Broncos fail to play 60 minutes in loss to Hounds
A poor second period sunk the Humboldt Broncos as they fell 5-2 to the Notre Dame Hounds in Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League action from Wilcox.
The Jan. 12 contest saw the Broncos give up two second period goals turning a 1-0 lead into a 2-1 deficit.
The game got off to a solid start for the Broncos as Kaleb Dahlgren found the back of the net at 17:38 of period one to give the Broncos the early lead.
Unfortunately, the aforementioned second period cost the Broncos as Olivier Lantagne and Tim Gould both found the back of the net to give the Hounds a 2-1 lead heading into the final period.
“I think having the 1-0 lead after the first period might have hurt us a little bit and we were pretty confident going into the second period but all you can do after that is just put your head down and work your (behind) off,” noted Broncos forward Jaxon Joseph of their second period.
The Broncos pulled back into a tie with the Hounds in the third as Joseph scored his 18th goal of the season at the 7:24 mark.
Unfortunately for the green and gold, they could not keep the game tied as Gould scored less than a minute later to regain the one goal Hounds lead.Chance Longjohn and Curtis Wiebe both added empty-netters to seal the victory.
It was a particularly costly loss for the Broncos who could have leapfrogged the Hounds for fifth in the league standings with a win.
With so much on the line, Joseph admitted is was a tough loss and pointed to a lack of mental toughness as a contributing factor.
“We got there and the rink was like -40C… we weren’t mentally ready and Notre Dame plays really well in their own rink. We were playing pretty good and the second half we let up.”
Parker Tobin was charged with the loss in the Broncos goal allowing three goals on 30 shots as the Broncos were outshot 32-20.
Strong work down low leads to Broncos win over Hounds
Taking care of home ice is important, and the Humboldt Broncos did just that with a 4-2 win over the Notre Dame Hounds in Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League action.
It was an excellent bounce back effort for the green and gold, responding with a solid effort one night after losing 5-2 to the Hounds in Wilcox.
“It was an awesome bounce back, especially when Notre Dame tied it up 2-2 but with (Logan Hunter) scoring and (Xavier Labelle) scoring it really helped us a lot tonight,”noted Broncos forward Jaxon Joseph.
The Jan. 13 contest got off to a solid start for the home team as Joseph put the Broncos in front 1-0 at 5:27 of the first period.
Joseph forced a turnover right in front of the Hounds goal wasting little time jamming it home.
The momentum gained from the goal was quickly erased for the Broncos thanks to an Evan Thomas cross-checking penalty.
The Hounds wasted little time taking advantage as Tim Gould scored just 14 seconds into the power play to tie the score at one.
Brayden Camrud then put the Broncos back in front, beating Hounds goaltender Jacob Standen with a perfectly placed short side shot for his 11th goal of the season at 10:38.
The Broncos held the one goal lead into the second period when Connor Mylymok picked up a rebound and banged home his fifth goal of the year to tie the score at two.
The Broncos kept coming at the Hounds and were eventually rewarded as Logan Hunter scored his 13th of the year and Xavier Labelle his third of the year both before the end of the second period, giving the Broncos a 4-2 lead into the final frame.
The third and final period was a defensive battle with neither team able to generate much offense neither team finding the back of the net.
The Broncos’ were particularly good down low against the Hounds defenders, which is something Joseph admitted the team had been working to improve.
“During practice throughout the week we worked on cycling and just make sure we have our head up and know where we’re going to put the puck before we actually get to the puck and that helped us a lot.”
It was a particularly important win for the green and gold as it moved them back to within one point of the Hounds for fifth place in the SJHL league standings.
“It’s a division matchup so it’s a four point game to us and losing last night’s game; that hurt us a little bit, but tonight was huge for us. We really needed it.”
Parker Tobin picked up the win in the Broncos goal turning aside 21 of the 23 shots he faced as the Broncos outshot the Hounds 32-23.
The Broncos’ march to the playoffs continues on Jan. 20 when the Broncos travel to Melfort to take on the Mustangs.
Joseph says the key for the Broncos to continue having success will be for them to play the same way they did in this game.
“Just keep doing what we did tonight and we’ll be a dominant team this year.”
