Kaleb Dahlgren played the hero for the Humboldt Broncos as he scored the tying goal and the shootout winner to lead the Broncos to a 4-3 shootout win over the Notre Dame Hounds in Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League action in Wilcox on Sept. 17.
Dahlgren spoiled the Hounds’ home opener in his first game back in the Duncan McNeill Arena since being traded from the Hounds to the Broncos during the offseason.
Dahlgren admitted that it was an awesome to be the hero for the Broncos in his first game back in the building and called it an “unbelievable feeling.”
“When we scored with a second left I couldn’t believe it. (I) looked at the clock and saw it was 0.5 seconds left, that was close and it felt good… then I got the shootout winner, I couldn’t be happier.”
Despite picking up the win it was another sloppy effort for the Broncos, particularly on the power play where they finished the night 0-for-6.
The game got off to a slow start for the Broncos as Colby Brant put the Hounds ahead 1-0 on their first shot of the game, 5:25 of the first period.
The Hounds extended their lead to two goals at 5:44 of the second period as Zack Kosteniuk beat Humboldt native Jacob Wasserman, who was making his first career SJHL start.
Quinn Schneidmiller got the Broncos on the board just over four minutes later as he beat Hounds goaltender Jacob Standen for his first career SJHL goal.
The Hounds would then extend their lead back to two just over two minutes into the third on a goal by Curtis Wiebe, but the Broncos refused to quit as Stephen Wack scored his first of the year just over two minutes later, setting up Dahlgren’s last second heroics.
Looking back on the play Dahlgren remembered seeing Wack have his shot blocked before the puck came back to him where he found Schatz, who set Dahlgren up for the winner.
“I shot it and it went bar down and went nuts after that. It was a crazy moment.”
The game remained tied through the end of overtime as the Broncos took over in the extra period outshooting the Hounds 7-2 but could not find the back of the net.
The first five shooters all missed in the shootout, setting up Dahlgren’s game winner.
“I wanted to go wide because I saw Schatzy go wide and the goalie kind of bit that so I went wide, came in faked to my backhand and went forehand saw it go up in the air and then it went in the net. It was one of the best feelings ever,”
recalled Dahlgren of his shootout winner.
Wasserman picked up the win in the Broncos goal as he turned aside 25 of the 28 shots he faced to pick up his first career SJHL victory.
The win came on the heels of the Broncos erasing a 2-1 third period lead for the second straight night, which says a lot about the character of the players in the Broncos dressing room, Dahlgren noted.
“We have a great leadership core here and we’re a really resilient team. (We) definitely have a lot of new faces in here but the boys are coming together.”
Looking ahead, the Broncos resume their SJHL season with another road game as they travel to Kindersley on Sept. 20 to take on the Klippers.
To have success Dahlgren says the keys will be for the Broncos to have a better start, get their legs going early in the game, finish their checks, and direct more pucks to the Klippers goal.
