It was a relatively quiet week for the Broncos on the ice with only one game this week thanks to the postponement of their Jan. 12 home date against Kindersley.
But head coach and general manager Darcy Haugan and his staff including assistant coach and assistant g.m. Brayden Klimosko were hard at work this week making final roster changes prior to the Jan. 10 trade deadline.
Leading up to the deadline Haugan noted that the team was after two things; another defenseman as well as another centre to the roster.
“Fortunate for us we were able to do that and obviously we’ll see if they were the right moves.”
After a quiet start to the deadline for the Broncos, as the deadline drew nearer the deals started coming in.
The first move the Broncos made was acquiring 6’7” defenseman Trent Huitema from the Prince George Spruce Kings of the British Columbia Hockey League.
The Broncos originally were looking to acquire a veteran presence for the defense corps, preferably a 20 year old but said the asking price to acquire what they were looking for was quite steep, says Haugan.
They were lucky that the 18 year old Huitema became available after being released by the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL back down to the Spruce Kings since he joins Wyatt Riendeau as the only 1998 born defensemen on the team.
Haugan says it was definitely a smart move at a low cost; the rights to current Prince Albert Raiders captain, Tim Vanstone and a player development fee.
Huitema has played eight games with the Chiefs over the last two seasons scoring one goal and is pointless in 11 games in the BCHL splitting his time between the Surrey Eagles and the Spruce Kings.
With the clock approaching the deadline the Broncos struck another move as they acquired 20-year-old forward Brett Horn from the Battlefords North Stars in exchange for prospect Matthew Fletcher and a 3rd round pick.
The deal for Horn came just ten minutes before the deadline and they were not even sure that they were going to be the team who acquired Horn.
Haugan was pleased that the trade went through noting that he is coming from a good organization and comes to the team with a number of intangibles.
“He’s a good kid, a smart hockey player, his hockey IQ is pretty high and we thought that if we could find someway to compliment Gomercic and Kempf we would like to do that.”
The Cary, N.C. native comes to the Broncos with 35 games under his belt in the Battlefords where he scored eight times, while adding 15 assists.
Part of the reason behind acquiring Horn was to make up for some of the offense the Broncos lost when it was confirmed to them that Erik Gardiner would be staying with the Kelowna Rockets.
“We’re happy for Erik obviously but we felt that Brett provides us with great secondary scoring and just depth. It’s that ripple effect whenever you add somebody in… so we’re happy with how it turned out.”
With a number of teams around the league making moves prior to the deadline including the Nipawin Hawks who acquired Keegan Milligan from the Melville Millionaires and the North Stars acquiring Jared Blacquiere and Zach Nedelac from the La Ronge Ice Wolves, Haugan noted that he wanted to be mindful that they were not trying to keep up with the Jones’s.
“When we left at Christmas we talked about our team and where we wanted to go and at the end of the day our job as coaches is to make the guys that we have in that dressing room better and we can’t lose sight of that.”
Haugan said they wanted to show some good judgment with the team and not trade away too much but had to balance that with showing the veteran players that they were serious about winning.
“So you want to have some discernment with the deals you’re making but you also want to have some courage as well and I think we were able to accomplish both things… we’re a better hockey team now.”
Overall Haugan was very pleased with how the trade deadline worked out for the Broncos saying that the team is looking good on paper, but “we have to go forth and put the work in if we want to have any success.”
That work began Jan. 15 when the Broncos welcomed the Hounds to the EPA.
