It was a very busy preseason schedule for the Humboldt Broncos this season as they played five games in seven days including three straight over the weekend as they got prepared to open their 2016-2017 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League season.
The Broncos finished the preseason with a 3-2 record, which included wins over Kindersley on Sept. 5, Melville on Sept. 7, and Melfort on Sept. 10, and losses to Melfort on Sept. 9, and Kindersley on Sept. 11.
Despite the up and down week Broncos Head Coach, Darcy Haugan, was very pleased with how the preseason went for the team.
“It was a very beneficial preseason for us and a very positive one and we’ve created a lot of buzz. It seems like everybody’s really talking around town.”
The preseason is a tough time says Haugan because you have to find a balance between getting guys ready and keeping them fresh.
“It is a hectic time of the year, it’s five games this last week so a lot of hockey. You’re trying to get guys primed and ready for the regular season but at the same time you don’t want to run them into the ground but all-in-all it was good. No complaints.”
The biggest takeaway for Haugan from the preseason was the teams’ pace of play and their level of skill.
“We have that ability to score goals in bunches we did in the Melfort (game), scoring three and our second period (Sept. 11 against Kindersley) was pretty dominant even with the amount of young kids we had in there so that was one thing that was nice.”
With a week of practice before the season gets underway, Haugan says he is going to look to implement some structure into the team this week focusing mostly on the teams play with and without the puck.
“We can’t throw everything at them this week but we’ll be knocking things down. We do have a little bit of video from the preseason so we’ll be using that as a teaching tool and also start with our team building stuff. I don’t think we’re any different than most teams but we’re looking forward to this week and the season starting on Saturday.”
Haugan is pleased with where his team is currently at and says now it will just be about making minor adjustments.
“It’s a matter of the model we built. Is it going to work? And as we start to go, are we good enough to get the job done? So there might be some fine-tuning down the road.”
Haugan hopes that the team keeps building and growing as a team.
The Broncos start their regular season on Sept. 17 when they host the Notre Dame Hounds, before wrapping up their week the following night in Wilcox for a rematch against the Hounds.
