Given what happened to them a week earlier, the Battleford Midget AA Barons can view their second game of the 2016-17 Centre Four Hockey Leauge campaign as a massive improvement.
After being shut out 7-0 by the Saskatoon Screaming Eagles on Oct. 8 at the Kinsmen Arena, the Barons had a much stronger showing at the Civic Centre Saturday in an eventual 3-2 loss to the Humboldt Broncos.
“The effort from start to finish was a lot better from our guys,” Barons assistant coach Colin Carriere said. “Everyone was still feeling each other out in Saskatoon in our season opener, and it was a bit of a struggle for us.
“We had a couple of really good practices this week and the younger guys are starting to learn about what it takes to be successful in this league.”
After falling behind 2-0 after 40 minutes of play, Blake Oborowsky carried the Barons on his back in the third period.
He scored a pair of goals during the opening three minutes of the final frame to tie the game for his team.
“Blake’s on a veteran line so it was nice to see him and the other experienced guys on our team step up with some key goals,” Carriere said.
“It was nice to see some goals period. After being shut out 7-0 in the opener and not being able to score in the first two periods here, it was great to be able to cheer for something.”
Holden Holaday would stymie the Barons’ comeback bid midway through the third period, however, as the Broncos forward slid the puck past netminder Nicholas Miller.
“We played pretty well for our first game, even though we only have a handful of guys who have played at this level before,” Broncos head coach Chris Hamilton said.
“It may have taken us a period to get all of the jitters out, but we did a pretty good job in the third period by moving our feet and getting pucks in deep.”
Morgan Gobeil and Dylan Lindal had the other goals for the Broncos in the victory.
The Barons will look for their first win of the season Saturday in Nipawin when they will take on the North East Midget AA hockey club.
“We’re a fairly young team so we’re going to have fight hard to get our goals early on,” Carriere said.
“We do have pretty good speed though and a great work ethic, which you could see against Humboldt. It will take some time, but I think that by Christmas we’ll be flying and we’ll be competitive against everybody.”
The Barons next home game will be on Oct. 30 in a 2:45 p.m. contest with the Saskatoon Riverkings.
