They're starting to gel, and it's starting to show.The Humboldt Broncos have been a start-and-stop team this season, sometimes pulling off big wins, and sometimes not, but doing neither with consistency.It appears that in the past week they may have found that. They won over Flin Flon, then over the Nipawin Hawks, both teams ahead of them in the rankings. Then they won over the Notre Dame Hounds 4-1 in Wilcox on November 13, securing them a second-place spot in the Bauer rankings - quite a jump from fifth position last week. Though the Broncos were outshot by the Hounds 32 to 27 over three periods, they led almost from the time they stepped on the ice in Wilcox. With veteran goaltender Matt Hrynkiw guarding their own net, Humboldt opened scoring with a power play goal at 11:51 of the first. Kameron Ballas, assisted by Logan Sproule and Joey Davies, got the point.Humboldt strengthened their lead with a goal at 17:20 of the second, scored by Ryan Marshall and assisted by Rhett Blackmur and Sproule. In the third, the Hounds finally got on the board with a goal by Josh Bruha at 3:36, assisted by Ryan Fitzgerald and James Dombowsky.Then Neil Landry added another point to Humboldt's total with a goal at 9:39. Matt Glowa and Adam Zbitniff got the assists.Finally, Humboldt got their fourth and last point of the night at 19:10 of the third. Glowa alone was credited with the goal. Penalties were minimal - just five for each team. However, there were some majors handed out. Chase Wharton of the Broncos got a two minute minor and a 10-minute misconduct for delivering a blow to the head at 4:18 of the third.Blaine Thomson of the Hounds, meanwhile, got a game misconduct and a two-minute minor for checking from behind at 12:28 of the second. Humboldt did better on their power play than usual in the game, going one for four. Notre Dame failed to score on any of their four power plays. Goalie Hrynkiw was named the first star of the game, followed by defenceman Sproule of Humboldt. Bruha of the Hounds was named the third star.With that win, the Broncos are actually tied for second in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League as a whole. Both the Broncos and the Weyburn Red Wings, the leader of the Sherwood conference, had 30 points after the weekend.The Broncos play again tonight, November 16, at home, again against the Nipawin Hawks.
