HUMBOLDT — Rayce Ramsay is looking forward to being back behind the pipes for the Humboldt Broncos.
The Saskatoon-born goaltender suited up for the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League club in 2018-19. After Humboldt wrapped up its season, he joined the Western Hockey League’s Kamloops Blazers for two games that season and all of the next campaign. The Broncos announced last week that Ramsay would rejoin them for his 20-year-old season.
“I am excited to see some old teammates, meet my new ones, and start working towards winning a championship together,” Ramsay said.
The Humboldt organization is pleased to welcome back the now veteran netminder. Ramsay was listed at 5-foot-11, 170 pounds in his last WHL season.
“Rayce will make a huge impact for our club this season,” Broncos head coach Scott Barney said. “With the experience he has gained in our league as a rookie at 17 and the last two seasons in the WHL, we are looking forward to having him back in a Broncos uniform this season. The way he handles himself on and off the ice, we couldn’t ask for a better leader in our net.”
Ramsay did not get into an organized, competitive game this past winter.
“I still spent the majority of my time training and skating where I could, both at indoor and outdoor rinks,” he said. “I also did some web development work in my spare time. With that said, I am extremely excited to get back to Humboldt and play some hockey again.”
As a Broncos rookie, Ramsay posted a 16-7-2 record with a 0.923 save percentage, and 2.73 goals against average. He said he enjoyed many things about that season in Humboldt
“For one, I loved the support and friendliness of the community,” Ramsay said. “It's always motivating when you have a group of people cheering you on the way the community of Humboldt did for us, so I really appreciated that. Our team also had a competitive mindset in that we really wanted to win every game. That's the mentality you have to have to be successful so I'm hoping to bring back that same energy to the team this year.”
In 2019-20, Ramsay played 25 games for Kamloops in 2019-20 with a 3.07 goals against average and .880 save percentage. He said playing for the Blazers helped him grow as a person both on and off the ice.
“I learned that if you want to be successful you need to treat every day as an opportunity to be better than you were the day before,” he said. “Some days will be harder than others, but if you can be resilient and try to get one per cent better that day, eventually those one per cent changes will compound on each other and you'll be better for it.
“I also learned the importance of developing good relationships with my teammates. I've gotten to see firsthand that if you develop trust with your teammates and can create a positive atmosphere within the dressing room, that will lead to better team performance on the ice and ultimately winning more games.
