Home ice was definitely an advantage for the Humboldt Broncos last week.
The Broncos had three games scheduled between February 1 and 5, all at home, and all of them ended in wins for the home team.
First up were the Kindersley Klippers, who rolled into Humboldt on February 1.
The Klippers started off the scoring with a point at 16:38 of the first period.
The Klippers made it a 2-0 game with when they snuck the puck past Bronco goaltender Matt Hrynkiw at 18:03 in the second period.
In the first two periods, the Klippers out-shot the Broncos 25 to 22 overall, but it was in the third period, when Humboldt actually only made 10 shots on goal to Kindersley's 14, that the Broncos came alive on the scoreboard.
Brett Pisio got Humboldt's first goal of the night on a power play at 16:13 of the third period. Assists went to Greg Ferguson and Gabe Minville.
Then the Broncos tied the game at two with a goal by Neil Landry, assisted by Josh Roach and Adam Zbitniff at 17:49.
Then the Broncos struck again. Pat Tran, assisted by Ward Szucki and Landry scored Humboldt's third and winning goal at 19:41.
Final score: 3-1 Humboldt.
On the penalty side, things were pretty rough in the first two periods of play. In the second, Andrew Dommet of the Klippers got two minutes for slashing and a 10-minute misconduct at 6:08, then a few seconds later, Humboldt's Taylor Johnson got two minutes for giving a blow to the head, along with a 10-minute misconduct.
A scuffle broke out early in the third period between Zane Morin of the Klippers and Bronco Adam Antkowiak. Morin got two minutes for instigating, five minutes for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct at 6:39, while Antkowiak received only the five minute penalty for fighting.
On the power play, the teams were pretty evenly matched. Kindersley went one for five, while the Broncos were one for 4.
The three stars of the night were all Broncos: forwards Landry and Tran and goaltender Hrynkiw.
Two nights later, on February 3, the Estevan Bruins came to town.
With Estevan just ahead of the Broncos in the SJHL rankings, the game promised to be a close contest before the puck dropped, but that was not the final outcome.
Humboldt scored their first goal at 2:17 of the first period. Brendon Fornwald got the point, assisted by Pat Tran and Cody Schlosser.
Their second goal, scored after a flurry of shots on Estevan's goal, came at 6:50 of the second period, off a textbook pass to Ward Szucki, who snuck it in on the glove side of Shea Cooper, Estevan's goalie.
Dayton Shaw and Taylor Johnson got the assists.
Defenceman and sniper Kameren Ballas made it a 3-0 game with a goal at 15:02 of the second, assisted by Greg Ferguson and linemate Josh Roach, then Tran poked the puck into the net, again on the goalie's glove side, on a power play at 19:56 of the second. Schlosser and Fornwald got the assists.
In the third, the Bruins finally got on the scoreboard with a point at 1:53.
But Humboldt soon took back their four-point lead with a goal at 6:27, scored by Neil Landry, and assisted by Adam Antkowiak and Adam Zbitniff.
Final score: 5-1 Humboldt.
The Bruins were unable to score on any of their five power plays, while the Broncos scored once on two power plays.
The Broncos also out-shot the Bruins by a whopping 47 to 27 over three periods.
Stars of the game were once again all Broncos: Fornwald, Tran and Schlosser.
In the third and last game of the week, the Broncos took on the Weyburn Red Wings on February 5.
Humboldt came out strong in the first period, making 15 shots on goal to Weyburn's six. One of the Broncos' shots got past Red Wing goaltender Riley Hengen to put the Broncos up 1-0. Defenceman Josh Roach got the point on a power play at 19:49, assisted by Kameren Ballas and Brendon Fornwald.
In the second, shots on goal were more balanced, with 11 for Weyburn and 12 for Humboldt. However, Bronco goaltender Andrew Bodnarchuk managed to keep all 11 shots aimed at him out of his net. The same could not be said for Hengen.
Adam Antkowiak scored Humboldt's second goal of the night at 5:22 of the second, assisted by Neil Landry and Jake Rawlins.
Up 2-0 heading into the third, the Broncos took their foot off the gas. In the period, they made just four shots on goal to Weyburn's 10 and lost their lead completely.
The Red Wings scored at 15 seconds in and at 5:31 to tie the game.
Regulation time ended with the game still tied at two, despite a Humboldt power play at the mid-period mark.
The game went into a five-minute overtime period and ended with the game still a draw.
That sent this contest into a shoot-out. After a miss and two goals by each team, the game was still tied when Weyburn's fourth shooter Scott Kirkham stepped onto the ice. He missed his shot on net, but Bronco Dayton Shaw put his home, giving his team a 3-2 victory.
Humboldt out-shot the visiting team 31 to 27 over four periods and a shoot-out, and were one for four on the power play, while the Wings were zero for two.
Again, all three stars of the game belonged to Humboldt - Andrew Bodnarchuk, Josh Roach and Dayton Shaw.
