It looked promising until the third period.
The Humboldt Broncos hosted the Melville Millionaires in their last home game of the regular season on February 16. And though the home team had a healthy lead at one point, it was undone in the first few minutes of the last period.
The Broncos came out strong in the first period, keeping much of the play in the Mils' end of the ice and scoring two unanswered goals.
Pat Tran gave the Broncos a 1-0 lead with his textbook goal at 3:58, assisted by Gabe Minville.
Then Greg Ferguson broke away and, unassisted, gave the Broncos their second goal of the night at 7:44 of the first.
In the second, Melville finally got on the scoreboard with a goal at 10:46.
But the Broncos soon took back their two-point lead with a goal by Troy Gasper, assisted by Adam Antkowiak and Adam Zbitniff on a power play at 13:32.
Humboldt scored their fourth goal on another power play at 18:29, thanks to Dayton Shaw, assisted by Josh Roach and Ward Szucki.
The Broncos were up 4-1 heading into the third period, but the Millionaires came out fighting.
The Mils scored their second goal just 23 seconds into the period, their third at 1:12, and their fourth at 2:40 - three goals in less than three minutes - to tie the game at four.
Then Melville took the lead with a fifth goal at 3:30.
And that was all she wrote, at least for scoring. The Broncos were unable to come back and tie the game before the end of regulation time.
However, there was action on the ice when it came to penalties in the final part of the third period.
Bronco Brett Pisio received a checking from behind penalty and its accompanying game misconduct at 19:58 of the third.
The Broncos out-shot the Mils 38 to 26 and outdid them on the power play, scoring twice to Melville's none.
Bronco Troy Gasper was named the game's second star, the only Bronco to receive the honour.
"We just stopped working," said Dean Brockman, head coach of the Humboldt Broncos about the loss.
And, he added, they were playing a team that was fighting for a playoff spot.
However, the loss wasn't all bad.
"It was a good lesson (before playoffs begin)," Brockman said. The team had been on a bit of a winning streak, so this loss " brought them down to earth a little bit before playoffs."
