Written by Ryan McNally
A back-and-forth affair went the way of the Humboldt Broncos on Friday night, as they knocked off the Millionaires 4-3 in a shootout at Melville’s CN Community Centre.
The Broncos opened the scoring at the 5:32 mark of the first period, when Easton Adrian fired a one-time blast from the point, beating the Melville goaltender. Rolan Amin and Kayson Christian were credited with assists on the game’s opening goal.
The score remained 1-0 in favour of the Broncos until the 4:31 mark of the second period, when Brandon Olson cut into the Humboldt zone off the left-wing boards and tucked a shot passed Broncos’ goaltender Nick Kotai to tie the game. Moments later, Clayton Gillmore gave the Millionaires their first lead of the night, with assists from Jackson Lee and Leo Jewitt. The Broncos tied it at the 13:59 mark of the second period as Jacob Strizzi fired a wrist shot over the glove of the Melville goaltender, Kael Svenson. Easton Adrian and Connor Miller were credited with assists on the goal.
The score stayed tied at 2 until there were 12 seconds left in the period. Rylan Oatman tipped in a shot on the powerplay, with Boston Harkness and Brendan Olson getting assists. That was the first powerplay goal surrendered by the Broncos this season.
In the third period, Strizzi put a shot by Svenson with three seconds left on the powerplay to tie the game. Tyce Penrod and Logan Flint got assists on the game-tying goal.
Despite a fleury of chances late in the third period, the game remained tied until the buzzer. Overtime solved nothing, so the two teams were off to a shootout.
Devon Winder scored in the shootout for the Millionaires, while Kristian Lacelle and Logan Flint scored for the Broncos, securing the Humboldt victory.
Broncos’ Associate Coach Carter Hansen says the second period was a tough one for the Broncos.
“The first 13 minutes (of the second) until we got that TV timeout, there were too many soft plays, too many turnovers, just not playing the right way, honestly,” Hansen said. “We gave Melville a good jump of life, they were playing a lot faster, they were picking everything off, they were beating us down low, so we have to give them a lot of credit.”
Hansen praised Broncos’ goaltender Nick Kotai for his play, making 40 saves in his first career SJHL game.
“He hasn’t played in two and a half weeks, he played in the pre-season for us, he looked great in that game against Melfort, and then to come out and do that, he just had our backs the whole night.”
Svenson made 39 saves in the loss. The Broncos return to the Elgar Petersen Arena Saturday night as the Millionaires come to town. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m., the pre-game show begins at 7:15 on 107.5 Bolt FM.
