Five games, five different lineups, five chances to switch things up and see who performs. That's what the pre-season means to Humboldt Broncos head coach Dean Brockman. The Broncos' coaching staff mixed returning players up with hopeful new players in their lineups for each of their five exhibition games last week.The changes to the lineup over the pre-season was partially to get through five games in seven days, Brockman told the Journal on Monday. But it was also to give everyone an equal chance to make their hockey club. And it was a bit of a test - to see who can get through the grind of a regular season, and to see who could play well with the returning vets. Mixing things up gave the vets a chance to set the pace and lead by example, Brockman noted, and gave the new players a chance to see how they fit in. "It was also a matter of how the vets react to playing with rookies," Brockman added. "There are a lot of tricks to see who has chemistry and who doesn't."They really tried to give everyone an equal opportunity through the preseason, he said. For the most part, we're pretty happy with the end result," Brockman said. The Broncos ended the pre-season with a record of three wins and two losses. The Broncos played their first preseason game in Melfort on September 11, and won 4-1, with Matt Audette, Jeff Ness and Austin Hall scoring for Humboldt; Hall got two in the contest. Blair Miscolczi got the win in the Broncos' net. The second game of the pre-seaon was at home, against the Nipawin Hawks. In that contest, which ended up 4-2 for Humboldt, Broncos Andriano Mungioli, Lucas Biensch, Austin Hall and David Stumborg got the points, while both Matt Hrynkiw and Archie Hall guarded Humboldt's net. Game three of the pre-season was played in Nipawin. This time, with only John Lawrence scoring for the Broncos, they fell to the Hawks 2-1. Miscolczi and Archie Hall took the loss in net. After suffering a 7-3 loss on the road to the Battlefords North Stars, the Broncos were back at home for their last exhibition game, once again against North Battleford. On Monday, some cuts were made to the roster, and the coaching staff was assessing the lineup day by day, Brockman said, leading up to the homeopener on September 22. They nearly had things set, he said, when he found out two players, including veteran Joey Davies, will be coming back to town."That changes things," Brockman said. With some of the young players injured in the pre-season, things are "day by day" for the lineup at the moment. But fans can expect to see an entertaining, hardworking team when they come out to the homeopener. "We really want to work extremely hard and prove that last year was a special year, but it's not the end," Brockman said.
