Humboldt Broncos goalie Rayce Ramsay stopped all 23 shots from the Nipawin Hawks to earn his third SJHL career shutout on Saturday. (Becky Zimmer/northeastNOW Staff)
Bouncing back

Broncos rebound in shutout victory against Hawks

Feb 6, 2022 | 12:40 AM

The Humboldt Broncos finished off the week with a home win as they welcomed the Nipawin Hawks to the Elgar Petersen Arena on Saturday night.

Rayce Ramsay earned his third shutout of the season and his SJHL career in net for the green and gold stopping all 23 of the Hawks’ shots in his 32nd win this season.

The 7-0 win was a rebound for the Broncos after the Battlefords North Stars earned their own shutout win at the EPA on Tuesday.

While the team did play well against the North Stars, they unfortunately just couldn’t find the back of the net, Ramsay told northeastNOW.

Saturday night was a solid effort that saw the Broncos capitalize on opportunities on net while limiting the Hawks, he said. The score clock definitely echoed this as the Broncos nearly doubled the Hawks in shots on goal.

The game started with the Broncos profiting on the power plays with Connor McGrath going in unassisted for his 23rd goal of the season, followed by Noah Barlage and Alec Saretzky feeding the puck to Alex Morozoff for a tip-in on Hawk’s goalie, Harmon Laser-Hume.

With the Broncos up by two going into the second, clean passes and speedy attacks on net would be the name of the game as Braiden Koran, Alec Saretzky, and McGrath on the power play all found the back of the net making it 5-0 by the end of the period.

Ethan Zielke lit up the net with a beautiful shorthanded breakaway goal as he backhanded the puck past Laser-Hume to make it 6-0 midway through the third. Jerzy Orchard’s pass to Rhett Gibson a few minutes later would wrap up the scoring for the Broncos as the buzzer sounded on the 7-0 win.

Obviously the coaching staff were also pleased with the results. Assistant coach Carter Hansen told northeastNOW the Broncos were looking for a rebound after Tuesday which they definitely got.

“I think this is a big statement game for us; get us back in the groove of things, scoring goals, feeling good about ourselves, but also just playing the right way for 60 minutes and I think playing like that leading into the playoffs is a good start and we got to keep momentum like this going.”

The Broncos are now number two in the standing as Estevan is now a regulation win ahead with 72 points and a 34-7-1-3 record this season. The southern rivals have won nine of their last 10 games while the Broncos sit 35-12-0-0 with 70 points.

While being top team in the league is the goal for the remainder of the season, Ramsay said they can’t focus too much on the standings.

“Obviously, we’d like to have that first place and that’s what we’re aiming for here, but we’re just taking it one game at a time, one shift at a time and results will come,” said Ramsay.

Part of that will be two games coming up this week for the green and gold, the first against Notre Dame on Feb. 9 at the EPA while the Broncos hit the road for a rematch in Nipawin.

Hansen knows from his own experience how tough it is to play on the Hawk’s turf. Even with the smaller arena and a tough hometown Nipawin crowd, Hansen said they are going to be ready for a hard 60 minutes.

becky.zimmer@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @bex_zim

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