against the Kindersley Klippers two days prior.
“We’ve been playing very well lately… I don’t think we played our game last game but today we came back and played well,” noted Broncos forward and Humboldt native, Jacob Leicht.
Hockey can be a cruel sport sometimes and the Broncos learned that the hard way as La Ronge scored the game’s opening goal on the power play despite the Broncos holding an 11-2 edge in shots at one point in the period.
Despite giving up the goal the Broncos refused to quit, and were rewarded just 27 seconds later as Leicht drove the puck hard to the net and found a hole by Ice Wolves starter Jordan Frey for his third goal of the season, and first in 21 games.
Leicht noted his goal was a key moment in the game, saying teams always gain momentum after a goal.
“To stop that quickly early in the game was huge,” Leicht noted.
“It had been a while since I scored, especially at home so it was a really great feeling.”
The Broncos continued putting pressure on the Ice Wolves throughout the rest of the period and were rewarded once again as Jaxon Joseph forced a turnover in the Ice Wolves zone and buried his 21st goal of the season to give the Broncos a 2-1 lead after one period.
Despite the Ice Wolves having to make the long trip through a snow storm to arrive in time for puck drop, Leicht noted the Broncos did not put any extra emphasis on starting well.
“We just want to come out as strong as we can, it doesn’t matter what the situation is.”
After outshooting the Ice Wolves 21-7 in the first period, the Broncos continued the onslaught in the second as they outshot the visitors 16-7 and found the back of the net three times.
Brayden Camrud started the second period goal barrage with his 12th goal of the year at the 4:28 mark.
Logan Hunter added his 16th of the year at 14:53, and Joseph rounded out the second period scoring with his second of the night less than two minutes later to give the Broncos a 5-1 lead after two periods of play.
After dominating through the first two periods the Broncos cruised through the final period allowing just eight shots.
Derek Patter scored the lone goal of the period with just 11 seconds to play converting a nifty feed from Leicht for his tenth goal of the year.
It was a quiet night for both teams’ special teams, as there were just four power plays in the contest, with the Ice Wolves finishing 1-for-2 on the power play, and the Broncos 0-for-2.
Jacob Wassermann picked up the win in the Broncos goal turning aside 21 of the 22 shots he faced as the Broncos outshot the Ice Wolves 48-22.
With the Broncos allowing just 22 shots, including 15 through the first 50 minutes of the hockey game, Leicht says the key for the Broncos defensively was playing hard each and every shift.
“We didn’t take a shift off. We learnt last game that we need to play our best every single shift.”
Broncos stay mentally tough in win over Bombers
It was not pretty but the Humboldt Broncos did just enough to knock off the Flin Flon Bombers 6-4 in Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League action from the Elgar Petersen Arena.
The Jan. 27 contest saw the Broncos hold leads of 3-0, 4-2, and 5-3 before watching the Bombers pull within a goal each time.
The game got off to a solid start for the green and gold as they carried the play, particularly in the second half of the period, outshooting the Bombers 15-7.
Jaxon Joseph got the party started for the Broncos with his 23rd goal of the season, and third in his last 3.5 periods, at the 10:52 mark to give the Broncos a 1-0 lead.
Captain Logan Schatz raced in on a shorthanded breakaway less than five minutes later and beat Bombers netminder Brenden Newton with a slick move for his 17th goal of the season, giving the Broncos a 2-0 lead after one period.
Schatz admitted he did not see much on his breakaway, noting he was not sure if he was going to be able to beat Bombers goaltender Brenden Newton far side.
“He’s a pretty quick goalie so I tried to make a move he didn’t really bite but I just found a hole and slid it in.”
Schatz noted he felt his goal was a key moment in the contest, noting his club had chances earlier but they could not beat Newton.
“He’s a great goaltender and I give him props tonight but that was a big goal for us. Obviously we were up 3-0 and we let a couple in there so without that goal who knows what happens.”
Bryce Fiske added a power play marker at 6:20 of the second period giving the Broncos a 3-0 lead.
The Broncos’ three goal lead lasted just 23 seconds as Rob Johnson beat Broncos starter Parker Tobin with his 11th goal of the season, cutting the Broncos’ lead to 3-1.
Before the end of the period the Bombers cut the lead to one as Chrystopher Collin notched his 19th goal of the season, on the power play, sending the game into the second intermission with the Broncos clinging to a 3-2 lead.
With the Broncos on their heels, Schatz noted the biggest key for the club heading into the third was to stay positive.
“The attitude was more like we were down a goal than up a goal so we just kept things positive and tried to keep things simple and I think we did that and it showed in the third period.”
The green and gold came out in the third with a renewed focus and were rewarded for it early as Graysen Cameron fired home his fifth goal of the year, extending the Broncos’ lead to 4-2.
Unfortunately the Broncos were not able to ride the momentum as the Brandson Hein scored his second goal of the season, just 15 seconds later, cutting the Broncos’ lead to 4-3.
The goal barrage continued less than two minutes later, as Kaleb Dahlgren snapped home his ninth goal of the season, giving the Broncos a 5-3 lead.
The Broncos’ two goal edge lasted more than five minutes before Hein scored his second of the night cutting the Broncos lead back to a goal.
Just over two minutes later Conner Lukan notched his 12th of the year to round out the scoring, giving the Broncos a 6-4 win.
With the Bombers scoring two of their four goals within 23 seconds of the Broncos scoring, Schatz was pleased to see the team stick with it, noting it can be very easy for a team to pack it in after giving up a goal.
“We have a resilient team here, that’s showed from day one to be honest. We’ve had a bunch of comeback wins at the start of the season and I don’t think we have any problems with character and battle when things go wrong in this dressing room so that’s really nice to see.”
It was a particularly important win for the Broncos who picked up four critical points over the weekend, allowing them to leapfrog the Notre Dame Hounds for fifth in the SJHL standings.
Coming into the weekend the Broncos were one point behind the Hounds for fifth and just one up on seventh place Weyburn.
The two wins see the Broncos now lead the Hounds by three points and the Red Wings by five, with the Hounds holding one game in hand, and the Red Wings with two games in hand.
Schatz called the weekend wins “huge”.
“We made it a goal to dominate this weekend and I think we did that. We had all four lines chipping in… and that’s what we need down the stretch is our guys down the lineup chipping in and that’s exactly what we had here this weekend.”
Tobin picked up the win in the Broncos goal, turning aside 24 of the 28 shots he faced as the Broncos outshot the Bombers 44-28.
The Broncos will look to continue their strong play, and move closer to a top six spot in the playoffs, when they return to action on Jan. 30 for a home matchup against the SJHL’s third seed, the Estevan Bruins.
The Bruins come into the contest with four players in the top 11 of league scoring, and boast the league’s top scoring offense.
The key for the Broncos will be shutting them down, notes Schatz, who says the best way to do that is to play them hard.
“We’re going to have to make sure we’re backchecking hard and making it hard on them to get anything going in the offensive zone. They like to score off the rush so backchecking and picking up guys trailing, their D-men jumping in is going to be massive for us.”
