They played their first home games without most of their 20-year-olds and though both ended in losses, the games were quite close, indeed.
On January 13, the Humboldt Broncos faced the LaRonge Ice Wolves in their first home game after the team traded away most of their final-year players.
Despite that loss of experience, the Broncos came out hard in the first period, not only preventing a LaRonge goal, but matching them in shots on goal, 10 for 10.
In the second, the Broncos' energy seemed to lag a bit as the Wolves out-shot them 20 to six.
The Wolves were able to score on one of those shots at 9:07 of the second. The goal was scored by former Bronco Taylor Piller, and assisted by another former Bronco, Nick Keller.
However, the Broncos were able to tie the game at one at 16:09, with a goal by Troy Gasper, assisted by Kameren Ballas.
In the third, the Broncos were again out-shot, this time 11 to six, and the Wolves were able to pull ahead once again. Nolan Souchette scored the go-ahead goal for LaRonge at 4:37, assisted by Rhyse Dieno.
Then the Wolves capitalized on a power play at 8:54 to score an insurance goal. Travis Eggum got the power play goal, assisted by Logan Herauf and Marc Andre Carre.
Final score: 3-1 LaRonge.
Penalties were extremely rare in the game - each team earned just one in the third period. Taylor Johnson of the Broncos was in the box for cross checking when LaRonge was able to score their third goal. Ice Wolf Travis Eggum was in the box for two minutes starting at 14:58 of the third for boarding, but the Broncos were unable to score on their lone power play of the game.
Just one Bronco made the list of three stars of the game. Goalie Matt Hrynkiw was name third star for stopping all but three of the 41 shots leveled by the Wolves at his net during the game.
The Broncos made just 22 shots on net over the three periods.
Just a couple of nights later, on January 15, the Broncos took on the Kindersley Klippers, another team that traded futures for one of the Broncos' senior players. However, former Bronco Spencer Braaten was not in the Klippers' line-up for the game, played in front of 619 fans at the Elgar Petersen Arena.
Though the Klippers were able to score on Bronco netminder Andrew Bodnarchuk first at 1:19 of the first period, Greg Ferguson of the Broncos tied the game up with a power play goal at 3:57 of the first. Troy Gasper and Chase Wharton got the assists.
Humboldt then took the lead with a goal, again on a powerplay, at 4:31 of the first. Ward Szucki was credited with the goal and Adam Zbitniff and Taylor Johnson the assists.
In the second, the Klippers came out swinging. They added two power play goals to their totals at 13:33 and 16:01 of the second, both by Johnny Calkins, assisted by Andrew Dommet and Braedon Adamyk.
They added a fourth goal in the third period, again on a power play, this time scored by Adamyk and assisted by Johnathan Sonntag.
The Broncos then scored their first even-strength goal of the night at 14:16 of the third, thanks to Josh Roach, assisted by Dayton Shaw and Matt Glowa.
But it wasn't enough to win them the game.
Final score: 4-3 Kindersley.
Play, which had been rough throughout the game - Klipper Johnny Calkins, for instance, received three penalties in the second period, including two minutes for blow to the head and a 10-minute misconduct at 18:52 - got worse in the third period.
At 19:29, Brett Pisio of the Broncos got two minutes for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct, and just 30 seconds later - one second before the end of the game - teammate Troy Gasper got the same two penalties. Klipper Calkins, meanwhile, got a cross checking penalty at th same time.
The Broncos out-shot the Klippers 34 to 33 in the game.
In their first six games of 2011, the Broncos have recorded just one win.
