Both Broncos forwards Matthew Perkins and Jerzy Orchard raked in the points in Battleford last night with a hat tricks each. (Becky Zimmer/northeastNOW Staff)

By Becky Zimmer

Hat littering

Hat tricks for Broncos in Battleford as Perkins and Orchard light it up for the Broncos

Feb 27, 2022 | 3:55 PM

The Broncos dominated their last meeting of the season against the North Stars and two members of the green and gold raked in the points in North Battleford Saturday night.

With three goals and two assists, rookie forward Matthew Perkins added five points to his already padded stats. Both of his assists helped out fellow forward Jerzy Orchard get his second hat trick of the month. With 54 points to his name, 22 goals and 32 assists, Perkins sits ninth on the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey Leagues’ top skaters scoreboard and fourth among the crop of rookies this season.

This was a return of sorts for Perkins since his trio of goals is his first time scoring since Dec. 17 against the Notre Dame Hounds.

Head coach Scott Barney told northeastNOW that it is great to have Perkins back contributing to the scoreboard since he was quite consistent in the first half of the season.

“He’s been playing well here the last few games just hasn’t been able to get to some points. So hopefully this helps push him into the playoffs and continue for the rest of the season.”

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Orchard himself is only 20 games in with the Broncos and Barney said he has been a great asset to the team.

“He’s done a great job of jumping into our systems, being reliable on the defensive side, and buying into the whole way we want to play and that stuff’s important. Especially as a 20-year-old, you don’t always get that and, you know, he’s been great here for us.”

North Star’s Wilson Steele would take the rebound off Rayce Ramsay for the first goal of the night midway through the first but after that, it would be all green and gold goals at the Access Communications Centre. Orchard and Perkins would tie up the period a few minutes later with a clean pass from the left side finding Orchard at the point making it 1-1 going into the second.

While the Stars would come out swinging, some beautiful saves by Ramsay would keep them from finding the back of the net. Perkins would take the pass from Broncos captain Kade Olsen in the Broncos zone and run with it, beating out Stars goalie Austin Schwab with a quickfire from the right just 59 seconds into the period.

Forward Sam Marburg would put a nice cap on the period with a goal of his own with just a 1:30 left to play as Ethan Zielke on the faceoff got it to Cody Hough for the shot from the blue with Marburg tapping in the rebound.

Going into the third with the Broncos up by two, the Broncos would capitalize on some penalty trouble from the North Stars. Perkins would once again strike first and fast just 29 seconds into the period with a pass from Alex Morozoff on the power play making it 4-1. Six minutes into the period and once again on the power play, Morozoff would take it into the North Stars zone to get it to Perkins on the left with a pass to Orchard beating Schwab for a backdoor goal making it 5-1.

The Broncos one-line would capitalize next for the Perkins hat trick with Alec Saretzky (71) and Lucas Ceccarelli (61) feeding it to Perkins (51) with some tic-tac-toe passes getting it to Perkins in front of Schwab.

Tempers would flare with a minute left with both lines going at it behind the North Star net. Following some difficult math, 194 penalty minutes would be doled out when the ice settled and all 10 players were charged with something from the officials.

Even with the mathematical skill of the officials being tested, Barney said that is expected this close to the end of the regular season and with such a large goal differential, however, the Broncos faced no penalties that were not reciprocated by a North Star who finished the night with no power play opportunities.

“We played pretty disciplined most of the game and tempers do flare up, especially when the score gets like that, so you can’t really blame them either. And in the end, emotions are a big part of the game.”

Coaches want their guys protecting each other, he said, with the whole ordeal starting with pop on Cage Newans from Wilson Steele behind Schwab.

Play resumed with a 5-3 advantage for the Broncos with Orchard completing his hat trick with a pass from Alec Saretzky from the right to Orchard at the point finding the top shelf.

The last home game of the regular season will see the Broncos face the Kindersley Klippers as they fly into the Elgar Petersen Arena.

“We’re trying to make every game like a playoff game here for us, just to keep us ready for when playoffs do start. Hopefully, we get another big crowd in there and that continues on into the playoffs,” said Barney.

The Broncos are still chasing the Estevan Bruins for first place with three games left of the Broncos’ regular season.

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becky.zimmer@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @bex_zim