Fresh off their first win of 2025 on Wednesday night against the Notre Dame Hounds, the Humboldt Broncos will embark on a key home and home set this weekend against the Battlefords North Stars.
The Broncos head into the weekend holding down the final playoff spot in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) standings at 34 points.
Battlefords leads the Nutrien Division with 43 points, nine points ahead of Humboldt and sit fifth overall in the league standings.
Assistant Coach Carter Hansen said after the game on Wednesday, this upcoming weekend set against the North Stars is very important for the Broncos.
“Each game is a four-point swing, you win these two on the weekend and all of the sudden that gap gets a little bit tighter, gets back closer to a spot where we think we should be in the standings and hopefully starts a roll after that.”
Over the next month, the Broncos and North Stars will become familiar acquaintances with each other as they will meet six games against each other in three sets of home-and-home contests.
The two teams met on two occasions back in October, with the home team winning each game.
Since the last meeting between Humboldt and Battlefords, the North Stars appointed former player Martin Smith as the team’s head coach after Garry Childerhose stepped down from the position.
A week following the SJHL trade deadline, the Broncos have received some immediate contributions from their newcomers. One of them has been Cade Kennedy, the former Estevan Bruins captain who has scored in both games he played in since arriving to Humboldt and has impressed Hansen.
“I’ve loved every shift of Cade Kennedy right now, he’s come into our lineup and has given us a whole new breath of steadiness, he’s providing offence, he’s providing chances left right and center, he’s played a full 200-foot game for us.”
It also hasn’t taken goaltender Dazza Mitchell long to settle into the Broncos crease, appearing in three games, the 20-year-old netminder is 1-2, with 3.00 and a .923 SV %.
Coverage for tonight’s game on Bolt FM begins at 7:15, the puck drops at 7:30.
The two teams meet in Humboldt on Saturday, coverage on Bolt FM begins at 6:45 and the opening faceoff is 7:00.