The Humboldt Junior A Broncos lost their first pre-season contest at home, but claimed victory in the second.
First, the Broncos faced the Kindersley Klippers in a September 11 game at the Elgar Petersen Arena.
Humboldt looked strong in the first period, scoring the first goal 53 seconds in, thanks to Anthony Nobil, who got the point unassisted.
The Klippers scored their first goal of the night on Broncos' goaltender Andrew Bodnarchuk at 5:25 of the first, thanks to a shot by Pearce Gourlay, assisted by Kiley Long.
The Broncos took back their lead with a second goal at 6:22, scored by Jake Rawlins, unassisted. But the Klippers tied things up again with a point at 16:39, scored by Stanford King. Riley Down got the assist.
In the second, the Klippers dominated the action, scoring three points in 20 minutes of play.
The first came at 5:14, scored by Jesse Mysoriek, assisted by Taylor Duzan and Kurt Leedahl. The second was made at 8:17, scored by King, unassisted.
The Broncos got their third goal of the night at 10:26, thanks to Brendan Kotyk, assisted by Adam Antkowiak, before Kindersley got their fifth, scored by Duzan at 13:07. John Calkins and Jonathan Sonntag got the assists on that goal.
The period closed with a fight between Broncos forward Taylor Johnson and Pearce Gourlay of the Klippers at 19:18.
Johnson got five minutes for fighting and a game misconduct, while Gourley got those penalties and an additional two minutes for instigating.
The the third, the Broncos came out kicking, and made it a 5-4 game with a goal at 6:10, scored by Nobil. Kenton Valliant and Colton Allan got the assists.
But the Klippers fired back with a goal at 9:35, scored by Andrew Dommett, assisted by Calkins and Leedahl.
Kindersley scored again at 11:47, thanks to Duzan, to make it a 7-4 game.
The Broncos scored once more in the last seconds of the game. Pat Tran got the final goal at 19:56, assisted by Nathan Hudema.
Final score: 7-5 Kindersley.
Humboldt's Bodnarchuk stopped 13 shots while he was in net, while Matt McIntosh stopped nine during his period and a half of play. The Broncos made 36 shots on the Kindersley net, while they made 29 on Humboldt's.
The next night, when Humboldt hosted the Melfort Mustangs, things were a lot different on the ice.
Humboldt scored first at 14:37 of the first period. Adam Antkowiak got the point, assisted by Pat Tran.
The Broncos furthered their lead to 2-0 with a goal by Josh Roach scored at 16:12 of the second. Logan Spoule and Tran got the assists.
Humboldt got their third goal of the night in the third period, thanks to Jake Rawlins, assisted by Justin Buzzeo, at 7:23.
Melfort finally got on the board in the last five minutes of the game with a goal by Connor Bradshaw, assisted by Dustin Skilliter, at 15:54.
But the 3-1 victory for the Broncos didn't come without a few skirmishes.
Two fights broke out in the second period. The first, which occurred at 12:40, was between Francis Rodrigue of Humboldt and Jesse Mireau of Melfort.
The second occurred at 19:40, between Bronco Antkowich and Darren Gillen of the Mustangs.
All four players got five minutes for fighting and a game misconduct.
On the goaltending side, Matt Hrynkiw started the game for Humboldt, stopping all 10 shots he faced. Matt McIntosh played in net the last half of the game for Humboldt, stopping 11 of 12 shots on goal.
At the other end of the ice, the Broncos made 39 shots on net.
Humboldt Broncos head coach Dean Brockman said he was happy with the way the pre-season games went.
"I can't complain too much," he stated on September 13.
That day was a day of cuts for the team.
"It's a tough day.... we have to let seven go," said Brockman.
"We have one more exhibition game (on September 14) and then we'll see where we're at."
The Broncos are currently waiting on a few players who remain at Western Hockey League camps. Whether those players are picked up by those teams, or come back to the Broncos, will definitely be a factor in determining who stays and who goes over the next number of weeks.
"It will be a revolving door a bit around here until we know what's going on with them," Brockman said.
The Broncos will host Notre Dame in their season opener on September 17.
