For the Humboldt Broncos, it was a tale of two identical games with the final act flipped in this weekend’s twin trials with the Battlefords North Stars. Both games resulted in a 1-all tie at the end of regulation, a thrilling bout of 3 on three overtime, and shootout to decide the victor.
In Friday’s opener, the only two goals of the game were scored just under four minutes apart in the second frame.
Rookie blueliner sensation Carson Olsen scored his third goal of the season to give the North Stars a 1-0 lead. It was the first time this season that the Broncos conceded the game’s opening goal. However, a few shifts later, Cage Newans banged home a rebound in a broken-up goal mouth scramble to tie the game with his 7th of the campaign.
Otherwise, it was a goalie’s showdown. Motew turned aside 28 of 29 in net for the victory, while his creased counterpart, Justin Maric, stopped 35 of 36.
After overtime solved nothing, the two teams headed into a shootout, both for the first time this season.
Motew was able to shut down Ben Portner, Bradley Blake, and Carson Olsen.
Spencer Bell and Cage Newans were unsuccessful in the Broncos’ first two opportunities, which opened the door for Landon Stromme.
Stromme skated in patiently and waited for the top of the net to open up and flicked a wrist shot top shelf over the glove of Maric for a 2-1 shootout victory.
On Saturday night, once again, both netminders were the best players on the ice, and once again, it took a skills competition to separate the rivals.
The Broncos opened up the scoring on the powerplay in the first period with Maddox Amaral’s third goal of the season. Ryder Knutson and Jeter Korte added the assists. The Broncos powerplay finished 1/4 on the night.
In the second period, the North Stars tied the game on a left-wing wrist shot by Brad Blake and his fourth of the year.
Otherwise, it was the Broncos’ Ben Motew and the North Stars’ Justen Maric who stole the show between the pipes, stopping 25/26 and 40/41, respectfully. In the shootout, the Broncos elected the same three shooters that helped them win the game the night prior: Spencer Bell, Cage Newans, and Landon Stromme. However, this time all three were unsuccessful.
The North Stars rolled out Hunter Burgeson, Brad Blake, and Brayden Sinclair. Brad Blake was the only one to score, providing the game tying goal, and the shootout game winner in the close-knit contest.
The rivals will play four more times this season, and you can be certain that both teams and their fanbases will be circling all four on the calendar.
Humboldt will have a few days between games before welcoming the Estevan Bruins to the EPA on Wednesday, October 25th.
with content from Discover Humboldt