With the injuries beginning to pile up recently, the Humboldt Broncos are limping towards the finish line of the regular season in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL). The good news is that the team could potentially cross a major checkpoint as soon as tonight.
Heading into Wednesday’s action, the Broncos have 54 points and sit in 7th spot of the league standings. The La Ronge Ice Wolves are in 9th spot and have 44 points. Both teams have seven games remaining, including the Broncos hosting Weyburn and La Ronge visiting Nipawin.
A win by the Broncos and a loss by the Ice Wolves will have all but sewn up a playoff spot for Humboldt. While the Broncos wouldn’t be able to put an x beside their name in the standings, their magic number would be down to one, meaning an additional point by the Broncos, or an Ice Wolves loss, even in overtime or a shootout, would result in Humboldt officially clinching a playoff spot.
Securing a playoff spot is the goal of all the teams in the SJHL, the Broncos will need a more lethal attack on the powerplay to advance in the playoffs. The struggles of the powerplay were highlighted this past weekend in the two-game set against the Melfort Mustangs where the Broncos went 1/10 on the extra-man advantage. Over the last eight games, Humboldt has gone 5/30 on the power play. Assistant Coach Carter Hansen said following Saturday night’s game that specialty teams need to improve especially with multiple 5 on 3 situations.
“That’s the tough part, if you have two 5 on 3’s, let along one 5 on 3, if you’re not scoring on those, if you’re not scoring on those, usually the rule is if you don’t score on a 5 on 3, you typically lose that game.”
Injuries have plagued the Broncos recently, already without forwards Conner Miller, Jeter Korte and Michael Dowdall, Humboldt lost both Boris Kofman and Zach Bansley to injuries.
Goaltender Dazza Mitchell has missed the last three games for Humboldt after being involved with a collision against Battlefords on February 15. Wednesday will be the first opportunity for Mitchell to face his former team, the Red Wings. The popular netminder will have at least one chance to play in Weyburn on March 11, as the Broncos travel south to make up a game that was postponed from November 29, due to an ammonia leak at Crescent Point Place.
Tonight’s matchup between the Broncos and Red Wings will mark the third matchup between the two teams, with the home side prevailing in both matchups.
Weyburn is in fourth spot in the standings, but trail Yorkton by one point with two games in hand.
Coverage for tonight’s game on Bolt FM begins at 6:45, followed by the opening faceoff at 7:00.
After tonight’s game, the Broncos will head on a key two-game road trip this weekend on Friday in Yorkton and then in Melville on Saturday.