The final match of the regular season between the top two teams in the SJHL's North Division hit the ice Friday night when the Humboldt Broncos hosted the Flin Flon Bombers at the Elgar Petersen Arena.
The Broncos were looking to widen their six-point margin over the Bombers to stay atop of the division.
Humboldt bolted out of the gate registering its first scoring opportunity in the opening 60 seconds of the first. Bombers' goalie Brandon Wildung made his first of many saves of the period, setting the tone for the game. The Broncos had an early rhythm carrying the play offensively and not allowing Flin Flon to register its first shot on net until the 4:41 mark. But that initial shot required Matt Hrynkiw to make an excellent save.
The Broncos' timing started to skip and the team inter-mixed excellent scoring rushes with moments of scrambling in both the defensive and neutral zones. The goalies were key to the period and when the buzzer sounded at the end of 20 minutes, a pair of zeroes was on the scoreboard. The teams played even strength for the entire period and Humboldt held a 17-10 shots on net lead.
The second period offered fans more of the edge-of-the-seat action. Offensive pressure by both clubs had each goalie occasionally looking behind them to see where the puck had gone during various onslaughts. Minor penalties to the Bombers' Brock Hounsell at 4:23 and Brett Penner at 6:20 followed by Bronco John Lawrence's hooking penalty at 6:03 expanded the ice surface as the teams tried to capitalize while on the man advantage. Once again Hrynkiw and Wildung stood tall in the net in their respective ends.
After many close calls, the hometown fans finally got the chance to celebrate when Rhett Blackmur fed the puck to Christopher Manhas whose innocent-looking shot beat Wildung low on his blocker side to make it 1-0 Broncos at the 7:29 mark of the second. Despite scoring opportunities at both ends of the ice, it remained 1-0 at the end of 40 minutes.
The Broncos' power play sputtered in the third period. The Bombers' Penner was called for high sticking at the 1:11 mark and then teammate Konrad Litke was boxed for cross-checking at the 3:00 mark, but Humboldt was unable to generate many scoring opportunities and went 0/4 on the power play for the game.
With 12:37 showing on the clock, the line of Carter Page, Joe Davies and Alex Forsberg found its stride with Page netting his sixth of the season to make it 2-0 Broncos. The Bombers responded by upping their level of physicality and bruising hits echoed throughout the arena, as Flin Flon fought to get back into the game.
With less than two minutes remaining, Wildung raced off the ice to be replaced with a sixth attacker. Humboldt responded well, battling along the boards, tying up players in front of the net and giving Hrynkiw the view he needed to make the saves. The hard work paid off as with less than 30 seconds to go, Humboldt got the puck out of the defensive zone and Davies found enough of a lane to hit the empty net, making the final 3-0 for Humboldt.
The Broncos were set to host the Kindersley Klippers Saturday night but mechanical issues with the Klippers' bus resulted in a cancellation of the game. The Broncos hosted the Nipawin Hawks, Tuesday, February 5 and play Friday in Melfort against the Mustangs.
