Wednesday, January 23, Humboldt fans were treated to an exciting matchup between the top two teams in the SJHL - the hometown Broncos and the Yorkton Terriers. This was the make-up game for the one cancelled December 2.
Humboldt had an early power-play opportunity when the Terriers' Austin Bourhis was boxed for elbowing at the 0:55 mark. Unfortunately the Broncos were not able to beat netminder Kale Thomson.
Play raced back and forth, with neither team lighting the lamp until the dying minutes of the opening frame.
Humboldt's Joe Davies opened the scoring, notching his 25th of the season at the 18:33 mark. Logan Sproule was credited with the assist.
With less than a minute to play, a brief lapse in intensity on the Broncos' part, saw Terrier Brady Norrish get a clear shot on Matt Hrynkiw. Hrynkiw made the initial save but gave up a big rebound which Norrish quickly deposited into the back of the net to tie the game at one with 17 seconds showing on the clock.
The other opening period excitement was the fight between Humboldt's Justin Lund and Yorkton's John Odgers. It began behind the play as Humboldt was clearing its zone and headed up ice. Suddenly the whistle blew and the gloves were on the ice. After a few circles of sizing each other up, the fists flew. The ensuing penalties included coincidental five-minute majors for fighting with Odgers also receiving a 10-minute misconduct and an extra two minutes for instigating.
The Broncos came out flying in the second. Set up by Cody Pongracz and Alex Forsberg, Davies scored his second of the night giving Humboldt a 2-1 lead at the 1:46 mark of the middle frame.
Just past the midway mark, the line of David Miazga, Adam Antkowiak and Dylan Fluter went to work to give the hometown a 3-1 lead -- Fluter's 12th of the season.
Few whistles, excellent playmaking and end-to-end action was the tone of the second.
Humboldt took the play to the Terriers but after an intense five minutes, Yorkton got out of its zone and capitalized on its opportunity when at the 15:54 mark John Neibrandt cut the Broncos' lead back to one with Derek Falloon and Tayler Thompson getting assists.
That was as close as it would get as a pretty tick-tack-toe play from Davies to Pongracz to Forsberg pretty much buried the Terriers with just over three minutes to play in the second.
At the end of 40 minutes, the Broncos led 4-2 and held a 38-14 lead in shots on goal. Only one minor penalty was assessed and that was served by Humboldt's Fluter.
The scoring column was dominated by the Broncos in the third period.
Only 1:41 into the frame, Forsberg set up by David Stumborg and Sproule blasted a shot, that looked like it had been caught by Thomson, but the puck popped out of the glove and into the net to make it 5-2 Humboldt.
Play got a bit more chippy in the third. Yorkton's Dylan Johnson was sent off at 11:58 for roughing. Humboldt's power-play opportunity was short lived as Miazga was assessed a double minor, two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct and two minutes for goalie interference. Yorkton turned around and squandered their power-play opportunity when Bourhis was sent off for cross-checking. With overlapping penalties, Humboldt eventually ended up with a one-minute power-play advantage but was not able to beat the Terriers' netminder.
The Broncos put a stamp on their win with two more goals in the third. Stumborg set up by Fluter and Antkowiak made it 6-2 at the 8:17 mark.
The icing on the cake was a beautiful four-on-four effort when Antkowiak sent a pass from the right side onto the stick of Kameren Ballas who fired a nice wrister past the goalie, making it a 7-2 final.
Humboldt outshot Yorkton 35-20. Neither team was able to capitalize on its power-play opportunities, four for Humboldt and three for Yorkton.
The Broncos boarded the bus for a two-game weekend tilt with the LaRonge Ice Wolves, January 25 and 26.
