Broncos do not work hard enough; lose game one to Hawks
The Humboldt Broncos got off to a slow start they could never recover from as they lost game one of their Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League best of seven series 4-1 to the Nipawin Hawks in Nipawin on March 17.
The Broncos gave up the first goal just 1:40 seconds into the first period and found themselves down 2-0 after the first.
Michael Korol scored the lone goal of the game for the Broncos before the Hawks answered with one in the second and one more in the third.
Despite the 4-1 loss Broncos head coach Darcy Haugan was not overly concerned with his teams’ effort saying they were okay defensively.
“I thought we battled, I thought we competed pretty hard. Nipawin did a really good job of preventing us from really mounting any type of attack. They really plugged it up. It was a battle.”
It was that plug it up style that really sunk the Broncos, noted Haugan who said his team just did not do a good enough job away from the puck.
“We didn’t generate enough and we weren’t good enough without the puck, even when we had it the four guys without it didn’t do enough to do anything spectacular and we just didn’t work hard enough to get to the net.”
The penalty kill gave the Broncos trouble early in the game as they gave up two goals on Nipawin’s first three power plays.
“But I thought we made the proper adjustments,” says Haugan. “And really since that first power play goal that they’ve had they’re 1 for 11. So our penalty killing’s been really good.”
Bounces also played a big factor in the outcome of the game, noted Haugan, who pointed to a pair of tip in goals, one on a shot that was going three feet wide and another one a lucky play.
“You probably try that 100 times and probably 99 times he doesn’t get it.”
The Hawks were also the beneficiary of a fortuitous bounce off the end boards that ricocheted off the end boards and in.
“So I think it was closer than a 4-1 game. But we maybe didn’t work as hard as we possibly could.”
Nerves may also have played a role since his team was slow to get their feet under them, says Haugan, “but it definitely wasn’t the start we were looking for. It definitely wasn’t a very smart effort.”
The one positive for the Broncos, noted Haugan, was that Korol’s goal came on the power play, which struggled mightily down the stretch.
“But at the same time we just haven’t been able to generate really anything 5 on 5.”
The Broncos had little time to stew over their game one loss as game two came the following night at the Elgar Petersen Arena.
Late goal sinks Broncos
The Humboldt Broncos lost in heartbreaking fashion in game two of their Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League quarterfinal playoff series, losing 3-1 to the Nipawin Hawks at the Elgar Petersen Arena on March 18.
The Broncos dropped the game after Nipawin scored with 2:45 to play to take a 2-1 lead.
“That’s the game of hockey. It’s a cruel game because we definitely feel we deserved a better fate,” lamented Broncos head coach Darcy Haugan.
The Broncos came out slow in the opening few minutes but slowly found their legs as the game wore on.
Despite carrying a majority of the play in the second period the Broncos found themselves behind 1-0 after two periods on a nice tip in by Hawks forward Grant Baetsen.
Needing a goal to tie the Broncos came out flying in the third scoring on the power play as Trevor Posch tipped home a Parker Wakaruk point shot.
The goal seemed to give the Broncos life as they hemmed the Hawks into their own zone but could not come up with the winning goal, ultimately leading to Baetsen’s second of the night.
Brett Harasymuk added an empty netter in the dying second to ice the game for the Hawks.
Despite the loss, Haugan was really pleased with how his team battled, particularly in the final 43 minutes of the hockey game.
“We started to come out with a lot more unison… and started to use our speed on the outside. And then from there we were able to get some zone time and sustain some pressure.”
Haugan does admit that in order to win the series the Broncos are going to have to find another gear.
“We have to move our feet and we have to be even faster and we have to work even harder. And we have to fight through a lot of the interference that they’re doing.”
With the Broncos trailing 2-0 in the series heading back to Nipawin it is going to be important that the Broncos have a short memory, says Haugan.
“We’ve got to just go into Nipawin and win there. We were going to have to do that regardless if we wanted to win this series.”
Part of having a short memory will be about believing.
“That’s the thing about life is if you think you’re going to have success or failure you’re probably right,” says Haugan.
On the ice the Broncos just have to clean up some mistakes and they will be fine.
“It’s just a matter of watching some video seeing where we had success, seeing how we can exploit them, show them their mistakes. A lot of our mistakes is stuff that we can control so we have the ability to eliminate a lot of our mistakes,” says Haugan.
Game three of the series is set for March 21 in Nipawin.
