hot goalie and a productive powerplay that finally found its footing ended the Humboldt Broncos’ two-game winning streak as the Estevan Bruins stormed the Elgar Petersen Arena and stole a 5-3 victory in the first meeting of the season between the two clubs.
Estevan entered the contest with the SJHL’s worst powerplay (6.9%) and penalty kill (69.2), but all that changed on Wednesday. 3 goals on the man-advantage propelled the Bruins offense, while their newly acquired goaltender, Kyle Kelsey stopped 47 of 50 shots faced.
The Bruins took a 3-0 lead into the second period thanks to goals by Hayden Pimm, Kent Moors and Luke Hogan.
Gabriel Filion, with 82 games played as an Estevan Bruin over the past two season, found the back of the net against his former team to cut the lead to 3-1 as the lone goal in the second frame.
In the third period, Marik Mamic scored his second goal in as many games on the powerplay to cut the defect to one. However, it was as close as the Broncos would come. Bruins’ forward, Carter Onrait tucked home his first career SJHL goal. Humboldt’s Jacob Strizzi extended his goal-scoring streak to 4 games, and Moors added an empty netter to cap the scoring and securing the Bruins’ second win of the season.
It’s a homecoming on the horizon for the Broncos’ head coach. Brayden Klimosko and the Broncos will head to the Battlefords to take on the North Stars on Friday. Klimosko coached the Battlefords North Stars to 2 championships and 3 coach of the year honors over the past 6 seasons.
