BHP Recap: Broncos Diffuse Bombers for Second Straight Win
Chase Lacombe and Maddox Amaral race back for a loose puck.
Photo: Marla Possberg Photography The Humboldt Broncos have taken a 3-2 lead in the season series against the Flin Flon Bombers with their second straight win against them on Thursday night.
It was the first home game of the new year for the Broncos, and the third straight meeting between the two clubs to start 2023. After defeating the Bombers 2-0 on Saturday in Flin Flon, the Broncos put forth another strong defensive game enroute to a 5-2 victory.
Ben Kotylak (14) and Jacob Boucher (13) both scored in the opening six minutes for an early 2-0 Broncos lead. Flin Flon’s Jaeden Mercier cut the lead in half, 2-1, on the powerplay in the final minute to give the Bombers momentum heading into the intermission.
The Broncos, however, came back out in the second frame and tucked two more behind Harmon Laser-Hume to build upon their lead. Spencer Bell deflected a point-shot on the powerplay off his skate, now scoring goals in three straight games, to build a Broncos 3-1 lead. Then another shot from Chase Cooke was re-directed by Xavier Roy for his 5th of the season to make it 4-1.
Flin Flon would look to crawl back and cut the lead to 4-2 curtesy of another powerplay goal from Jeremi Tremblay, but that was as close as they would get.
Ethan Zielke added the empty net marker to seal the 5-2 victory for the Broncos.
Broncos newly acquired netminder, Jared Picklyk made his first career start and was rock-solid, stopping 36 of the 38 Bombers shots (.947 SV%) for his first career SJHL victory.
The victory leapfrogs the Broncos above La Ronge and Estevan, and back into third place in the SJHL with a 22-10-1-0 record.
This was the 5th meeting out of 6 between the Broncos and Bombers this season, with the final taking place on March 1st.
The Broncos will continue their busy week, playing three games in three nights on Friday, January 13th in Melfort against the rival Mustangs.