With the calendar flipping to September hockey has returned as the Humboldt Broncos hosted the 2016 fall training camp Sept. 1-4 in Humboldt.
This year’s camp featured approximately 80 players born between 1996 and 2000 who competed in the main camp, and approximately 45 more born between 2000 and 2002 who participated in the prospects camp.
Players flocked from many Canadian provinces including British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, and some American States including, Wisconsin, Texas, California, and Colorado.
This year’s camp featured teams competing against one another with the top two teams playing for the gold medal and the bottom two teams playing for the bronze.
“It was a very, competitive camp. We tried to raise the stakes a little bit... so each game players were playing for something and we wanted the guys to get that competitive edge and we’ve seen that right through,” said Broncos Head Coach, Darcy Haugan.
One of the important things this summer was that the players put in a lot of work in to be ready for the start of the season and that work was evident right from the start as all of the players beat their fitness scores from last year, says Haugan.
A big positive for the Broncos in camp was the performance of last year’s top line as Logan Schatz, Trevor Posch, and Chris Van Os-Shaw had a real solid training camp and seemed to continue building on their strong finish to last year, which is good to see, says Haugan.
“It’s nice to have some guys solidified in their position and some familiarity in there. They like playing with each other, and they want to play with each other.”
Haugan says moving forward those three could form one of the top lines in the league if they continue to put the work in to continue getting better.
“They’re very hungry and more than willing to accept that challenge,” says Haugan, who noted he did not want to put too much pressure on the trio.
The Broncos plan to carry between 28-30 players through the preseason, says Haugan, and then they will whittle their roster down to approximately 25.
“There’ll be some tough choices,” says Haugan.
The nice thing about having some tough decisions is that it will create some competition for the players, says Haugan.
“We want to have enough depth at every position that every practice means something and every game means something where guys, if they don’t play well, if they don’t practice well, they’re probably not going to be playing.”
Having that competition is a positive because competition will only make the team better, says Haugan.
“Our team is going to earn everything we get. We understand that nothing is going to be given to us this year and we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”
That work continues with five preseason games in seven days, including Sept. 5’s game in Kindersley, which the Broncos won 8-0, despite resting most of their veteran players.
The preseason continues for the Broncos with games in Melville and Melfort on Sept. 7 and 9, and games at home on Sept. 10 and 11 against Melfort and Kindersley.
The regular season gets underway for the Broncos on Sept. 17 when they host the Notre Dame Hounds.
