The Richardson Pioneer Weyburn Red Wings now know who they will be facing in the SJHL playoffs, after falling 6-3 to the Humboldt Broncos Wednesday night. With the loss, the Red Wings will finish 8th overall in the SJHL, as they won’t be able to finish the season with more than 57 points. This means the Wings will open the playoffs against the Battlefords North Stars when the SJHL postseason begins.
Shorthanded goals would prove to be the big difference maker for the Broncos Wednesday night, as they scored three of them en route to the victory. In all, the Broncos scored five special teams goals in the win.
Humboldt opened the scoring with 3:54 to play in the first period, as Alec Saretzky beat Dazza Mitchell for his 27th of the season.
In the second, though, Weyburn answered back as AP call-up Logan Pickford notched his first SJHL goal of the game with 4:15 remaining in the frame. Pickford, who had 25 goals and 41 points in the SMAAAHL regular season with the Prince Albert Mintos, was assisted on his marker by Ty Mason and Blake Norris.
The Broncos would regain their lead late in the second period, as Ethan Zielke scored a shorthanded with 35 seconds remaining to put Humboldt up 2-1. The late goal would give the Broncos momentum heading into the third frame as well.
In the third, Zielke scored his second of the night just 2:10 in, the second shorthanded goal of the night for Zielke and the Broncos. Then, a power play goal from Noah Barlage at the 4:37 mark made it 4-1 Humboldt. Barlage would tally again with 8:07 to play in the third, and the Broncos were up 5-1.
The Red Wings would push to try to pull even, starting with a goal from Ty Mason with 4:38 remaining. His 23rd of the season was assisted by Lucas Jeffreys. Then, Jordan Edwards scored his first goal as a Red Wing with 3:29 to play. He was assisted by Jackson Hassman and Ryley Morgan on the goal.
The Broncos would put it out of reach with just under 90 seconds to play, though, as Ben Kotylak scored a shorthanded, empty net goal to make it a 6-3 final.
The Red Wings will now return home for their final two regular season games. They host the Notre Dame Hounds Thursday night, then close out the regular season against the Estevan Bruins Saturday. The Wings will be in a position to finish the regular season above the .500 mark for the first time in five years with a pair of wins.
Both games at Crescent Point Place on the weekend will start at 7:00 p.m.