The only ice you will find on this scorching Labour Day long weekend is either inside of a cold drink or at the hockey rink.
That’s definitely the case in the province, as the 2025-26 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) season gets underway with training camps beginning on the weekend including here in Humboldt.
The Humboldt Broncos will begin their preparations for the upcoming season on Friday with fall camp.
With the evolving eligibility rules of junior hockey, Junior ‘A’ clubs like the Broncos have to focus not only on recruiting new players but also retaining their veterans.
Humboldt wasn’t immune to losing players this offseason, forwards Kye Benoche (Nanaimo) and Michael Dowdall (Victoria) are playing closer to home in the BCHL. Goalie Brady Holtvogt is beginning the season with the Prince George Cougars of the Western Hockey League (WHL) and forward Conner Miller is also trying out in the WHL with the Vancouver Giants.
The Broncos will be without 2005-born Marik Mamic for a significant portion of the first half of the season due to an injury.
But overall, Klimosko is pleased with the veterans returning for the 2025-26 season as every team in the SJHL is facing the same predicament.
The Broncos Head Coach and General Manager says with the returning veterans, he wants to see the progress they’ve made over the summer.
While for the younger players, he would like to see which players can step up and adapt to playing at the Junior ‘A’ level.
“You want to see their compete level. You want to see how well they are to playing different roles because you know a lot of people were, you know, power play guys at their level, they might not be here. So, who can kill penalties? Who can be the first in the forecheck.”
He added that there is an expectation from the entire team about attention to details.
“The structure that we're trying to go with is huge for us to see where our team’s going to go. Moving forward if you can’t pick up the minor details in camp, we’re worried where you’re going to be once December comes when you’re going to be in full blown structures.”
Another trait that Klimosko along with the coaching and scouting staff will be searching for is determination from the players.
“You find hard workers, you can get a lot accomplished on the ice.”
It will be long before the Broncos are battling their SJHL rivals in the preseason as they travel to Melville on Sunday to meet the Millionaires.
In total, the Broncos will play in seven preseason games before the start of the regular season begins on Friday, September 19.
With seven exhibition games, Klimosko says this will allow him to give the younger players some extra ice time.
“I don't want those any of those guys to miss out on opportunities to play games. You know practice is nice and I love practice, but we got to play games to really see where guys are at and really justify where they fit on the depth chart.”
Since last year’s captain Landen Stromme graduated as 20-year-old veteran, there will be a new player wearing the ‘C’ this season in Humboldt and possibly new players wearing an ‘A’. There isn’t a set timeline for Klimosko to select his leadership crew but added the search will begin this weekend, especially with guiding the new members of the team.
“Taking those guys under their wing and really teaching them what we're looking for here is the Broncos. All those little things will make a difference.”
It will be a revamped crease for the Broncos to begin the fall camp with the graduation of Dazza Mitchell and Holtvogt in Prince George. Even though they’re new to Humboldt, Klimosko is familiar with both 20-year-old Charlie Tritt and 18-year Nick Kotai.
When he was in Battlefords, Klimosko originally recruited Tritt, but the Vancouver product elected to stay closer to home and play with the Langley Rivermen of the BCHL. Klimosko says that Tritt is a goalie who is capable of stepping in between the pipes right away.
Kotai’s brother Josh was the netminder for the Battleford North Stars in 2022-23, when they captured the 2023 SJHL championship led by Klimosko.
The lineups for the two first preseason games in Melville and Kindersley (Sept.2) will be exclusively rookies before the veterans draw into the lineup beginning on September 5 when the Broncos make their first visit to Warman.
On Friday, the team will be split into two squads and will face off in the green and gold game at 6:00.
The following night the top 40 players squares off with the Elgar Petersen Cup on the line at 7:30.
Fans are welcome to attend the camp this weekend.
The first home preseason game will be Saturday, September 6 when the Broncos welcome in the Warman Wolverines.