The home team once again got the win in the opening round series between the Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Red Wings and the Humboldt Broncos. Humboldt skated away with a 4-1 victory to take a 3-2 edge in the best-of-seven series, which will now shift back to Weyburn for game six Sunday night.
Humboldt opened the scoring just 100 seconds into the game and kept the Red Wings from being able to gain any momentum.
Travis Bryson scored a power play goal 1:40 into the opening period, which put the Broncos up. Weyburn's starting goalie, Dazza Mitchell, would leave the game for a brief period after the goal, with Angelo Zol coming in to take his place, after what appeared to be an equipment issue.
The goal would be the only one until the second period when Weyburn evened things up.
Weyburn would get a 5-on-3 power play two minutes into the second period as Spencer Bell received a double-minor for high sticking, and Travis Bryson got a penalty for hooking. On the ensuing power play, Jerome Maharaj would get the puck past Benjamin Motew for his second of the playoffs, with Nick Kovacs getting the assist on the goal.
The Broncos then regained the lead on a fluky goal. Maddox Amaral appeared to try to score a Michigan, and the puck ended up flipping up high, and someone got in over Mitchell and into the net with 6:21 remaining in the period.
Humboldt would add to the lead 1:54 into the third period when Matthew Van Blaricom scored, putting the Broncos up 3-1. An empty net goal by Spencer Bell with 52 seconds remaining would seal the game.
The Red Wings did find themselves spending quite a bit of time in the penalty box, with Humboldt getting eight power play opportunities. In terms of discipline, head coach Cody Mapes said it wasn't too much of a concern.
"The penalties that got called are probably penalties, but I'm not upset with our discipline," Mapes said during the post-game show. "I think we put ourselves in some spots where we were chasing and that probably put us into a spot where we had to take some penalties."
The series will return to Crescent Point Place for game six on Sunday night, where the Red Wings will be looking for another big, loud crowd to help provide the energy in the arena. Tickets for the game will be on sale from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Saturday, and from 9:00 a.m. until puck drop Sunday.
"The crowd was unbelievable the last two games, and you know, I expect a lot of the same and we wouldn't have it any other way," Mapes said of the atmosphere at home. "We wouldn't want to do it without the fans, and I'm sure it's going to be loud right from puck drop."
For those who aren't able to make it down to the rink for the game, Nick Nielsen and John Prette will have the call on Great Plains Ford Red Wings Radio Country 106.7, starting with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m.