Jan. 10 is an important day for junior hockey teams across the country and it was no different for the Humboldt Broncos who were hard at work making last minute roster changes in the lead up to the Jan. 10 trade deadline.
The Broncos made a quartet of moves prior to the deadline, waving goodbye to a pair of players, and hello to two others.
The biggest move made by the green and gold came with the acquisition of 20-year-old forward Nick Shumlanski from the Flin Flon Bombers.
The Tisdale product comes to the Broncos with 155 games of SJHL experience, all with the Bombers, where he accumulated 40 goals, and 83 assists for 123 points.
In 35 games with the Bombers this season, Shumlanski has 12 goals, and 27 assists for 39 points, good enough for 14th in SJHL scoring.
Heading back to the Bombers are future considerations.
The Broncos also bolstered their blueline with the acquisition of 18-year-old defenseman Cale Cripps from the Olds Grizzlys.
The 5’11”, 190lb Grande Prairie, Alta. native joins the green and gold after spending the first 30 games of his junior hockey season with the Grizzlys where he scored one goal, and added two assists, while piling up 89 penalty minutes.
In exchange for the defenseman the Broncos send future considerations to the Grizzlys.
In a separate deal with the Grizzlys, the Broncos traded goaltender Sam-Jaxon Visscher to Olds, in exchange for future considerations.
Visscher was in his first season with the Broncos, appearing in nine games where he posted a 3.30 goals against average and a .882 save percentage.
The Broncos’ busy day finally came to an end late in the day when they sent McKullen Astill to the South Shore Lumberjacks in exchange for future considerations.
Astill appeared in eight games with the Broncos, after being acquired from Merritt earlier this season, scoring one goal and adding two assists.
Shumlanski and Cripps will have their first opportunity to make an impact with their new team when the Broncos return to action on Jan. 12 for a crucial matchup against the Notre Dame Hounds in Wilcox.
