Schatz caps banner year with CJHL honour; ready for playoffs

The Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) has provided Humboldt’ captain Logan Schatz with one last regular season honour.

The 20-year-old four year Bronco forward capped his final year with a resounding 85 points including 22 goals. The Allan product accumulated five goals and 15 assists in the month of February; the CJHL named Schatz one of the three stars for the month. He said the recognition was a nice way to round out his season.

“It was pretty cool, I was just hanging out on our couple days off and some guys started congratulating me in our group chat so it was a pretty neat feeling,” Schatz said.

The centreman will go down as the top scoring Bronco since Brady Wacker; Schatz will finish his regular season career with 191 points in 187 games. After just 31 games last season due to a gruesome arm injury he said the year has went almost perfectly.

“It’s been the most games I’ve played in a Humboldt jersey. I think it was a successful year, I have to thank head coach Darcy Haugan for allowing me to succeed,” Schatz said.

His 85 points this season were the most since Wacker had 82 in 2008-09. Schatz was quick to thank his teammates for the accomplishment.

“They made it really easy for me and that led to team success as well so it was a really fun year,” he said.

The Broncos are busy preparing for a first round playoff match-up against the Melfort Mustangs that opens on Friday in Melfort. Unlike years previous Humboldt has some postseason experience inside the dressing room. Conner Lukan has won an Alberta Junior Hockey League championship and Nick Shumlanski has been to back-to-back finals. Schatz said during a recent team meeting the two veterans provided a message to the club.

“They know what it takes, having those guys talk us through the experiences that will come along and what we will go through is huge,” he said.

The Mustangs finished the season with 82 points, 12 more than Humboldt’s 72. Melfort won the season series going 4-2, the Broncos were 2-3-1 but did take the last two games including a 6-0 win on Family Day Monday at a packed Elgar Petersen Arena. Schatz said the team isn’t taking the underdog role.

“It’s going to be a great series. I remember my first couple games as a Bronco when I was 16 we played Melfort and the atmosphere in the rinks was amazing. I’m really looking forward to what should be an unreal series,” he said.

Humboldt will host games three and four on Tuesday, March 20 and Wednesday, March 21, both at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are now available at the Broncos’ office. Season ticket holders seats will be secured until Monday, March 19 at 4 p.m. The office is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday. Tickets can also be purchased by calling 682-5575.