(Becky Zimmer/northeastNOW Staff)

By Becky Zimmer

Reflection

Broncos prepare to bring same energy into 2022 SJHL action

Dec 24, 2021 | 3:00 PM

With first place in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, 11th place in the Canadian Junior Hockey League, and four players in the top 10 league skaters, it is quite the understatement to say the Humboldt Broncos have had an impressive 2021.

Sitting now in first place in the league, currently four points over the Estevan Bruins, and eight wins in the last 10 games, head coach Scott Barney told northeastNOW it was quite the journey to get to this point. Nineteen players from the previous season and 14 rookies had to learn how to live, work and win together, he said.

“Those were the toughest kinds of things, especially the beginning of the year. Now everything seems to be clicking, everybody’s been here for a while and chemistry and there are all those sorts of things.”

And there has been some shuffling along the way with players asked to fill different roles from time to time. Seeing his players rise to that challenge and adapt to those situations has been a highlight for Barney.

You need that as a team, he said.

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Looking to the second half of the season, SJHL leading scorer, Bronco forward, and LeRoy, Sask. original, Connor McGrath, told northeastNOW he wants to see the Broncos capitalize on wins and get the home ice advantage as they prepare for playoffs.

“Especially playing home at the EPA, not many teams can beat us here, which is good.”

Joining McGrath in the current top 10 league scorers are Alec Saretzky in fourth, Matthew Perkins in sixth, and Bradien Koran in seventh.

Barney is a big believer in if the team does well, individual players will also do well, he said, and that is showing in the league stats.

“You got the guys who are getting rewarded with a lot of points up front, even some of our defenceman. I think it’s a byproduct of how you play each and every shift in every game.”

Also making waves on the leaderboards is Broncos’ goalie Rayce Ramsay. With 25 wins in 31 games played so far this season, number 29 has had the most wins by far of any other SJHL goalies while also topping the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) for goalie wins as well. Among the entire CJHL, Ramsay has also spent the most time in net with 1,841 minutes played in 2021.

Ramsay has said on numerous occasions having hard working players in front of him makes his job look easy. That energy will be needed for the second half of the season as they prepare for playoffs, he said.

“When we get back here we’ve got to be ready to work and bring that same energy for the second half. And just keep playing like we can,” Ramsay told northeastNOW.

That energy has also led to an excess of penalty minutes for the green and gold. As of publication, the Broncos sit number one in time in the penalty box with 966, an average of 27.6 minutes for every one of the 35 games they’ve played. La Ronge is a close second with 881 minutes.

For Barney, it is not something he wants for the team but physicality is part of the game.

“We don’t want to back down from things. That’s the biggest thing but you’ve got to be disciplined in certain times of the game in certain areas.”

Looking beyond the numbers, this team mentality has been another big sign of the Broncos’ success, said Barney.

Even when practice is done around noon, he still sees players hanging out until 4 p.m. which, to him, means his players are having a fun season and enjoy coming to the rink.

With the lack of a season last year, having all these positives has been a happy experience for both the players and the coaching staff, Barney said.

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becky.zimmer@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @bex_zim